Heads up for Hamlet.

[prendrelemick]

5.05 Boxing Day. BBC2. Hamlet.
With David Tennant as the Prince. I tried to get a ticket for this last summer. Supposed to be very good- no one puts on an antic disposition quite like David Tennant does.

[DanielBenoit]

Ooo, I'll have to check it out. It's on BBC2 you say?

[TheFifthElement]

Patrick Stewart is in it as well. I'll be watching. My hubby will probably be snoring on the sofa :D

[Lokasenna]

I saw it in Stratford earlier on in the year. It is very good, although it did have its flaws, David Tennant lamentably being one of them. I think the man is a great actor, but I felt he wasn't putting enough effort into young Hamlet - also, his "antic disposition" involved rather a lot of gurning. When he came on at the end for the curtain call, you felt he still had plenty of energy - after three hours of playing Hamlet properly, any actor should be exhausted, and I very much felt he wasn't.

On the other hand, Patrick Stewart was a wonderfully sinister, looming Claudius, and Oliver Ford Davies' Polonius stole the show - by far and away the best Polonius I have ever seen. The woman who played Gertrude, whose name I have forgotten, was also excellent.

Laertes and Ophelia were a bit weak in my opinion, though my friends disagreed with me on that point. I don't know how they've staged it in the TV version, but I found the minimalist set very appealing. Oh, and the director has used an absolutely barmy cut of the text - rather than going with the second quarto version like everyone else, he's taken all three extant versions and cobbled them all together, which can occasionally make it a bit jarring if you are most familiar with the more popular text.

Still, enjoy!

[wessexgirl]

I saw it in Stratford earlier on in the year. It is very good, although it did have its flaws, David Tennant lamentably being one of them. I think the man is a great actor, but I felt he wasn't putting enough effort into young Hamlet - also, his "antic disposition" involved rather a lot of gurning. When he came on at the end for the curtain call, you felt he still had plenty of energy - after three hours of playing Hamlet properly, any actor should be exhausted, and I very much felt he wasn't.

On the other hand, Patrick Stewart was a wonderfully sinister, looming Claudius, and Oliver Ford Davies' Polonius stole the show - by far and away the best Polonius I have ever seen. The woman who played Gertrude, whose name I have forgotten, was also excellent.

Laertes and Ophelia were a bit weak in my opinion, though my friends disagreed with me on that point. I don't know how they've staged it in the TV version, but I found the minimalist set very appealing. Oh, and the director has used an absolutely barmy cut of the text - rather than going with the second quarto version like everyone else, he's taken all three extant versions and cobbled them all together, which can occasionally make it a bit jarring if you are most familiar with the more popular text.

Still, enjoy!

I'll be watching, can't wait. Last night I came across a programme about the play which I will try to find on catch-up tv. All of the cast and the director, Greg Doran, were talking about the production, and how they approached it. I just caught a bit with GD saying that he chose to have the interval at the point where H is debating killing C when he's at prayer, and is poised to do so, and some critics slated him for it. As he said though, he did it like a thriller, for the audience, who may not know that he won't, not the critics. The actress who plays Gertrude is Penny Downie, and she and PS were discussing how they played it as though the couple had had an adulterous relationship prior to the murder of her first husband. As they said, there is nowhere in the play which states that they did, but that was how they chose to read it. With the stellar cast, I can't wait.

[Lokasenna]

I'll be watching, can't wait. Last night I came across a programme about the play which I will try to find on catch-up tv. All of the cast and the director, Greg Doran, were talking about the production, and how they approached it. I just caught a bit with GD saying that he chose to have the interval at the point where H is debating killing C when he's at prayer, and is poised to do so, and some critics slated him for it. As he said though, he did it like a thriller, for the audience, who may not know that he won't, not the critics. The actress who plays Gertrude is Penny Downie, and she and PS were discussing how they played it as though the couple had had an adulterous relationship prior to the murder of her first husband. As they said, there is nowhere in the play which states that they did, but that was how they chose to read it. With the stellar cast, I can't wait.

Yes, it was a slightly barmy place to have the interval... it sort of upset the balance of the play in my opinion, and the scene itself became rather disjointed. Still, my criticisms are only minor niggles!