Hamlet II

It turns out that we got incredibly lucky with seeing Hamlet! The lead actor is called David Tennant and he's hugely popular here, much MUCH more popular than even Patrick Stewart, though Americans won't know him for the most part. He played Barty Crouch Jr in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We went and saw Hamlet on the second night, less than a week ago, and it's only here for a six week run. Yesterday, it was splashed all over the papers that David Tennant has hurt his back and won't be back in the roll until after Christmas! The tickets for the full run of this show sold out in under three hours here. People who want to see Tennant now have to settle for the UNDERSTUDY!

Luckily, as the director said in a statement, this is the Royal Shakespeare Company and the understudy is apparently doing very well, getting standing ovations. You've got to be pretty gutsy to step into that roll on short notice.

As for Patrick Stewart, he may be less popular here, but he is definitely known as one of the best Shakespearean actors. Matt and I agreed that his Ghost (he played the Ghost and Claudius, for those that remember, how cool is that? they put a wig on him for the Ghost) was the best part of the whole production, notwithstanding Tennant.

By the way, this is was the photo on the programme cover. It's a pretty awesome picture, even if Tennant isn't actually playing the roll.




P.S. This is a new layout for a new, more austere time.