75. Hamlet the Musical - Richmond Theatre

If going from the White Bear to the Rose, from the Bad Quarto to the Folio, had been a bit of a sudden departure – then Hamlet the Musical was a real shock. Thankfully of the best kind, as it managed to be fun, clever, grand, witty, ridiculous and silly in marvellous degrees. I feel almost ridiculous myself about how much I enjoyed this, but I was grinning from ear to ear for days afterwards and still find myself occasionally bursting into the Eurotastic showstopper ‘To Be or Not To Be’.

74. Hamlet - Northern Broadsides at the Rose Kingston

I went into this production with high hopes – I’d heard good things, the trailer was exciting and I loved the idea of seeing another 1940s Hamlet. Unfortunately mostly, though not entirely, I was disappointed. Partly this might have been the still lingering effects of the marvellous Hamlet 1603 and the slight feeling of pantomime the production left me with, certainly might have been down to moving from the intimacy of the White Bear to the relative grandness of the Rose Kingston – it made everything seem too big and grand and performed.

61. Hamlet - The Globe

God bless The Globes Hamlet, it was up against a tough challenge coming only two days after seeing Hamlet 1603, which you may have noticed I adored. In the end I think that coloured my enjoyment here, it couldn’t quite match up, which is a shame really as this is a great little touring production of the play.

60. Hamlet 1603 - White Bear Theatre

Ah, my first Hamlet since deciding to attempt the Grand Hamlet-Off of 2011 and given that this was a chance to see the rarely performed Bad Quarto of 1603 (hence the title) - one I was very excited for. And I was far from disappointed, in fact I’m looking forward to heading back to see this when I’m a little less exhausted in May. In short, I adored it and I fear large parts of this entry will just be me listing all the things I loved most.

RST Re-Opening

Decided I’d probably be best off writing about these two together as, although I do love both productions dearly, what I was really there for was to see the new theatres in action at last. Plus having just written a 2,000 word or so... well, essay on this King Lear, I’m still feeling a little burnt out (it may have made me cry multiple times again, but that’s all I’m going to say).

11. YPS Hamlet - RSC at the Roundhouse

Ah... sadly I feel I might have to woefully short-change Hamlet a little here as I've fallen far too behind on these things and I've been putting writing this one off (I've already written my Caesar review and the ones for both Lears as I sit here at 2am trying to write this). Not even sure why I've putting it off, accept the odd feeling that I don't have much to say - which is no reflection on how much I enjoyed the production as I really loved it. I think partly it's that seeing this again, didn't really give me any new revelations about it. It's like I have very little to add, so here is what I wrote last time:

7. Hamlet - National Theatre

This was the second time I saw this production and I'm so glad I got to go back - not just because the first viewing was spoiled by being sat amidst the worst audience ever (I missed two whole scenes at the start of the second half) - but also because this production makes me think so much, that it makes my head want to explode. I have five pages worth of notes. Five pages! I will try not to write the ridiculous amounts that I want to about it (but I make no promises).

The Grand Hamlet-Off 2011

Sometimes an idea just pops into your head – a ridiculous, dangerous idea. Sometimes it’s more like it’s been forced into your head just by looking at your theatre schedule. Sometimes twitter suggested it. This is one of those times.