52nd performance of Hamlet (my 14th)
Photo from OG
Thankfully as it was half term my drive up here today wasn't too bad considering it was rush hour. The drive is supposed to take me 2.5 hours but today it took me about 3 hours.I stopped for a late breakfast and drove into Stratford but my usual spot was taken (as I expected) so I parked the other side of the river.
The audience tonight were a mixture of old people (most on coach trips!) and children on their half term.
The guy I sat next to had queued for his seat that morning for only 90 minutes and had got on one row E for himself and one in the front row for his wife! (I bought mine when they first went on sale through the RSC postal application.)
As I'm seeing 6 plays this week (wonderful!), it'll just be a few notes about the performances.
After the reception scene I noticed that Laertes wasn't looking where he was going as he walked off stage and he really bumped into Hamlet - he gave David Tennant quite a shove!
Someone took a flash photo as DT walked on stage in his red T-shirt for the "To be or not to be" speech.
David just threw the book down in the scene so it stayed in the middle of the stage.
After the "pickers and stealers" line Hamlet repeated his "the grass grows" line 3 times as Rosencrantz didn't get it. (I've seen him repeat it a couple of times in a few performances.)
Although I was sitting in Row E I could still hear DT running around the back of the theatre at one point - he's certainly heavy on his feet, especially considering how slight he is!
When the attention was off him, at one point Tom Davey bent down and picked up one of Ophelia's letters that was still on the stage and put it in his pocket.
When Hamlet said the "I beseech you" line, he did it in the funny voice again but today turned the next line totally bitter (about being played upon) which was very effective as it showed both sides of Hamlet's character.
David Tennant stood up and walked down the steps for the "do you see yonder cloud" joke with Polonius.
The bedroom scene was really emotional again today. David held the newspaper (with the photo of Claudius on it) as he did the "tame blood" speech. When he then spoke abut Claudius, he spat at the paper!
As Hamlet went to urn the light back on behind the bed, he spoke a line this afternoon.
DT said one word wrong in the scene before Osric arrives. (He said good instead of could and corrected himself.)
As Hamlet died, he turned his head slightly more towards Horatio.
David Tennant's smile is always much wider in the bows after Hamlet than it is after LLL!
There was no signing after the performance this afternoon because the security guard said that David was doing a performance tonight. As he has signed at that time before, the people around me thought it was because of the announcement last night.
Afterwards I went to my usual restaurant for a late lunch before tonight's performance! On the way I saw the guy who plays the owl puppeteer (Samuel Dutton) in the town.
Next performance for me: LLL tonight
