90th RSC performance of Hamlet (my 27th - DT's 69th)
Photo from Monday 5/1/09 - unknown photographer
This was the 27th time I've seen David Tennant in Hamlet and out of all of those, I think this was the best performance that I've seen! It's hard to remember exactly how good a performance was back in, say, September (which is one of the reasons that I'm keeping this diary) but I don't remember such an emotional version before. In fact I heard Gregory Doran (who I happened to see tonight on my way to the theatre!) has said that David had brought something more to the role since he had been off and I totally agree.
My day started with reading those absolutely brilliant press reviews (which I'll copy in later). They said things like it was the best Hamlet of this generation!
My seat tonight was in the 6th row of the stalls and is the row that starts banking so I had a perfect view over everybody's heads and was close enough to be able to see the actors' eyes and all their expressions really clearly.
David Tennant was moving far better again tonight – I can see the improvement from day to day! Tonight he used the bedhead to get up on the bed the first time but after that he was stepping up and down unaided. He also managed to lie lengthways across the grave on one hand which he hasn’t attempted before. I also noticed that in the sword-fight, the other actors were holding him more tightly. He does tend not to kneel down equally on both knees but will favour one side or the other but he gets down and up quite easily. I think the time I realised that he’s really getting better was that for the first time I could hear David thudding up the wings of the stage ready for one of his entrances! In Stratford (if you knew when to listen) you could often hear him thudding around behind the seats (he’s fast but quite heavy on his feet) but since they’ve moved to the Novello, he’s had to walk more gingerly but tonight the thudding was back!
The other thing that helped to make this such a great performance was that it was a brilliant audience! The performance tonight was longer than normal due to all the laughing! For example, after the “Where’s Polonius?”, “In Heaven!” lines, Patrick Stewart had to walk around the stage a bit to wait for the laughter to subside! Sometimes when Hamlet says about the people watching the play, he has to indicate us before people laugh but not tonight! There was even laughter in parts where the lines aren’t particularly funny but David Tennant reacts that way for example when Horatio tells him that he saw his father last night.
That whole scene has grown on me so much since 24th July and it’s mainly due to all the reactions that Hamlet does on hearing the amazing news. David Tennant has really improved the way he plays this particular part of the play and it’s so impressive.
The “Now I am alone” soliloquy is another highlight of Hamlet for me and David Tennant really puts his whole body into it. Whereas in other productions, I’ve seen, Hamlet will just deliver the lines, DT’s version uses all the stage (and kneels and falls on the ground) which is so emotional.
There was one small mistake on stage tonight as DT forgot to take the tray off the page (Zoe Thorne) so he just pushed the crown on his head and when it came to the “grass grows” part, he used his hand in an upright movement to indicate grass.
Afterwards I went to the stage door (as I had 25 minutes before my next train). Tonight David Tennant took probably half an hour to come out by which time quite a few people had left (as it was bitterly cold). It’s easy to tell when he’s going to come out as the car (a light coloured one tonight) positions itself outside the door. I’ve always just watched on the other side of the road but tonight lots of people went across so I joined them to watch. David signed a nice lot of autographs tonight and was really friendly with everyone (as usual!).
I know I’m different to a lot of people in that I don’t collect autographs plus I’m not one for standing ovations, but tonight (for the first time in the run) I did get to my feet during the applause as I thought it was so brilliant tonight!
My day started with reading those absolutely brilliant press reviews (which I'll copy in later). They said things like it was the best Hamlet of this generation!
My seat tonight was in the 6th row of the stalls and is the row that starts banking so I had a perfect view over everybody's heads and was close enough to be able to see the actors' eyes and all their expressions really clearly.
David Tennant was moving far better again tonight – I can see the improvement from day to day! Tonight he used the bedhead to get up on the bed the first time but after that he was stepping up and down unaided. He also managed to lie lengthways across the grave on one hand which he hasn’t attempted before. I also noticed that in the sword-fight, the other actors were holding him more tightly. He does tend not to kneel down equally on both knees but will favour one side or the other but he gets down and up quite easily. I think the time I realised that he’s really getting better was that for the first time I could hear David thudding up the wings of the stage ready for one of his entrances! In Stratford (if you knew when to listen) you could often hear him thudding around behind the seats (he’s fast but quite heavy on his feet) but since they’ve moved to the Novello, he’s had to walk more gingerly but tonight the thudding was back!
The other thing that helped to make this such a great performance was that it was a brilliant audience! The performance tonight was longer than normal due to all the laughing! For example, after the “Where’s Polonius?”, “In Heaven!” lines, Patrick Stewart had to walk around the stage a bit to wait for the laughter to subside! Sometimes when Hamlet says about the people watching the play, he has to indicate us before people laugh but not tonight! There was even laughter in parts where the lines aren’t particularly funny but David Tennant reacts that way for example when Horatio tells him that he saw his father last night.
That whole scene has grown on me so much since 24th July and it’s mainly due to all the reactions that Hamlet does on hearing the amazing news. David Tennant has really improved the way he plays this particular part of the play and it’s so impressive.
The “Now I am alone” soliloquy is another highlight of Hamlet for me and David Tennant really puts his whole body into it. Whereas in other productions, I’ve seen, Hamlet will just deliver the lines, DT’s version uses all the stage (and kneels and falls on the ground) which is so emotional.
There was one small mistake on stage tonight as DT forgot to take the tray off the page (Zoe Thorne) so he just pushed the crown on his head and when it came to the “grass grows” part, he used his hand in an upright movement to indicate grass.
Afterwards I went to the stage door (as I had 25 minutes before my next train). Tonight David Tennant took probably half an hour to come out by which time quite a few people had left (as it was bitterly cold). It’s easy to tell when he’s going to come out as the car (a light coloured one tonight) positions itself outside the door. I’ve always just watched on the other side of the road but tonight lots of people went across so I joined them to watch. David signed a nice lot of autographs tonight and was really friendly with everyone (as usual!).
I know I’m different to a lot of people in that I don’t collect autographs plus I’m not one for standing ovations, but tonight (for the first time in the run) I did get to my feet during the applause as I thought it was so brilliant tonight!
Next performance for me: tomorrow (Friday 9th)!
