91st RSC performance of Hamlet (my 28th - DT's 70th)
Photo from Monday 5/1/09 - unknown photographer
Unfortunately I didn’t think that this was one of the best performances tonight. It was certainly good but not as great as last night’s or others that I’ve seen in Stratford.
I had a seat in the second row of the Dress Circle (which is the first level) and I was surprised to see that there were 3 empty seats at the end of the row. Obviously they were sold but it was disappointing that there was no way of letting fans use them out of the 20+ queue of people waiting for returns at 7.00pm.
David Tennant was moving really well again tonight. It’s amazing to think that it’s only just 4 weeks since he had his operation and it was supposed to be a 6 week recovery period. He still doesn’t kneel straight as often as he used to but he did the sword-fight as energetically as he always has and even ran off stage once in the bows. He got up and down from the bed without holding onto anything and leant back a fair bit for the “Pocket” line. He is still kissing Guildenstern (rather than running between the guard’s legs) but tonight he jumped up briefly before he did it.
There was one really big mistake on stage tonight in one of the final scenes as they missed out several lines when Hamlet and Horatio are talking to Orssis! The “very responsive to the hilts” (and following physical actions!) were missing.
At the start of that scene, for some reason, David Tennant came out on stage holding something white in his left hand. He also kept that hand in his jeans pocket a lot and then obviously put it in his pocket but a few times in that scene he quietly looked at his hand so I don’t know if he had cut it or something.
I saw Bernard Cribbins during the interval – some people were getting his autograph as he was queuing to buy an ice cream!
The bedroom scene was really good tonight. Both Penny Downie and David Tennant acted it very strongly and it has a whole plethora of emotions and turns in that scene!
Afterwards I went to the stage door and there were loads of people there! David Tennant came out after about 20 minutes (he got into a red car tonight) and signed loads of autographs! He was probably there for 5 minutes or so and went backwards and forwards to both sides of the barrier.
I had a seat in the second row of the Dress Circle (which is the first level) and I was surprised to see that there were 3 empty seats at the end of the row. Obviously they were sold but it was disappointing that there was no way of letting fans use them out of the 20+ queue of people waiting for returns at 7.00pm.
David Tennant was moving really well again tonight. It’s amazing to think that it’s only just 4 weeks since he had his operation and it was supposed to be a 6 week recovery period. He still doesn’t kneel straight as often as he used to but he did the sword-fight as energetically as he always has and even ran off stage once in the bows. He got up and down from the bed without holding onto anything and leant back a fair bit for the “Pocket” line. He is still kissing Guildenstern (rather than running between the guard’s legs) but tonight he jumped up briefly before he did it.
There was one really big mistake on stage tonight in one of the final scenes as they missed out several lines when Hamlet and Horatio are talking to Orssis! The “very responsive to the hilts” (and following physical actions!) were missing.
At the start of that scene, for some reason, David Tennant came out on stage holding something white in his left hand. He also kept that hand in his jeans pocket a lot and then obviously put it in his pocket but a few times in that scene he quietly looked at his hand so I don’t know if he had cut it or something.
I saw Bernard Cribbins during the interval – some people were getting his autograph as he was queuing to buy an ice cream!
The bedroom scene was really good tonight. Both Penny Downie and David Tennant acted it very strongly and it has a whole plethora of emotions and turns in that scene!
Afterwards I went to the stage door and there were loads of people there! David Tennant came out after about 20 minutes (he got into a red car tonight) and signed loads of autographs! He was probably there for 5 minutes or so and went backwards and forwards to both sides of the barrier.
Next performance for me: tomorrow (Saturday 10th)!
