Penners
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- Suffolk, England
Did anyone else watch the BBC2 production of Hamlet, yesterday, with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart? It was absolutely, utterly, completely superb!
Over the years, I've had the privilege of seeing Laurence Olivier, Richard Johnson, Kenneth Branagh and David Warner (an old school chum of mine) as Hamlet, and I thought Tennant outshone the lot of them. I've never really paid too much attention to him as a stage actor - I thought of him simply as Dr Who. But he has risen dramatically (no pun intended) in my estimation.
Every character in this production was played superbly. I've always thought that Hamlet contains some of Shakespeare's greatest use of English, and every line of the play was delivered with a clarity of meaning that would have endeared and enlightened it to the greenest of Shakespeare novices.
If you didn't see it, I urge to try and do so. I don't know whether it will now be on the iPlayer, but I imagine it will be repeated in due course. Don't be discouraged by its length - its 3+ hours will pass in a flash.
Over the years, I've had the privilege of seeing Laurence Olivier, Richard Johnson, Kenneth Branagh and David Warner (an old school chum of mine) as Hamlet, and I thought Tennant outshone the lot of them. I've never really paid too much attention to him as a stage actor - I thought of him simply as Dr Who. But he has risen dramatically (no pun intended) in my estimation.
Every character in this production was played superbly. I've always thought that Hamlet contains some of Shakespeare's greatest use of English, and every line of the play was delivered with a clarity of meaning that would have endeared and enlightened it to the greenest of Shakespeare novices.
If you didn't see it, I urge to try and do so. I don't know whether it will now be on the iPlayer, but I imagine it will be repeated in due course. Don't be discouraged by its length - its 3+ hours will pass in a flash.