I didn’t forget about it, but I didn’t write about it that Monday night I attended a National Theater Live presentation of Hamlet with the inestimable Benedict Cumberbatch and a rep company of renown. Four hours of goodness.

There was a young (junior high-high school-ish?) girl next to me who fidgeted and ate popcorn for awhile. Her mother clearly did not want to be there and kept checking in with her – are you ok? do you want to go? The girl answered, ‘but there’s so much plot!’ as if to say, so much story still to come and later on, ‘and they all die!’ which of course is the truth. After she gave up on the popcorn I was grateful and enjoyed the intermission conversation. Thankfully the whole crowd was pretty quiet except for responding to the drama itself.

The staging was pretty spectacular, and I’m always amazed when the players make the language (albeit slightly tinkered with) perfectly normal and understandable. The drama was high, there was much emotion and many tears, Ophelia was brought out of the shadows and yes, they all died in the end. As the song says,

Fortinbras, knee deep in Danes, lived happily ever after.
Hamlet Hamlet ain’t it gory,
Hamlet Hamlet end of story,
Hamlet Hamlet I’m on my way
If you think that was boring,
You should read the bloody play!”

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