Everything we know about Benedict Cumberbatch’s ‘Hamlet’
To be, or not to be…. a Cumberbatch superfan. That is the question.
For us, the answer is yes, and we’re wildly stoked to hear all about Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet on stage in London. This is Cumberbatch, and Hamlet, like we’ve never seen them before.
Hamlet has been in previews for a few weeks now, and every day we’ve learned a little bit more about exactly what’s going on. But last night was the official opening, and now we know a bit more about the whole shebang.
Tickets for this show are COMPLETELY sold out, as would be expected. Because, come on, this is Cumberbatch reading lines from one of Shakeaspeare’s greatest works. Of course tickets sold out in less than .35 seconds. Since it might be hard to get inside the Barbican Theatre and see everything first hand, here are some things we know for certain about the show.
1. Hamlet is three hours long. Roughly the running-time of two episodes of Sherlock.
2. It is one of the fastest selling shows that the London theater has ever seen.
3. Benedict wears a hoodie sweatshirt, a fencing jacket, AND a David Bowie t-shirt during the production.
4. You also won’t be able to find any videos or photos from the production, because Cumberbatch has pleaded with fans not to record the show.
5. There are also ushers in the theater watching the audience from the front to make sure that no photos or videos are taken.
6. Mark Gatiss, who plays Mycroft on Sherlock, thinks that Cumberbatch’s performance is “magnificent.”
7. Cumberbatch’s mother, Wanda Ventham, thinks that he is “a bloody good Hamlet.” Awww.
8. Also in attendance for the show Tuesday night were Cumberbatch’s wife, Sophie Hunter, Sherlock on-screen BFF Martin Freeman, and Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens and Allen Leech.
9. The sets are supposedly very impressive, but this might be something we have to see IRL to believe.
10. Times theatre critic Kate Maltby called the production, “This is Hamlet for kids raised on Moulin Rouge” which is supposed to be an insult, but that actually makes it sound like the most exciting production of Hamlet this decade.
11. The New York Times theater critic, Ben Brantley, describes Cumberbatch as “riding Shakespeare’s rushing words like a surfboard, as if saving his interior energy for the monologues,” and the monologues he delivers are “superb.”
12. But alas, every single review of the show has somewhere mentioned that they have “mixed” feelings/emotions/thoughts during the performance.
13. The Hollywood Reporter calls it “admirable” which I think is another way to describe something as “mixed feelings.”
14. But Cumberbatch fans are LOVING the show. Vanity Fair caught up with a few of them, and they described everything as “a blur of excitement” and that Cumberbatch “lived up to the hype and pressure—he gave a wonderfully convincing performance.”
15. Another fan mentions that, she “genuinely can’t think of anything [she] disliked, as the play was so good.” Her final review is “five stars.”
16. Some are even calling Hamlet “funny,” which is an odd description, seeing as how by the end (spoiler alert) basically everyone is dead.
17. Bottom line: this sounds like the most exciting staging of Hamlet in recent memory. It’s all thanks to Cumberbatch, who carries the weight of the show on his shoulders (kinda like how Hamlet feels that the weight of the world and/or Denmark is on his shoulders).
(Images via Twitter by Johan Persson for Barbican)
Related:
The Internet stages of falling in love with Benedict Cumberbatch
