Tuesday 4 August 2009

The play's the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.

Tonight, I was within spitting distance of Jude Law (not that I would do that of course). Sometime last week I was reading in the newspaper about the play currently running in London and Jude Law's handsome face caught my eye. I was aware that he was playing Hamlet, but I also had read/heard that it had sold out ages ago. Well, I read the fine print and it turns out that they have 30 "day tickets" that you can purchase on the day at the theatre. Now, I have never been a particular Shakespeare fan but there really wasn't anything else to see and let's be honest. . . it's JUDE LAW!!! The play could have been rubbish, but I would still be able to gawk at him for 3 hours. I decided to go for it and see if I could get tickets. 3 hours of standing in line (it should have only been about an hour but the computers went down) and I had a box ticket for £25!

A few hours later, after coming home for lunch and a kip, I was back in Leicester Square ready for my night at the theatre. It also turns out that Katherine Heigl was in London for the premiere of her new movie which was also in Leicester Square, but alas I didn't get back into town early enough to pay much attention to that (I only learned that it was happening when I was riding back into the city on the Tube and was reading the paper). I picked up a playbill and went to go find my seat.

I do not go to plays very often and I almost always have cheap seats. Well, let me tell you . . . box seats are so cool! The usher showed me to my box and I had a seat. I had a flashback to Julia Roberts at the opera in Pretty Woman! The only downside to some box seats is that there is a bit of view obstruction since you're to the side of the stage, but if you leaned over enough, you could see pretty much everything. Besides, all of the really important stuff takes place centre stage anyway.

I have never read Hamlet, nor have I seen it performed, so I took out a little insurance when I was at my flat in the afternoon. I read the Spark Notes synopsis of the play so I could figure out what was going on through the Shakespearean English. I'm glad I did because I could follow the story much more easily that way rather than going in cold. Jude was fabulous! I also had some familiar faces from some of my British shows which was an added bonus. Oh and I"m now convinced that the ONLY way to see Shakespearean plays is with a British cast. The accents just make it that much more enjoyable and understandable. It was also fascinating to me just how many exceedingly famous quotes are out of that play! I was making a list in my head and then ran out of room LOL! There are some other fantastic lines, of which my favourite is, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so". So true Hamlet, so true!


This was a fantastic way to spent my penultimate night in London. Riding back on the Tube I was thinking of all of the amazing things I have seen and done during my time in London. I crammed a lot of things into 3.5 weeks!

2 comments:

  1. I AM SO FREAKING JEALOUS!!!!!!!! (But I'm WICKED happy that if it couldn't be me, that it was you!) I'm glad you enjoyed the production. What an amazing experience!

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  2. Carol Ann Ferris5 August 2009 at 17:18

    I notice that you are now writing in "English" : )
    Will that change when you get home?

    What a wonderful experience! Can't wait to hear more and more and more. : )

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