by William Shakespeare
seen at the Barbican on 23 October 2015
This production is directed by Lyndsey Turner and designed by Es Devlin, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet, Anastasia Hille as Gertrude, Ciarán Hinds as Claudius and Jim Norton as Polonius.
Anticipation was almost ridiculously high because of Benedict Cumberbatch's huge popularity - tickets sold out within hours over a year before the first performances. Early previews received very mixed responses, not least because of some baffling rearrangements and cuts to the text (though the full text is very rarely performed by anyone). Notoriously, the play began with the 'to be or not to be' speech, though by the time of the official first night this famous soliloquy was placed later (but still, earlier than usual). Reviews of the finished product praised Cumberbatch but found fault with various aspects of the production.
