The rest is silence...

So.

I've seen it.

It was phenomenal.

After ten months of waiting, last night I finally got to see the new production of Hamlet at the RSC in Stratford. David Tennant and Patrick Stewart in the sexy sleazy Shakesperean tragedy.

David Tennant was magnificent, he really was. A few people have asked me if he was any good, saying they were actually put off going to see the production when they heard that the Doctor was going to be taking on the lead. However - that overlooks one tiny detail - David can act. He can really act. And he acts his socks off in this production, meaning that you're not going 'ooh, look it's the Doctor, fencing with a Danish nobleman' - you forget that it's being acted by anyone famous, even that it's being acted at all - well, for me at least, that's how it was. He was awesome.

Loved Penny Downie as Gertrude - just slutty enough I thought! Her hysterical laughter turned anguished sobbing was fabulous. Patrick Stewart was competent (you'd hope so!) as Claudius, and was gloriously sycophantic as the play opened. However, I never really felt he truly exposed Claudius' real nastiness. Perhaps once the previews have been completed and the first press reviews are out, he'll look to enhance the more sinister side of the character.

However, the real revelation for me was Oliver Ford Davies. Playing Polonius, he really got under the skin of this bumbling, self-centred old man and peeled back the layers to show us his selfishness, disregard for his children and his surprising moment sof sharp insight - after all, let's not forget that it's Polonius who who notes of Hamlet that there is method in his madness.

Having drank the rest of the night away in the Dirty Duck, I'm going to retire to bed now. I am so, so happy I splashed out on tickets for the London run of this show - if I wasn't already going to see it again I'd be on eBay right now parting with money I don't even have to have the chance to see this fantastic production again.

Awesome.

a x