Hamlet - Tom Hiddleston, Kenneth Branagh, RADA fundraiser

The seats that were empty next to us were definitely sold/unavailable when my mate booked ours - or she would have booked them!

Usually there would be a returns queue and empty seats would be mostly filled by that, but RADA presumably didn't want fans camping out over night for them/to deal with refunding sold tickets.

Well I had a very enjoyable afternoon watching this. Though I did question my enjoyment sometimes whilst watching - but no, I did! Counted 5 empty seats in the stalls, 2 next to me.

Anyhoo, unfortunately this wasn't a patch on the Almeida production for me. I know each Hamlet is of course different and one shouldn't compare, but I couldn't help it. Though today was only my second ever Hamlet so I'm about as far from an expert on the play as you could possibly get! It just felt, for me, that there was little to no humanity in the production. I think I've put this down to some severe over-direction. There was lots of 'staging', lots of 'direction' and certainly lots of 'acting'. Having said that, this is a Kenny B production so what was I to expect...or is that unfair?

Tom Hiddleston had many moments of touching sincerity - he is indeed a very good actor - but there was also an awful lot of 'talktalktalktalkSHOUT'. I also felt he tried far too hard in comedy moments. Hamlet can be funny of course (Andrew Scott showed us this - apologies) but I don't feel he's as clownish and Hiddleston's Hamlet implied. However, when he was relaxed he was extremely charismatic and when he was full of rage you really felt it. The soliloquies were delivered very well indeed and it would be a lie for me to say that they were not full of emotion, but they sometimes weren't necessarily emotional. Does that even make sense?

Lolita's Queen Gertrude was a damp squib for me, unfortunately, and I didn't enjoy her performance at all. Much of the connection between Hamlet and his mother felt completely lost and much of their 'chemistry' felt unearthed. Considering Hamlet is surrounded by many strong women in this production (a great idea, I must say), the Queen felt like the weakest of them all. Maybe it's supposed to be that way, or it was a choice for this production, but in my opinion, either way, it didn't quite pay off. Nicholas Farrell made a strong Claudius right from the opening. He was stoic and articulate and brought out the menace of the King rather well, I thought.

Sean Foley was definitely an audience favourite as Polonius and I can't deny that I hugely enjoyed his performance - a real highlight and dare I say he may have 'stolen the show'?! Maybe it would've been nice for him to have played some moments for 'real' as opposed to trying to find the comedy in every single line and scene, even during times where it really isn't there. I think that's where the crux of the lost humanity lies. There was some 'choreographed' moments (and I don't just mean the dance with R&G), but moments where the direction entered into farce territory which really jarred. Speaking of R&G, they were well played by Ayesha Antoine and Eleanor de Rohan - Eleanor especially gave a really wonderful and understated performance that somehow still managed to not get lost. Caroline Martin very much made an impression with Horatia, I was again a large fan of her portrayal. The inexperience of Irfan Shamji as Laertes showed, I'm afraid to say, and Kathryn Wilder made a lovely Ophelia in Act 1, but I wasn't the biggest fan of the way Ophelia was directed in Act 2. It felt like it was directed to be played for laughs - but no one laughed. Maybe it was meant to make you feel uncomfortable, but it only achieved that for the wrong reasons. Ansu Kabia must be some sort of chameleon - he looked every inch the murdered old King (if not bit shouty) and when he appeared as the gravedigger it took me far longer than it should've to realise that it was the same actor! A glorious performance as the gravedigger, too.

It sounds like I hated it - I really, really didn't. When it was all put together, it made for a really enjoyable afternoon that went by very quickly. Also helps that it's a mighty good play, too. The lighting design was wonderful, the music and sound was used to great effect, the duel was magnificent and the end was very well played, too. I loved the intimacy of it, being on the same level as the actors and it was well acted throughout, if not a bit clinical.

I absolutely loved her! I loved her calm presence. 
Completely agree - he sort of carried the show.
I preferred Ayesha's Rosacrantz by a million miles!
I had problems with everything about Ophelia, from the casting to the direction.

And I found it funny that in one scene she appeared to be wearing Freema Agyeman's dress (that gets covered in red wine) from Apologia!
Oh me too! And I was only about 3 feet away from the grave!

Just flicked the telly on and I think I saw Eleanor de Rohan, 2017 RADA graduate who played Guildastern, playing one of the delivery people during the silly bit at the beginning of Strictly It Takes Two.

Anyone?

A tenuous link, but RADA are having another fund raiser, tickets to see Murder On The orient Express followed by a Q&A with Sir Ken, a snip at £100 each (although that does include champagne, make sure you have a glass or five if you decide to go): RADA