Hamlet - Theatre Royal Windsor (Ian McKellen)

I went to see this on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed it a lot. It is just so wonderful to hear Ian McKellen for hours, it's well worth the trip just for that!
It's true that there isn't one single and clear concept that was presented to the audience, so it might feel disjointed for some people, like the critic from What's On Stage, who said the director "doesn't seem to have a view of the play; he throws in gimmicks such as an exercise bike for Hamlet and some loud pop music(...)". True, not everything works fantastically, but I wasn't bothered: I think changing the language to be more accessible (thy/thou was changed to your/you) and the cuts made sense, and the cast is fantastic. It's a production that doesn't have the pretension of being neither radical and modern nor conservative and as faithful to the original as possible, whatever that means.
I sat on Front Stalls, and the view from half the seats on stage seemed terrible as you'd lose so much of the action or see it from behind/side - it's not a proper in the round production. Also, they have a small programme (kinda boring) and a large one, which looks great.

On a slight tangent, we are heading to Windsor to see this next weekend. Neither of us have been to Windsor before so if anyone had a suggestion of a nice pub or place for dinner beforehand?

Thank you in advance!

A great day in windsor yesterday, down from manchester and back after the show. Easy to park, managed a boat trip and a great meal, and then the glorious show. Yes, maybe there's no clear overall picture, but the play stills works it's magic even after twenty odd productions i've seen. McKellen flirts with those familiar phrases and comes up fresh everytime, frances barber was pompously hysterical, Jenny Seagrove looks as if she has stepped in from Frozen, having played Elsa, though the long blonde plait had a reason. Her accent was extraordinary, though i liked that she suddenly turned to drink - making sense of her part in the fencing scene. The arras scene was interesting though the rack of dresses hardly looked like ones Gertrude would have worn. Not worried about the age/gender/race/ability ballyhoo for one second - this is after all, a play that begins with a talking ghost. and actors conveniently act out a play within a play echoing the main story. Sad not to see Francesca Annis in the curtain call, but then the ghost has so little to do - but if we see the ghost as flesh and blood should it not be there in the closet scene, or is Hamlet teasing gertrude. Then that would mean the actor would have to stick around for act Two. Lots of random ideas, some worked well, and some didn't, but hurray for sir Ian.

They have to do Cherry Orchard before anything else

They haven't said what the previous box office record was and when it was so breaking all box office records is a bit meaningless.

I just finished reading David Weston’s memoir of the tumultuous Lear tour (which starred McKellan and Barber). Wonder if they shared fond - or perhaps not so fond - memories!

Yep, I didn't understand Gertrude at all - she looked like Elsa from Frozen as a maure lady, but then anyone care to explain the the three eventual hair losses - some thought must have been behind that, something about seeing the truth, being honest? Though i did like the thinking tha Gertrude turned to drink, albeit rather suddenly. and Hamlet and Horatio clearly had a history together, but R&G were a bit wishy washy.And Osric certainly made the most of her moment.

I have certainly seen that done though I think i've seen several Gertrude's give the impression that they know it's poisoned and drink it to prove it.

There was a director once, I forget who, who wanted to stage Hamlet with all the solioquies cut out so it became very much a fast-moving "public" political play. Usually the opposite happens. 

Thank you for the above _ i'd not seen the paternal echoes there, but heck the plays works so well as a claustrophobic family drama writ large.

I saw a full text production nearly 30 years ago. Stephen Dillane was Hamlet, Gwen Taylor was Gertrude and Donald Sinden was Polonius.

I seem to recall the interval came after 2.5 hours. We then returned for a further 2 hours.

Other than Dillane getting naked at one point as a sign of his descent into madness, very little of the production has stuck in my memory.