(Community Matters) I’ll try to draft better posts on the trip home tomorrow.
Hamlet (Royal National Theatre) – the play’s contemporary setting within a believable surveillance state brings one of Shakespeare’s most revered works (with as many famous quotes as any work – correct?) so much more within reach. I think it’d hold my 10yo nephew’s and younger godsons’ attentions. Nicholas Hytner, who runs the National Theatre, directed. An Englishman known to appreciate low brow as much as high brow, is obviously less bound by formality – no doubt a gift which accounts for much the excellence we’ve seen at the National over the last seven years . Rory Kinnear knocks it out of the park as Hamlet. Saw him in Burnt By the Sun this summer. Clare Higgins stood out as Gertrude, as did Giles Terrera as Haratio. I so want Robert Faires to see this production – he applies some of the same to Henry V.
Priscilla, Queen of Desert. My friend Paul Boskind is producing this musical in New York, so I promised I’d see the London version. I’ve walked by the Shaftesbury theatre hundreds of times, even taken pics of ST under the giant pump. Of course, Ben Richards is gorgeous as Tick – so’s a newbie (Oliver Thornton) as Adam. The show was fun; the audience found it hilarious. Not sure I’ve ever seen a standing ovation in London – though it was as much about wanting to get up and dance as anything. I need to guard against high brow biases myself – we enjoyed this.
The Readers Wifes Fan Club – I suppose this could count as a gay bar outing for us (only the 2nd in our 12 years together). This Duckie troop has performed at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern for 14 years. We had a blast at the “post-gay culture” show, part experimental theatre, part pop video and part drag.
photo: Readers Wifes
Community Matters 