pumpkinstrokemarrow

Nearer home, I have a health and safety beef about an office building somewhere south of Stamford Street. We were strolling around, a bit off piste, taking in the various odd buildings old and new in this part of the Lambeth-Southwark borders. Turning a corner we suddenly found ourselves dazzled, blinded even. Just as well that there were no lycra loonies headed our way because we would not have seen a thing. That's odd I thought to myself. I thought we were pointing vaguely east and it is late afternoon. Look around and we find that people are walking around with two shadows. Look around a bit more and find that the shadows pointing vaguely west are the result of the late afternoon sun being reflected off the mirror glass of one of the new office blocks. And being reflected, we get to see it at half the real altitude. All the benefits of low flying sun without having to wait until winter. Plus you get two suns for the price of one. Clearly a danger to life and limb, but who do I complain to? Or do I just sue the owner of the office building for the trauma of the accident that nearly was?

Shortly after trauma, we arrived at the Globe where we found a seat in the now more or less occluded sun where we could take in our picnic and the various passers by, before going in for the Globe's touring performance of Hamlet, which had on that day reached the globe point of the tour. We had been attracted as we thought that a touring version might go a bit easy on the pantomime acts the Globe is fond of.

As it turned out, not a bad show at all, albeit with (I think) a fairly heavily adapted text, something that the helpful programme claimed was entirely OK and kosher. Provincial audiences in Jacobean times couldn't cope with the full monty any more than most of us.

Good use of elementary props to signify things like presence on watch towers.

Touring taken down to the point where there were 8 actors (including actresses) who had to cover the 20 odd parts, to do the music and the scene shifting. The only part which was not doubled up was that of Hamlet himself. Not as bad as the 2 man Hamlet we saw near the Oval (see 26th November last) but I found all the switching a bit tiresome. They managed OK, but I did not.

Another result of actor economy was that Gertrude, who doubled as a violin player, came across as rather dowdy and very school marmy. Good maternal displays towards Hamlet in the second half, but hard to see why Claudius would have put his immortal soul in peril on her account.

Horatio was, for me, badly done as scarcely more than a plump school boy. Rather silly and immature. Not clear whether this was a product of casting or direction but I did not like it. A Prince of Denmark might be expected to have more dignified friends, the goings on of our Windsors notwithstanding. R&G played more or less entirely for laughs. I suppose you have to expect that these days. But I still think that Hamlet is a bit casual about knocking them off: he claims that they were party to the plot to knock him off but we are given no evidence of that.

Direction was also very keen on theatrical gestures with both hands, so we got lots of them. The only one who could manage them with any style was Ophelia. Hamlet couldn't do it at all. A shame, as otherwise I thought he did rather well, despite being and looking very young.

Went a bit flat at the end with what seemed like a rush to the finishing line.