I am going to see Benedict Cumberbatch in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. I'm driving 45 minutes to get to the theater so my sister and her husband and I can watch the filmed performance via National Theatre Live, and, yes, I am that much of a geek that I am thrilled to do this. The performance is a somewhat updated version of the play in setting only, which I think is a fabulous idea. The first Shakespeare I ever saw was an updated version of Much Ado About Nothing, in which the language was Shakespearean but the setting was somewhere around the roaring twenties (if memory serves me). It starred a very young Sam Waterston, and from that moment on, I was hooked. Much Ado remains my favorite of all the plays, and I'm also quite fond of the Branagh version. Who doesn't love a demented Michael Keaton spouting, "Let it be known that I am an ass!"
I don't even care that I'll be arriving home around midnight after the three-and-a-half hour performance. Of course, I'll probably be observed by the principal on Friday, but, hey, Cumberbatch is damn important. He's the frigging man, people. Ever since I saw him in the British mini-series The Last Enemy, I have been
As the Three Stooges would say, "For duty and humanity!"
