Hamlet - Shakespeare's Globe

Hamlet

On Friday 6 May, we met up at London Bridge tube station and headed along London's South Bank to Shakespeare's Globe to see Hamlet. We popped into Gourmet Burger Kitchen on the way for a quick dinner.

Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan open-air playhouse on the banks of the River Thames, first built in 1599 and destroyed by fire in 1613. The original Globe was where Shakespeare worked and for which he wrote many of his greatest plays. The modern reconstruction was opened to the public in 1997. Each year the theatre season runs from April to October, with productions of work by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as modern writers. Over 350,000 people visit the Globe every year, either sitting on the "wooden O" gallery or standing in the yard, just as they would have done 400 years ago.

Luckily Megan was thinking and she brought some cushions from home with her, so the rather uncomfortable wooden seats in the gallery were slightly more comfortable. Hamlet went for nearly three hours, including a lenghty interval, so we had slightly sore backs and legs by the end of it - not built for comfort really.

For those not familiar with the story of Hamlet, here goes... Learning of his father, the king's death, young Prince Hamlet comes home to find his uncle married to mother and installed on the Danish throne. At night, the ghost of the dead king visits Hamlet and demands that he avenge his "most foul and unnatural murder" at the hands of his brother, the new king. Hamlet first seeks proof of the murder and then plots his revenge. However, as is often the way, a mixture of political intrigue, sexual obsession, wild humour, philosophical reflection and violent action culminated in tragedy, as almost everyone in the play was killed.

We really enjoyed another visit to Shakespeare's Globe and Hamlet was brilliant. The actors were all amazing and, while the seats were not super comfy, at least it didn't rain on our parade! Pictures below are borrowed - not our own work!