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A few of us went to see it on Monday and it was excellent. Of course, I can't speak for them, but I really enjoyed it. I've seen one film version of Hamlet before and found it incredibly boring, but this was nothing like that. It was engaging throughout. We were late in getting tickets, so we had to get standing tickets (for a 3 and a half hour play), but I barely noticed, I was so caught up in the play. David Tennant and Patrick Stewart were both excellent as Hamlet and Claudius, but they were backed up by a brilliant supporting cast. I'm seriously considering trying to get tickets for the London transfer, when they become available in September.

This does sound like it would be a interesting production to see. Good thing we have killjoys like this guy to remind us Shakespeare's plays are a literary treasure to be preserved from actual public enjoyment:

Not everyone is so happy with the decision to cast 37-year-old Tennant as Shakespeare's melancholy Dane. Veteran director Jonathan Miller recently sniffed that the choice of "that man from 'Doctor Who' " was an example of the theater's "obsession with celebrity."

Um, correct me if I'm wrong here Mr. Snobbypants, but hasn't Shakespeare been a vehicle for the most celebrated actors of the day since . . . well, pretty much since Shakespeare wrote the damn plays? Actually, given Dr. Miller's own cv, it seems odd that he'd sniff at tv/theater crossover casting like this.

I'm not really all that familiar with DT's background, but the article does mention that he, like Patrick Stewart, has a background in Shakespearian theater.

I was there as well (along with Caz, Bally, Crystal and Chris) and it was just absolutely marvellous and breathtakingly fantastic. And not just because of David Tennant, either. I've never seen such a luscious, luxurious theatre production. There were costume changes about every ten minutes, the play within the play was gorgeous, and there was fencing at the end. Actual fencing! I loved the setup of the stage - it's built so that it's immersed into the audience on three sides, with runways leading through the audience diagonally at the front - and the cast was brilliant. I was particularly smitten with the actors who played Gertrude (she was incredibly fantastic), Horatio and Laertes; and Patrick Stewart and David Tennant were even more amazing than I expected them to be. Ophelia... well, I have yet to see an Ophelia I am not completely irritated by.

Also, I'd really like to point out that the fengirl were not nearly as present as I expected them to be - I'd estimate there were about a hundred people at the stage door, and the fengirl were definitely in the minority. Instead, there were lots of families and people of all ages waiting very patiently and being generally very well-behaved and helpful, passing programs on to the actors to be signed and such.

For those interested in pictures, david-tennant.com has a load of very pretty ones. The images on the first few pages are rather small, but there are some in higher resolutions later on. They are mostly of David Tennant, obviously; I haven't found pictures anywhere else yet, though-

Christine wrote:For those interested in pictures, david-tennant.com has a load of very pretty ones. The images on the first few pages are rather small, but there are some in higher resolutions later on. They are mostly of David Tennant, obviously; I haven't found pictures anywhere else yet, though-

There are a few more pictures at whatsonstage.com. I think most of them are already covered in your link, but there are some good ones that are new.

Cool, I hadn't seen some of those, particularly of the other actors. Thanks!

Also, Outpost Gallifrey has a collection of links to reviews (scroll down to the entry 'Tennant's Hamlet opens to positive reviews') and galleries.