Fans of Benedict Cumberbatch have travelled thousands of miles to see their idol make his debut as Hamlet.
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Alice Sayre, 21, who camped overnight for seats, was part of a vocal backlash, saying: “The reason I’m here is because all the tickets sold out immediately, after all the Cumberbatch fans bought them all”.
The Telegraph’s Serena Davies gave a more realistic review, pointing out that the play will run for three weeks until critics are invited to review it.
It’s not common theatrical practice for reviews to be posted a new production after just one performance.
Tabloid media revealed that the 39-year-old Benedict Cumberbatch’s opening night performance at London’s Barbican theatre lived up to the hype it created and theatergoers have described his acting as an electrifying, sublime and riveting performance, reported the Mirror. Davis adds that Cumberbatch “commands and surprises”, and is well supported by a cast that includes the “always moving and intelligent Ciaran Hinds as Hamlet’s murdering uncle Claudius”. It’s hard to flatten Hamlet: he is, after all, Shakespeare’s most quicksilver creation.
In her dissection of the production, Kate Maltby’s conclusion is that it is nothing more than “Hamlet for kids raised on Moulin Rouge”. She also condemns the “indefensible” decision to open with Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy, which is not repeated, in sequence, at the right emotional moment.
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Her opinions, however, were not shared by the Cumberfans, who flooded Twitter’s #HamletBarbican hashtag with praise for their sweet prince.
