Thread to talk about the actor Tom Hiddleston
>>49 How many of these have come out? Are the interwebs flooded with praise, I.e., was RADA's champagne budget put to good use?
That's why I called it a "review" and not a review.
I think in my last post I was trying to articulate that the non dress rehearsal dress rehearsal made it sound more rather than less calculated.
The people who tweeted included (a) a plus one of the actor Derek Smith; (b) a (recent?) graduate of RADA who is in the business in the US and has a blue Twitter tick, but of whom I have never heard; and (c) the agent of one of the actors. Colour me cynical but I don't feel that these are people who would donate £100,000, or even £10,000 to the cause.
It may have been dressed up as a "donor" event but I still think that the reality was that this was a way of getting industry types and famous people into the auditorium without them having to enter the ballot. Apparently David Attenborough was there - as brother of the late Dickie - and they were hardly going to make him enter the ballot, were they?? But they want to have their cake and eat it. No critics, no big audience, but maximum coverage.
All very useful for anyone who wants to be seen by the aforementioned industry types (which includes the newbies as well as TH). But not a donor event. If they wanted to make srious money from that evening and publicise the cause to the 1% they could have sold tickets to the highest bidder.
"very lucky to see a dress run of #radahamlet this week. a really strong company, clear and immediate storytelling. thank you! @RADA_London"
plus the one Heynon cited at >>49
"Watching opening night of Hamlet, played by Tom Hiddleston, at rada, with David Attenborough on the opposite front row. One to tick off the bucket list I didn't know I had"
impactful and beautifully realised cliche person/vibrant and pacey cliche person/coming all the way from America person
I think that is basically it so far.
So basically this show is for new RADA students to get noticed by industry types; basically an audition. And TH to get his "serious actor" cred back more then the "charity" itself. With "reviews" from probably Kenneth's theater friends and a sprinkle of TH stans.
Yep. Total emergency serious actor status plan. TH is extremely lucky he has Branagh on his side. If it was any other actor of a lower station I.e. not posh, it would take years to get their former reputation back. TH is so transparent.
Its interesting that they have these rich parties for the "charity". Working clas students in less prestigious schools who don't have that clout really have an insurmountable mountain to climb to the top when the competition have vast resources they never have.
A few interesting and not wholly intentional revelations in this interview with a RADA bod: https://amp.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/01/tom-hiddleston-plays-hamlet-london-ticket
I noticed:
(1) it's avowedly not about making as much money as possible . (Apparently it's about the "art")
(2) KB and TH had talked of a project for years but it was mysteriously only recently that their schedules coincided. One of you having no work will do that.
Also:
No critics so as to maximise revenue (even though it is not all about the money!)
It's the "grief Hamlet" (I bet!)
PS re timing. Although KB became president of RADA 18 months ago, the interviewee deliberately elides when Branagh actually called to say he wanted to direct TH in the school play. It is not said that KB suggested this 18 months ago.
>>51 Haven't found any new tweets about the final dress/real opening night/whatever the heck that was. It's possible, of course, that many of those attending aren't much for social media. (The few who did tweet weren't generally exactly household names!)
Good catch on the vagueness in the Guardian article about exactly when KB proposed this to RADA. The production is already having one of its intended effects, it seems - to get the non-tabloid UK press to stop ridiculing Tom.
We should start to see feedback from the paying audience in about 5 hours.
>>50 - >>56 Oh there's a whole lot of let's stand in a circle and scratch each others' backs communal benefitting going on here!
No it doesn't. Article says Branagh became President 18 months ago. Article also says that Kemp recalls talking to Branagh about directing a show, but Kemp does not say when that conversation took place. Could have been immediately after Branagh became President or could have been 3 months ago.
Kemp rang back a week after that conversation and proposed doing a show with TH. That still does not tell us when the initial conversation took place.
>>59 Sorry, "Branagh rang Kemp back a week after...etc"
From the Guardian's twitter account, the Saturday edition - HiddleHam gets front page, complete with the pictures referred to in >>38
https://twitter
.com/guardian/status/903723011353841664
Print is too small to read.
It's a good pic. Is the ripped t shirt Hamlet's rended black garment or Tom's normal rehearsal gear?
The text says something about the production having started yesterday (i.e. today) and that tickets are sold out. It suggests there is an article inside as there is an arrow pointing to a 5 in a circle. Possibly the article linked to above?
Front page of the Telegraph: https://lolawashere.tumblr.com/post/164873575827/front-page-of-tomorrows-telegraph-newspaper
Story inside.
Someone tweeted that Hamlet is wearing black jeans, black coat, black Calvin Klein pants (he's British so he means underpants) and THE GREY BOOTS!!!!
>>63 So his clothes have melded to his body. Ditto with the shoes. Great. :(
>>58 The syntax is vague. Anon is correct. Had it read 'Branagh became president of Rada about 18 months ago and Kemp recalled talking with him then about directing a show' the timing would be more concrete. As it reads now, it isn't.
>>63 This isn't the grief Hamlet, it's the Johnny Cash Hamlet! Oh no, he's going to bring out the guitar and sing about missing his daddy.
>>62 The caption identifies Tom and his costar, Caroline Martin. I saw the link too, Anon but I'm not sure that it links to the article in >>55, since that link is for Friday's article, but the photo is for Saturday. Dunno.
Clever has posted a number of tweets, including the one in >>63 about the grey boots. One, Jashalee, says that TH is slightly better than Cumber but doesn't come close to Andew Scott's Hamlet. Ouch.
@MatthewLumby's twitter is a good read, a lot of tweets in a long Hamlet thread. He's the one who commented on the boots.
>>63 Hmm, tumblr link has been deleted for the Telegraph cover. Here it is on Twitter:
https://twitter
.com/ajsaladine/status/903736041793871879
Many other tweets together. TH sings and plays piano at the beginning:
https://always-hiddleston.tumblr.com/post/164874727352/insanely-smart
The Guardian critic got a ticket - https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/sep/02/hamlet-review-lucky-few-see-tom-hiddleston-combine-sweet-sadness-with-incandescent-fury
>>71 And the Times critic saw it as well:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/theatre-review-hamlet-at-the-rada-jerwood-vanbrugh-theatre-tom-hiddleston-kenneth-branagh-ddlqnzr8l
I've used up my Times views for the week, so please jump in if there's anything significant said.
So they either saw it at last night's event, or....
>>62, >>70 The Guardian review mentions white windows on the set, so this may have been from the production shots,
>>72 So the Times review said they got their ticket thru the ballot like everyone else. IF that's true, maybe the Times had every employee submit a ballot in order to produce a winner who could then "gift" the tix to the critic.
More audience reviews (interviewed after the show), including one who didn't think TH was great: https://www.yahoo.com/style/tom-hiddleston-apos-apos-mesmerising-002707294.html
I have a subscription:
★★★★☆
This production of Shakespeare’s great play stars Tom Hiddleston and so it was dubbed, immediately, a HiddleHamlet. The hype has been huge. You cannot buy a ticket for love nor money to see the super-villain star of Thor in the role, as every one of them for the three-week run were allocated by ballot (proceeds go to Rada). Critics were not given tickets and The Times won its ticket via the ballot like everyone else.
It’s a terrific production. Sir Kenneth Branagh directs with style but then he’s had a while to think it over. Apparently he first floated the idea of doing Hamlet with Hiddleston a decade ago when he saw him in Othello. Since then the doomed Dane has become the role du jour for thrusting young actors who want to be taken seriously: David Tennant; Benedict Cumberbatch; Andrew Scott, whose pause-filled Hamlet is just finishing in the West End.
And now, Hiddleston. He is a fine Prince from the get-go, when we see him sitting on a stage bare but for a piano, picking out the notes, singing a lament for his father (though, it must be said, he can’t sing). He makes the role completely his own, emotional, magnetic, canny, often frolicsome. The words seem natural, effortless. He bounds around the stage and his duelling is fierce (his swordplay, unlike his musicianship, is expert).
This is a stripped-down version, with modern dress, set in present-day Denmark. Branagh introduces as much mirth as it can take: as Hamlet begins to go mad, he takes to wearing hoodies, painting his face and reading a book titled Reasons to Stay Alive. There are tinges of farce, with doors a-slamming. There is also melodrama and, towards the end, way too many dark and brooding Scandi noir skies.
This is a small (160-seat) theatre and the audience surrounds the stage on three sides so it’s hard to hide a mistake. The words are wonderfully clear throughout and Branagh has had some fun with the casting, having placed more women in various roles: Guildenstern has become Guildastern and Rosencrantz is now a Rosa.
It’s three hours long and flows well, helped by James Cotterill’s sparse set (it’s amazing what you can do with a sofa and a desk). Not all performances sing but Nicholas Farrell is a thunderous ghost and Sean Foley an engaging Polonius. But it is Hiddleston who holds the eye and our imagination. The only shame is that so few will see his HiddleHamlet."
Given that 75% of the audience appears to be female I suppose casting women as Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern was appropriate!
The reviews have reminded me that Kenneth Branagh is a fine director. I am disappointed that this won't see the light of day to any meaningful number of people. It would be well worth it even with another actor in the lead.
The Telegraph's review: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/tom-hiddleston-hamlet-supremely-self-assured-prince-radas/amp/
More detailed than the first two. But like them, barely reviewing any performance other than TH's.
Pictures from the program: twitter,com/disneycastle88/status/903784267544657922/photo/2
Nice of RADA to open this on a US holiday weekend when one can make time to pay attention to this!
OK, last one. About the two recent RADA grads in the show and more about the lottery reasoning, with some quiet dissing of hardcore fans: https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-daily-telegraph/20170902/281479276557276
>>82 It is good that some of the less well known actors got a look in.
As to the "certain people will be on the internet" diss - well, I am not so sure that the audience is significantly less composed of uber fans by having the ballot.
The Donmar audience for Coriolanus was not noticeably composed of stans (I didn't see anyone taking a pic, even in the curtain call). The audience was as it usually is - people old and rich enough to be on the advance mailing list for £350 a year, plus their kids/other halves/random mates (me!).
There seemed to be more fans at the Cumby Hamlet - but the Barbican is so huge that there was space for a lot of non fan theatregoers. Again the Barbican has an advance mailing list (a lot cheaper than the Donmar) which allows committed theatregoers to get a look in ahead of fans.
The Nuffield talk was I'd say 99% committed fans - probably because it was a one off with (somewhat) limited numbers (large auditorium). Even so it didn't sell out for about 3 days so I would say that everyone who really wanted to go did.
Looking at the Telegraph pic of the punters, and looking at how many of the tumblr regulars have tickets, I would say they are much more like the Nuffield audience and much less like the Donmar. I actually think that having a ballot and limited numbers made it more and not less of a fandom event. It attracts a different sort of obsessed fan - the kind that will set up 15 email addresses and/or ask every family member they know to enter and/or peddle their ass on Twitter to get a plus one.
By the way, as career rehabilitation it seems to be working like a dream. It feels
like there is wall to wall coverage of him and (to a lesser degree) the production in the broadsheet press. Last week they were full of TS summer fluff broadsheet articles. They have all vanished. Nobody's mentioned TS in any article or review I've seen (I wouldn't put British journalists past this). Juvenile diss track with indifferent reviews has been completely eclipsed by genuine artistic endeavour with great reviews. Hats off the KB and TH for that.
>>84 Agreed, though I did see a couple of non-review articles this AM that spent more time on Tayto and the tshirt than on Hamlet (Metro UK was one, I think the DM was another.)
>>85 The DM doesn't surprise me. I suspect that will be how he is represented from now until he does something else that enables the DM to pigeonhole him. Before TS it was revealing his bum in "saucy scenes" on tv.
However I felt TH was really in the career doodoo when he was on the front page of the Telegraph because of Tayto, or being the subject of snarky articles in the guardian. He must be well pleased that he is on the front page of both because of his new project.
>>86 This is working out well for him. Plus the good reviews are being magnified on social media, and will probably have extra "weight" with whomever because there will be so few reviews.
Even the BBC had to do a summary of audience opinions from Twitter since their critic didn't get into the first show. I did think the Times review sounded a little snarky, perhaps as a result of the balloting. Is that their critc's usual style?
The Guardian's 4 stars were more than they gave either of the other recent productions of Hamlet. Not that it's a contest, but that must be satisfying for all involved!
Sounds like this move is working out favorably for him. Especially in light of how juvenile Taylor currently looks. Actions speak louder than words, and he's starting to look the opposite of what she's trying to frame him as. Combined with the fact his play began it's run smack dab during the current film festival circuit of Venice and Telluride, he picked a good time to get noticed again.
I'm hoping this puts him back in consideration for some good roles. And that he doesn't ruin his second chance by limiting himself to just lead roles in just big studio movies.
And no more fauxmances. I never thought I would long for the days of "nothing to write home about", but man, if you are seeing someone, especially someone famous, be discreet.
Also please please no more Yours Truly. And can the grey boots be retired now that they have had their moment of fame?!!!
>>82 In the pressreader article, the picture of the couple - is that Robert Redford plus one? If so, that couldn't have been at the play; there is no press area. Just curious.
>>80 Great review: "And as for the main event, Hiddleston? His Hamlet is proactive, masculine, edgy to the point of aggression - and definitely, absolutely sane. His madness is a ruse, through and through. Having decided to “be mad by craft”, he appears wrapped in the flag of Denmark with his face painted in the national colours, like a hardcore football fan."
Like all of you have been saying today, it's a testament to KB and TH that they've pushed away all the negative press of the past year (I'd forgot about the bum comments since TS pushed those away).
I must be in crappy tumblr circles - only 3 of the people I follow got tickets.
>>89 Amen! But I'm not holding my breath on the Yours Truly part. She's everywhere...everywhere...👀
He's not out of the woods yet. Remember, TS album releases a few days after Thor Ragnarok's release.
I wonder if he'll skip on promoting Thor and leave it up to Hemsworth and Ruffalo since the film is centered on them rather then Loki.
>>88 I was a bit concerned earlier this week that Taytay's video dig would spill over into the Hamlet coverage, but it turned out that the timing helped. You couldn't make up more of a contrast between his public life and hers at the moment!
>>89 Is there a museum that would be an appropriate home for the grey boots? For example, Judy Garland's ruby slippers are in the Smithsonian....
>>90 That picture must belong with another article - depending on how I size the window, it doesn't even show up with the Hamlet text.
>>89, >>91 I agree that we likely haven't seen the last of Yours Truly. After all, the costumes for Hamlet show how Tom dresses when he has to fend for himself.
>>90 I haven't seen that many of the tumblrites got tickets. (Maybe, unlike the Guardian and the Times critics, they didn't have multiple ballots submitted for them!)
>>92 And I gather than in the past, TS has generally released a second single before the album drops. So depending on its topic, their "fling" could pop up again. If so, Marvel might be smart to use him for promo mostly in Asia, where (based on the KSI promo tour) no one will ask him questions about her.
From today's Times:
A small group of lottery winners — some from as far away as America and Canada — gathered on a quiet back street in central London yesterday.
They had all been through a ballot for the chance to buy the most sought-after theatre tickets in the capital — and were off to see Tom Hiddleston play Hamlet.
The demand was always going to be huge, so the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada) chose the smallest venue it could think of.
The Jerwood Vanburgh — Rada’s in-house theatre — in Bloomsbury seats just 160, and the run lasts a paltry three weeks. When Benedict Cumberbatch played the same role in London in 2015, about 250,000 saw him. Only a fraction of that number will have the privilege of watching the Kenneth Branagh production. Tickets to this one are strictly for the few, not the many.
It is galling for those who missed out, because the critics have described Hiddleston as “mesmerising” and combining “sweet sadness with incandescent fury”.
However, those who have been lucky are happy. Emily Friedman, 36, teaches English literature at Auburn University in Alabama. During a two-month research trip to the UK, she entered the ballot and won. “It’s a unique experience to see this Hamlet in such a small venue. It is so different to experience it this way,” she said.
As in every ballot, not everyone can be a winner. Social media have been full of complaints from the unfortunates who did not get the chance to buy a ticket.
One disgruntled fan wrote: “Am I ever gonna watch Hamlet?! I Missed Benedict Cumberbatch’s. And Andrew Scott’s. And now Tom Hiddleston. I hate my life.”
In which case they will not be pleased to hear that there were empty seats on the opening night.
“Just a handful,” said Karen O’Donnell, a research fellow at Durham University who lives in Salisbury. “I imagine it was people not able to get there. How awful for them.”
For Friedman, it was certainly not Branagh that was the attraction. “I remember lying on the floor in Houston watching one of his films,” she said. “I hope he’s learnt something about editing since then.” Most of us will never get to find out.
>>95 Diving fully into the snark by the 3rd sentence, I see. Way to go, Sunday Times.
They should have critics on the wait list for the empty seats! (joking)
On another note, maybe wearing The Boots some sort of snake cleansing ritual he's going through and he'll burn them in a bonfire in his backyard when it's all over, never to be worn again.
>>95 I get the impression that the Times isn't too happy about having to cover news of this production!
From an audience member's review, we now know that there's dancing (Hamlet R & G) -- wonder whose idea that was? https://nauticulture.com/2017/09/02/my-hamlet/
Oh Lordy lordy lord.
Taylor's second single has just dropped and it seems to be about her current bf (aka bravest millenial alive) . No specific disses other than references to exes who "tried to hard" and how she's forgotten their names.
I puttered around the reviews and 'reviews' while feeding the young master his continental breakfast.
They are roughly what everyone expected. It was never going to crash and burn like Springtime for Hitler was meant to! Excellent director, excellent lead, some pretty good material - that's going to work out performance wise. What was important for TH, I suspect, was the extra-performance bit (it hasn't just been about the Work for a good while now). That seems to have worked out too: front covers, good reviews, interest (from fans and the media), no mention of her. I don't know if this is going to translate into instant HW offers or Oscar worthy scripts, but it's a start. I half wonder if he's trying to re-do 2008-2011 in brief: Hamlet is his Othello and T:R will be his Thor 1, and he'll be off to the races like Tayto never happened. Clever if it works and worth a try.
>>97 Personally I like my Shakespeare traditional so this sounds a little gimmicky to me: Danish football fan, reading self-help manuals, gender bending (yes, I know, that's a demerit off my feminist card!), piano playing and dancing.
Someone with more Shakespeare and literary taste/knowledge than myself would call those choices 'interpretative progress,' but being a backwater rube, I tend to call them hokum. Edit it well, stage it well, perform it well - don't try to be different.
>>98 Well, he did try too hard. And if she needs to refresh her memory as to his name, she can just check the contract - like with all the others.
I've decided that her boyfriends fall into two categories: gay or famwhore. I think the bravest millennial, as you hilariously call him, falls into the former.
Welcome, Anonanonnynonny! I think I typed that correctly.
A fan pic of Tom arriving at the theatre for a rehearsal.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYkmGXYFXYr/?taken-by=tomhiddleston_daily
Does anyone else think that Taylor Swift was mad because Tom Hiddleston is receiving excellent reviews in the press and social media (front pages and articles praising HIS WORK) and that's why she decided to drop her second single? She wanted to steal the spotlight because she doesn't want him to succeed and rebuild his good reputation?
>>102 So he did break down and decide to use a car after all. Probably a good idea for the run of the show since fangirls know exactly where and when to find him. Supposedly (per tumblr) a handful waited outside RADA for hours, tweeted RADA to ask if he could come out to see them, and disappointly tweeted him because he "just left." Sigh.
>>100 You forgot the condoms!
This is one reason I really hope they make this production more widely available (though I doubt they'll bother to). I suspect some of these "update" choices might make more sense when seen in context (whereas some would still just be shitck). For example, my eyes rolled when I saw the mention of face painting. But when a subsequent review said that Hamlet was wrapped in a Danish flag at that point and he was painted like a soccer fan, it worked a little better for me as Hamlet making a political point or mocking his uncle. Still not precisely subtle, but might fit a bit better.
I also wonder if some bits were meant to make the play more accessible to audience members without much exposure to Shakespeare. The first use of the condoms, for example, might make more sense of Laetes' warnings about Hamlet to his Ophelia than musty warnings about her virtue.
It occurred to me that the piano/singing at the start might have been to get any applause for Tom out of the way rather than have it interrupt the flow later.
Genderswitching R & G is not unusual, but changing Hamlet's confidant to a woman looks (from the production photo) as though it could change that dynamic a lot. I hope some subsequent review/"review" talks more about that.
The dancing, though - why? Especially when' KB had to make cuts to get it down to 2:45.
Tom taking a solo curtain call. Nice pic! http://tumblr.tomhiddlestonnews.com/post/164938958985/twhnewscom-on-instagram-repostsave-from
>>103 I do, because the second single probably wasn't slated to drop until October. The bad reviews from all over and Hurricane Harvey took the wind out of the sails on the first single.
I think there is so much Shakespeare performed in the U.K. that the "straight up" traditional approach has fallen from fashion. You see it more here in the comedies (think: Merry Wives of Windsor) or at the Swan in Stratford when they are performing lesser known plays of Shakespeare's contemporaries (and sometimes not then). The best productions I have seen are those which are neither wholly traditional nor wholly contemporary, an approach which I think works well with the Histories, which just don't feel right without a nod to their period of writing and/or the period when the events take place. With plays like Hamlet I am more relaxed because they aren't wedded to a particular time, or place really, references to Denmark notwithstanding. I wouldn't expect a trad Hamlet here, not least because of how many other Hamlets there are this season alone.
That said, I still haven't recovered from the awful staging of the Cumberbatch Hamlet. I was ok with the Romanoff Winter Palace theme in the first half but the second half appeared to be staged on a slag heap. I think this was meant to be post-revolutionary Russia, but it looked shit, must have been terrible to act on a steep slope and had no textual justification whatsoever.
PS my husband read the reviews saying that Branagh created "an identifiably Danish" setting and snorted, "What? Are they all eating open sandwiches?" You can't please everyone!!
>>100, >>108 I'm getting the feeling that KB just let Tom do whatever he wanted to in the "mad" scenes. From a fan "review" (warning - some gushing involved):
'He plays piano and sings- I cried He dances around to a beats pill He dry humps a couch A Scottish and Irish accent appear Leather and swords holy christ the best stage fight I’ve ever seen He looked right at me twice like I can’t even recover from it. There were moments where every single person was silent and it was because of Tom. It was just so amazing.' (A beats pill?!) (Via http://insanely-smart.tumblr , com/post/164940278613/putting-these-quick-hamlet-notes-from)
>>103 TS petty and calculating - never! ;) The DM tells me that she did wait a whole day so as not to drop it on her best friend's wedding. I was surprised.
>>109 My MIL asked me what we were doing for his 1st. It's still a few months off but I gulped nonetheless. He's going to be a year old!! It's especially sobering as I'm due back full-time at work then.
>>110 I always eyeroll at the 'he looked RIGHT AT ME' parts of similar encounters. These are people who have never stood on a stage where the audience is in darkness and the performers/speakers in a spotlight.
>>110 This is exactly the sort of Shakespeare I don't like.
>>110 And here is the piddling puppy we all know. Apparently he was saving it up for the stage, hence the low-key Kong and SDCC TH.
The second song is about Karlie Kloss, who she did go on a beach vacation with. And Joe is the public front since he is tall, has blonde hair and blue eyes, and is younger than TS as well. If you put Karlie's hair on Joe, they are identical! I kid you not.
>>111 TS only cares about Taylor world. If she could get more buzz/controversy from dropping the second single near the opening of Hamlet because the numbers of the first single dropped after one day and do not compare with the numbers of Adele and Ed Sheeran whose numbers grew and grew, and she is being bashed by the critics, plus Hurrcaine Harvey stole her steam, then she will. The DM has now combined the Tom Hamlet article with TS's video and the pic with she and the effeminate male dancers wearing the Tshirts and high heels. They even bring up the faux Bond rumours, and mistakenly claim Tom was in Sherlock! Ridiculous.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4845700/amp/Tom-Hiddleston-looks-brooding-makes-Hamlet-debut.html
A beats pill? Accents? You are so right, that is TH all over! (That video JVR put on his Instagram of TH playing with a beats pill, which I bet he had never seen before JVR showed him one; that GQ shoot where he did all the accents). Not sure if I would have liked it - it would either have been brilliant or terrible.
BTW Mark Shenton, who reviews for the Stage, has expressed surprise that critics for the Times, Telegraph and Guardian all got tickets for the first night. The Guardian rather sententiously says at the bottom of the Billington review that the tickets were "obtained by the Guardian through the ballot." I'd have thought that was both true and misleading: yes, obtained through the ballot, but achieved by making every person in the office enter and promise to take Billington if they got a ticket.
I'm a 18-years-old girl.
If you talk me, please call +81 80 5941 0307.
Article on "growing pressure" for RADA to broadcast or record the show for wider availability: https://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/tom-hiddleston-in-hamlet-rada-under-growing-pressure-to-broadcast-production-to-a-wider-audience-a3626366.html?amp
The writer was contacting people on twitter to interview about this, including >>113 Mark Sherman of The Stage. That note from the Guardian wasn't there originally. The TImes' critic explained on twitter that she'd asked friends to apply too. And the theory on tumblr is that the third paper hired a freelancer, who must have come to them with a proposal after getting a ticket, because there's nothing online that he or she has reviewed previously. RADA might have done better to select a limited press pool of people to review it, because this stirred up the complaints about the limited availability.
>>111 And she forgot that Tom is nearsighted, so even without light in his eyes it's unlikely that he sees more than a blur! That said, the audience is really close - see this shot from before the show: https://mobile.twitter//com/thaisinhaa013/status/904489724831813632/photo/1
>>115 No plans to extend because of Hiddleston's Hollywood schedule? Do they know something we don't, or is that a reference to Thor 3 promo?
The reality is that this was always intended to be a short and "exclusive" run, for all the laudable and not so laudable reasons we have discussed on here.
NT Live has filmed in all sorts of small venues and I bet they bring their equipment for free. I don't buy that it would reduce RADA's profit from the venture.
I totally agree that they should have allowed a limited press pool - if it was that big a deal about losing £950 to the cause (10x£95 tickets) then (1) they could have said, it is charity so can we ask you to pay? or (2) invited a limited number to the "dress rehearsal" instead of a few of the plus ones who were tweeting about it.
>>112 I hope my wink indicated that I do believe her possible of what Xanon suggested (even if I don't think it the case in this instance). But don't mention Poor Joe in a wig; he's got a tough enough row to hoe without giving TS ideas.
>>113 He has previous with a beats pill? I had to look it up myself.
>>115 Hmmm. Will they give it a wider showing now that it's cleared the first hurdle of reviewers who balloted in? Surely TH will want a recording so he can post it in his stead when he can't attend a wedding.
Praise for Tom's performance, and his self contained approach to the whole music video fiasco after dumping out his "heart" to GQ magazine. Most of the comments debate whether or not the commentators are interested in another Hamlet.
>>117, >>118 I suspect the HW schedule affecting this would be KB's rather than TH's (unless the latter happens to be in A4, and even then I think something could be worked out with Marvel). And T:R has plenty of other name actors for promo.
From the theatre photo I linked to above, I think NTL might be challenged to film this live as it's currently set up. Certainly without distracting the audience, and possibly not even having room for cameras on the main level. But from what I've read about that theatre, it has at least some flexibility in configuration (for example, it can seat 180, not the 160 available for this show with the thrust stage). If they really wanted to film this, I'd think they could do something creative with a few extra performances with some seating judiciously removed. So there's likely some other reasoning involved.
>>120 the article definitely says "Hiddleston's HW schedule"....
I am not sure whether they record NT Live with audiences. I think possibly not - having seen stills from the Donmar production of Coriolanus there are no audience members visible, but they would definitely be in the frame if they had been there as it is such as small theatre (though I haven't seen an NT live so I stand to be corrected).
Apparently Tom and Chris Hemsworth were both guests at former Mean Girls and "Masters of Sex" actress, Lizzy Caplan's, wedding to UK producer Tom Riley on the Amalfi Coast on Sunday. Are there no Sunday matinees of Hamlet? Lucky mister. Tom's stylist, Ilaria Urbinati was there as well, and she posted pics of Ravello on her Instagram.
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/lizzy-caplan-marries-tom-riley-w501107
https://www.instagram.com/ilariaurbinati/
>>122 No, no Sunday matinees, or eves for that matter. The show is playing Mondays - Saturdays, with a matinee only on Sats. And they're skipping a mid-week night each week. So it's only 6 performances a week.
>>121 I was just speculating (unclearly!) that despite what the reporter was told or may have assumed, we know that KB has commitments soon that he can't break but we don't know the same for sure about Tom.
>>121 Also I was assuming that the NT Lives are filmed with an audience. Partly because of their name, and partly because I've seen a clip of the very start of the Coriolanus broadcast, which showed the audience. Though that could have been edited in. If this Hamlet were filmed at RADA as staged, the audience is so very close that filming would likely show if the seats were empty. But I haven't seen any of those broadcasts either.
>>122>>123 Apparently Chris Hemsworth was spotted in Byron Bay in Australia with his family on Sunday, so he wasn't at the wedding. So Tom probably wasn't there either. I was thinking that Tom had to be pretty confident in his performance skills and his recuperation abilityto jet off to Italy for a vacay middle of his Hamlet run. US magazine must just have wanted the clicks. Silly me.
NT Live is just that Live. I looked at my copy of Coriolanus and there are audience members present. Whether that could logistically happen in the Rada theatre, I don't know. More importantly, I don't think it will happen. That would seem to undermine everything they've said about the ballot system and their use of it, not to mention undermining the actual process of the system itself.
>>126 I don't think that doing an NT Live would necessarily undermine what they said about the ballot system, at least what they said at first - it was supposed to be about fairness in getting tickets. And while there doubtless would be people who got tickets complaining that they had to go through that whole process, and pay X to go to London and Y to see the play when others could just go to an NT Live showing, I think there would be many, many others happy to have an expanded opportunity to see it. (Not to mention that those who saw it live, saw it live and were mere meters away from the performers!)
Doing NT Live might somewhat contradict the recent quote from the head of RADA who talked about it being about the art, not about making as much money off it as they could. But that statement itself undermined how the production was originally presented as a fundraiser.... But all that said, I doubt they can do one or more NTLs at this point, because they would have had to announce them by now to get audiences for them.
Which leads back to our suspicions that this was as much about showcasing Tom as anything else. Witness this excerpt from a fan who saw it yesterday: "There are so many great moments in there, I still need to wrap my head around them all… Has anyone mentioned that he gets to dance? Suddenly, smack in the middle of Hamlet, there is Tom with his famous moves :) I loved that! And there’s a scene where he’s got warrior make up on and walks around wearing the Danish flag as a cape. Very punk rock. And another where his head’s covered with the hoodie. And he does a Scottish accent while holding the skull. It’s like a wonderful showcase of everything Tom knows and likes to do." (from the crazy smart one's tumblr)
Now I can't get the image of Hamlet doing snake hips out of my head!
>>126 >>127 I'm going with Anon. here - they're not going to film this limited run for NTLive. Even if they hadn't had a ballot system and there was nothing about it that would make them out to be hypocrites, and no physical limitations to setting up the cameras and lighting, it isn't going to happen within these 16 remaining days. There are 2 other major Hamlet productions being staged right now; it wouldn't make sense for them to film RADA's.
If schedules clear for KB and TH early next year and they revive it in the West End where it would up for awards, I would expect it to be filmed by NTLive.
>>127 Now that more tweets are surfacing about the play, it is becoming more clear that the play is a little bit self-indulgent. I've read there's also a dry humping scene on the couch >.<
>>127 This play sounds ridiculous! This sounds like an audition reel for TH or a parody of Hamlet sponsored by Tumblr.
>>130 I wonder if the exclusivity isn't going to backfire on TH, at least a little bit? It certainly hasn't endeared him/KB/RADA to at least one critic (new article from Mark Shelton today: https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2017/mark-shenton-review-hamlet-not-review-hamlet-question/ ). And with most of the coverage coming from twitter reviews that talk about the gimmicks in the production, it may not maintain a sense of "serious actor" after this show vanishes. Already have his google search results are back to being TS related.
>>127 So Sir Ken has not stepped into the role of TH's NO man. Can I dance? Yes. Can I sing? Yes. Can I hip thrust? Yes. The search for the elusive TH wrangler continues.
>>131 He's at the damned if he does, damed if he doesn't stage. Probably not making him enemies, serious ones, but not making friends either, especially not among those who didn't get tickets.
>>132 'Tom Hiddleston's ass has set the new standard for Hamlet asses. His bottom is both powerful and beautifully realized, and utterly Danish in concept and representation. Bravo. 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑'
Strange that his ass is the least exclusive aspect of this performance. It's not like we haven't seen it already.
>>133 That is the quintessence of a review of his butt in this!
The Guardian has also jumped in to ask for an NTL broadcast: https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/06/kenneth-branagh-hamlet-tom-hiddleston-cinemas
Tom, and his costar from The Hollow Crown and The Deep Blue Sea, Simon Russell Beale, advertise an evening featuring John Le Carre, at London's Royal Festival Hall. Apparently the evening is to recognize his most well we'll knwon character, George Smiley, in honor of his most recent book "A Legacy of Spies", and fund raise for MSF. It's being broadcast in cinemas, apparently.
The supposed reasoning behind no DVD recording (not worth it for fundraising), per a student working on the show: https://twitterDOTcom/bourtney/status/905554262222098432
Another "review," with a few more details: http://imaginaryboyfriendcollection.tumblr.com/post/165058435932/hiddlehamlet-a-firsthand-account-part-i
In case it's taken down, here are a couple of pertinent paragraphs - "Important things must be addressed, so: couch humping. Was SO FUNNY. It wasn’t a full-on dry humping (oh god…I just had to take several minutes to think about what that would be like. I’m back now) but rather a couple of energetic thrusts. Which was enough. This was met with laughter and tons of quietly imploding vaginas, I assume."
"In this same scene (a great scene), Hamlet sits on the recently-violated couch with Polonius and laughs loudly with him. It’s rather forced (he’s putting on a show here), but also - seriously adorable. Because Tom. It gifted us with a huge Hiddles grin, which is so damn infectious (as you well know). In the third bout of this laughter, Hamlet dissolves into tears. One of the best things about Tom’s Hamlet was how perfectly and naturally he navigated the quick shifts in his mood - swinging wildly between grief, rage, lunacy, amusement, earnestness - and it all felt incredibly deft and real. Also, that man is gifted when it comes to crying. I think there were real tears in his eyes for about 75% of the performance. At one point, you could see the tears falling, illuminated by the stage lights. It was beautiful."
>>137 Actually I quite enjoyed this! She makes no bones about the fact that it's purely a description of how hot Tom looked while playing Hamlet, and not a review of the production.
PS I don't think of Hamlet as a sobber. He is too calculating for that. Were these tears of relief at TH's rehabilitation as an actor?
A "faint praise" interview from The Stage:
Costumes by Selfridges, I kid you not. And it is not the grey boots but a different pair!
http://tumblr.tomhiddlestonnews.com/post/165083312741/lolawashere-selfridges-as-partners-of
>>140 So after all that fuss from The Stage about critics having to go through the ballot for tix, I wonder how this person got in to see it....?!
Hmmm. They didn't sell ballot tix for yesterday (Wed) yet there are several tweets talking about seeing it last night, including for pre-show drinks with KB (@pargupta). Also tweeted by the CEO of a cinema advert firm (@cinemalover). And a musician associated with RADA. Look under #radahamlet. One was posted 16 hours ago, the others in the last hour or so. Very interesting. Wonder if that's how The Stage critic got in.
And in the popular arts, (1) the Early Man trailer dropped today and (2) set interviews for T:R were released (see Collider and so on).
>>143 The half formed feet of clay are crumbling. All hail the fairness of the ballot system.
>>137 >>139 I suppose she deserves credit for shamelessly being the drooling, Tumblr stereotype, but I had to stop reading when she mentioned sniffing him whenever he passed. I feel this woman would keep him a pit in her basement: 'It puts the tight jeans on and humps the couch or it gets the hose.'
>>143 cough networking cough
Not surprised. I knew there would be something like this, and there will be more. This is Tom's comeback vehicle while also showcasing future promising talent. It's definitely not art for art's sake. But tbh stuff like this is just business, it's not anything underhanded.
>>146 That sniffing part made me eyeroll. Definitely sheds another perspective on her tube meeting with Tom.
>>147 I wouldn't disagree with any of this save for the pious backstory. If you are constantly banging on about how critics have to go in the ballot so as not deprive the charity of money, and about how the ballot is fairer because it allows ordinary theatregoers a fair chance to get tickets, then don't surrender your "dress rehearsal" night AND one performance to networking events.
I read that the dress rehearsal was only open to RADA alumni (and evidently from twitter, their plus ones). That makes me more sure than ever that the special event was not, as has been implied, about raising big ££ from donors. How many RADA graduates are in a position to donate £10k to the cause? Even if they paid for the tickets it wouldn't cover the cost of the canapé reception (I got married in London and I know how much this stuff costs). It was a networking event. Hence, of course, the presence of KB, TH and at least one agent that we know of.