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Stewart Hamlet on PBS

I'm looking forward to getting to see this. David Tennant as Hamlet and Sir Patrick as Claudius? That's going to be amazing.

Actually, until recently, I wasn't sure Tennant was a good choice for Hamlet, since I was used to his boisterous performance as the Doctor. But in the last few specials, we saw a much more melancholy Doctor, soliloquizing over existential questions (almost literally "To be or not to be"), and he did a great job there.
 
Shouldn't the title be 'Tennant Hamlet?' Sir Patrick is a little old to play the Dane (as Withnail's Uncle Monty almost said).
 
^ Actually, he was also in one in 1980, in which he also played Claudius, opposite Derek Jacobi's Hamlet. This production also had a few Doctor Who connections: in addition to Derek Jacobi, who went on to play Professor Yana in the new series, Claire Bloom (who was just in "The End of Time") played Gertrude, and Ophelia in was Lalla Ward (the second Romana), who filmed this production of Hamlet during the hiatus between seasons 17 and 18 of the original show. Also, Geoffrey Beevers (the Master in "The Keeper of Traken") appeared as one of the Players.
 
Tennant Hamlet was... AMAZING. So so so magnificent. Thank you, Internet fairies! ;)

Joy
 
^ Actually, he was also in one in 1980, in which he also played Claudius, opposite Derek Jacobi's Hamlet.

Ahh, okay. I was looking specifically at stage productions.

I remember seeing Derek Jacobi's Hamlet, but I didn't remember that Stewart was in it, since at the time I didn't know who he was.

This production also had a few Doctor Who connections: in addition to Derek Jacobi, who went on to play Professor Yana in the new series, Claire Bloom (who was just in "The End of Time") played Gertrude, and Ophelia in was Lalla Ward (the second Romana), who filmed this production of Hamlet during the hiatus between seasons 17 and 18 of the original show. Also, Geoffrey Beevers (the Master in "The Keeper of Traken") appeared as one of the Players.

And it's available at Netflix for rental or instant viewing. I'll have to check it out.
 
I can't wait to see Tennant as Hamlet. And Stewart will be an awesome Claudius! Interesting that he played the same role 30 years ago opposite Derek Jacobi (another ridiculously good actor).
 
This production also had a few Doctor Who connections: in addition to Derek Jacobi, who went on to play Professor Yana in the new series, Claire Bloom (who was just in "The End of Time") played Gertrude, and Ophelia in was Lalla Ward (the second Romana), who filmed this production of Hamlet during the hiatus between seasons 17 and 18 of the original show. Also, Geoffrey Beevers (the Master in "The Keeper of Traken") appeared as one of the Players.

And it's available at Netflix for rental or instant viewing. I'll have to check it out.
Like all the 1980s BBC Shakespeares, it suffers from its lackluster direction, but Derek Jacobi has been the definitive Hamlet for me ever since I saw it. Patrick Stewart's Claudius is also one of the best performances of the role.
 
^ Actually, he was also in one in 1980, in which he also played Claudius, opposite Derek Jacobi's Hamlet. This production also had a few Doctor Who connections: in addition to Derek Jacobi, who went on to play Professor Yana in the new series, Claire Bloom (who was just in "The End of Time") played Gertrude, and Ophelia in was Lalla Ward (the second Romana), who filmed this production of Hamlet during the hiatus between seasons 17 and 18 of the original show. Also, Geoffrey Beevers (the Master in "The Keeper of Traken") appeared as one of the Players.

Ah that must of been the one where Stewart is reported to have teased Lalla Ward about doing Sci-Fi not knowing that TNG was only a few years down the track :)
 
Ah that must of been the one where Stewart is reported to have teased Lalla Ward about doing Sci-Fi not knowing that TNG was only a few years down the track :)
As she said:

Patrick said to me, 'You used to be in Doctor Who didn't you?' and I said 'Yes, I still am actually,' and he said 'I mean why do you do all this television, why don't you do proper stuff like theatre,' and I said 'Well I love it actually, I love doing Doctor Who.' 'But science fiction, I mean why would you want to do science fiction?' I said, 'I don't know - I think partly because you learn so much technical stuff, it's really interesting,' and he said 'Oh I wouldn't want to do that sort of stuff.'

I haven't run into Patrick Stewart since, but I look forward to it so I can say, 'Funny, why do you do all that sort of science fiction stuff you do now, why aren't you doing the proper theatre like real actors.'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/webcasts/shada/interviews/ward/page10.shtml
 
All these Who cast members doing Hamlet... it makes me realize something...

They have got to get Sir Patrick to appear on Doctor Who!!
 
^ Shame he couldn't have been on it opposite Tennant.

As for teasing about sci-fi appearances, remember Derek Jacobi's appearance on Frasier, as a Shakespearean actor turned star of a sci-fi show, whose return to the theatre was awful? Wonder who that was based on ..., Still, Patrick can't have been too annoyed as he later appeared on the show too (not forgetting Kelsey Grammer's TNG and X-Men appearances).
 
^ Shame he couldn't have been on it opposite Tennant.

As for teasing about sci-fi appearances, remember Derek Jacobi's appearance on Frasier, as a Shakespearean actor turned star of a sci-fi show, whose return to the theatre was awful? Wonder who that was based on ..., Still, Patrick can't have been too annoyed as he later appeared on the show too (not forgetting Kelsey Grammer's TNG and X-Men appearances).

Jacobi probably got a bit of blast out of that :)
 
All these Who cast members doing Hamlet... it makes me realize something...

They have got to get Sir Patrick to appear on Doctor Who!!
Absolutely agreed. (Come to think of it, he'd have been a great choice to play Rassilon, had Timothy Dalton not been available.)
 
Sir Patrick is on this week's Carpool on www.llewtube.com For those who don't know about it, it's an internet series in which Robert Lleweylln, Kryten from Red Dwarf, gives "famous" people a lift in his car and they have a chat. There have been some interesting episodes.
 
I can't wait to see Tennant as Hamlet. And Stewart will be an awesome Claudius! Interesting that he played the same role 30 years ago opposite Derek Jacobi (another ridiculously good actor).


My last course during undergrad was Ecology,and it was taught by a fat old Brit named Tim Allen. Prof Allen had a signed picture in his office from Derek Jacobi that read:

Timothy

To my first, and fairest, Ophelia.

Your friend, Derek.

Apparently they'd played the part together in school. :lol:
 
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