I know we’re just barely coming to the end of February, but it’s time to put a bigger than life red circle around Thursday, 15 October 2015. What could possibly get you to block out schedule time some 8 months from now? How about the ability to see Hamlet, starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, The Imitation Game, Frankenstein at the National Theatre), in a cinema near you? I thought that might get you to go get that red pen. That’s not the only date you need to remember. The more important immediate date to remember is 16 March as this is the date tickets go on sale from NT Live.

While all the tickets are currently sold out for the opprtunity to see Cumberbatch in the title role of Shakespeare’s great tragedy during its UK run at the Barbican Theatre beginning 5 August 2015 through 31 October 2015, Hamlet will be streamed to cinemas around the world on 15 October 2015 (with varying dates internationally) in partnership with National Theatre Live. NT Live has been instrumental in bringing top-notch talent and productions from the stage to the world over the last several years. Over the last couple of years, people around the world have had the opportunity to experience the likes of Skylight with Bill Nighy, Of Mice and Men with James Franco and Chris O’Dowd and Othello with Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear.

Having had the good fortune to see Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller in the National Theatre production of Frankenstein both live at the National Theatre and in a neighborhood cinema, I can tell you it truly is the next best thing to being in the theatre watching live.

So, given that you probably weren’t one of the over 30,000 people queuing online when the box office at The Barbican opened last August (they sold their entire allocation of tickets in just over seven hours), go ahead and circle March 16 AND Thursday, October 15 on your calendars and get your cinema tickets!