Benedict Cumberbatch signs on for Hamlet in 2015
Benedict Cumberbatch, everyone’s favorite TV Sherlock, will return to the stage in August 2015 to play Hamlet in the play of the same name at London’s Barbican Theatre in the West End. Many will remember that this isn’t Cumberbatch’s first trip to the stage. He previously appeared in the National Theatre production of Frankenstein, directed by Danny Boyle and co-starring Jonny Lee Miller.
As was first reported in The Daily Mail, the Sherlock star will carve out 4-5 months in 2015 (a 12-week run beginning August 2015 with at least 6 weeks leading up to the opening for preparation and rehearsal) to play Shakespeare’s tormented prince in what is considered by many as one of the most powerful and influential tragedies in English literature. The only massive downer looming on the horizon will be if this has an adverse effect on filming of Sherlock 4. Now THAT would be the ultimate tragedy.
After seeing one of the most notable adaptations of Hamlet in recent years, starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart, I cannot wait for this. This scene from Act II, scene 2, featuring Tennant and “To be or not to be” as Claudius and Polonius spy on Hamlet and then Ophelia and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive tells it all.
