The Play's The Thing... To Get Me Into Shakespeare

Yes, yes alright, I've had another month long absence from blog writing. In my defense, uni is kicking my arse very hard currently, I've forgotten what day of the week it's been at least four times since going back. A frazzled brain is not exactly useful when blog writing!
But, I have found something to blog about, and it's Hamlet, currently being performed at the Barbican in London. And oh my God, was it incredible!
I've never been a fan of Shakespeare, reading Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet nearly bored me to tears in school, but I figured that I'd go along to see Hamlet when it was broadcast to cinema's, partly because I enjoy plots filled with madness and murder, partly to help me in my play writing module for uni, and partly because of Benedict Cumberbatch. If you didn't already know, I'm a very big fan of the actor, and have been since he burst onto our screens as Sherlock Holmes in 2010, he's very quickly become my favourite actor, and I always try to see whatever he's in because I know he'll give one hell of a performance.
So, I went along, thinking I'd just about follow the story line, and enjoy a bit of murder (I'm really quite morbid when I want to be) but that wasn't the case. I understood what was going on, which has never happened before. Hell I laughed at points, and never in my life have I laughed at Shakespeare. As far as I can tell, the dialogue wasn't changed from the original, but somehow, this production was understandable to a complete novice like myself, and while there were some points that lost me, I caught up again very quick. It didn't take me much time to translate what was being said into contemporary English, and after I got into the flow of doing it, I found myself following along quite easily. Coming from someone who's only previous experience of Hamlet is The Lion King, I count that as a rip roaring success!
That isn't even mentioning the story line itself. I loved the story line and it's characters, I loved to see Hamlet's desperation to avenge his father, and how it made him lose his mind, loved to hate his uncle who's name currently escapes me, loved figuring out if his mother was in on the murder plot, all of it. The sarcastic wit was something I was not expecting at all (the father/uncle, mother/aunt line was brilliant) I was expecting deep tragedy with no let  up, and yet I did find myself laughing throughout too. Be it at Hamlet's sarcasm, or some of the mad things he was doing (the mucking about on the table was brilliant) or whatever else, it was genuinely funny, and lifted some of the heavier scenes beautifully. While this is such a popular play, the twists and turns were brilliant, watching Hamlet's murderous uncle set him up to die was a classic move, yet still slightly shocking to watch.
What really makes this play work though, was the acting, I have to admit. The writing can be the best in the world, but the acting is what brings it to life. Benedict and the rest of the cast gave it their all, in every single scene, they're acting was so good I forgot they were acting half the time! If you'll excuse the fan girl moment, but Benedict was incredible as Hamlet. With some actors, you see traces of some other characters they've played while they're performing, but with him, I didn't see a trace. While he's obviously the same human being, with the same face/expressions/voice etc, I never saw a hint of Sherlock, Khan, or any other character I've seen him play. I just saw Hamlet, completely forgetting every other role I've seen him in. He owns the stage and demands attention, you can't take your eyes off him for a second, not very many actors hold my attention like he does, but wow, he outdid himself last night.
The energy the cast have too is commendable, running around the huge stage, up and down stairs, weaving through other people, moving props, fighting, dancing, all of it was incredible. To keep up that level of energy for four hours is no mean feat, I certainly couldn't have done it, so to watch so many people keep on going and going like that was outstanding. The cast were incredible, every single one, they really transported the audience to Denmark and didn't let us lose interest for a second. I left wanting to watch again straight away, and twenty four hours later the play hasn't left my mind much at all.
More importantly, it's made me want to find more Shakespeare (Macbeth with Michael Fassbender is currently at the top of my list to watch now) because if all productions were like this one's, they're going to be incredible.