This is the song, tra la la la, Clare's Song. She wrote the music, she wrote the words.

Got back today after visiting Stratford-upon-Avon in order to see David Tennant in Hamlet.

Clare's Quick Capsule Review: It was pretty good. It was particularly good at bringing out the humour, although given Ten-Inch's abilities with madcap, this is hardly a shock.

He was good, really he was. In some ways he's a lot like Timothy Dalton - far too good for Doctor Who, just as Dalton was too good for Bond. I say this as a fan of both DW and Bond.

However, I still don't like Shakespeare. I like the story of Hamlet, but I still don't like Shakespeare. I particularly detest the reverent and worshipful way in which this man is regarded. I also found that no matter the modern costumes and version of the play used, it remained essentially a typical, BBC Edukashunal sort of thing, with Received Pronounciation English, that odd and exact striding walk Shakespearean ac-tors always use.... and the fucking death scenes.

Honestly, there was all the overwrought and twitching nonsense one has come to expect from a Shakespeare death scene. It's most obvious in Hamlet because most of the people die all in one go at the end, and I don't know that it would be possible not to be ridiculous but honestly... Laertes was twitching around like a very recently decapitated chicken.

Ophelia's mad scenes were also... typical, which probably wouldn't have been too bad but in comparison to Hamlet's own mad stuff... it just looked ridiculous. One could make the argument that he was merely pretending, but he was also far more convincing.

The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford is also one of my least favourite venues ever. We were in the Circle and it was incredibly hot and stuffy and the seats seemed ridiculously narrow. I mean, I'm a mere slip of a creature and I was finding it difficult to sit comfortably. A twenty minute interval incidentally, is not long enough for everyone to use the toilets and purchase and consume drinks. Despite this, they served my mum a coffee about five minutes before the second act and then wondered why she got pissed off when they made her relinquish it.

Also, OMG... after SIX OR SEVEN reminders, prominent notes in the programme and you know COMMON SENSE, some stupid fucker's phone went off AS HAMLET DIED. What an inconsiderate cunt.

I'm sorry, there's no reason, not a single one that you could give me to justify keeping your phone on during a play. If you're dealing with something in Real Life that you know is that pressing or urgent or whatever, should you be at the fucking theatre in the first place?

I also hate the people who sit in cinemas with their phones on silent but text and shit during the movie. Do they not realise how fucking annoying and distracting that bright blue screen glare is? Or do they just not care? Again I say: if it's that fucking crucial, don't go to the fucking movies.

If it's something really important that you're trying to have a break from, incidentally, that should include switching your phone off. I can't think of any good reason for a movie/theatre + phone combination. Answers on a postcard, but send them to someone else, ok?

This is the song, tra la la la, Clare's Song. She wrote the music, she wrote the words.

Got back today after visiting Stratford-upon-Avon in order to see David Tennant in Hamlet.

Clare's Quick Capsule Review: It was pretty good. It was particularly good at bringing out the humour, although given Ten-Inch's abilities with madcap, this is hardly a shock.

He was good, really he was. In some ways he's a lot like Timothy Dalton - far too good for Doctor Who, just as Dalton was too good for Bond. I say this as a fan of both DW and Bond.

However, I still don't like Shakespeare. I like the story of Hamlet, but I still don't like Shakespeare. I particularly detest the reverent and worshipful way in which this man is regarded. I also found that no matter the modern costumes and version of the play used, it remained essentially a typical, BBC Edukashunal sort of thing, with Received Pronounciation English, that odd and exact striding walk Shakespearean ac-tors always use.... and the fucking death scenes.

Honestly, there was all the overwrought and twitching nonsense one has come to expect from a Shakespeare death scene. It's most obvious in Hamlet because most of the people die all in one go at the end, and I don't know that it would be possible not to be ridiculous but honestly... Laertes was twitching around like a very recently decapitated chicken.

Ophelia's mad scenes were also... typical, which probably wouldn't have been too bad but in comparison to Hamlet's own mad stuff... it just looked ridiculous. One could make the argument that he was merely pretending, but he was also far more convincing.

The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford is also one of my least favourite venues ever. We were in the Circle and it was incredibly hot and stuffy and the seats seemed ridiculously narrow. I mean, I'm a mere slip of a creature and I was finding it difficult to sit comfortably. A twenty minute interval incidentally, is not long enough for everyone to use the toilets and purchase and consume drinks. Despite this, they served my mum a coffee about five minutes before the second act and then wondered why she got pissed off when they made her relinquish it.

Also, OMG... after SIX OR SEVEN reminders, prominent notes in the programme and you know COMMON SENSE, some stupid fucker's phone went off AS HAMLET DIED. What an inconsiderate cunt.

I'm sorry, there's no reason, not a single one that you could give me to justify keeping your phone on during a play. If you're dealing with something in Real Life that you know is that pressing or urgent or whatever, should you be at the fucking theatre in the first place?

I also hate the people who sit in cinemas with their phones on silent but text and shit during the movie. Do they not realise how fucking annoying and distracting that bright blue screen glare is? Or do they just not care? Again I say: if it's that fucking crucial, don't go to the fucking movies.

If it's something really important that you're trying to have a break from, incidentally, that should include switching your phone off. I can't think of any good reason for a movie/theatre + phone combination. Answers on a postcard, but send them to someone else, ok?