Caroline (18 December 2009 7:56 am)

I saw the trailer last night for the first time. It is great - really promises excitement. I might just watch the film (hahahaha!)

And THREE HOURS of behind the scenes stuff? My daughter just rolled her eyes & said 'if you go missing for a whole day, we'll know where you are!'
Thanks for the round-up of links - I'll work my way through them later on.

The snowy scene I woke up to today put me in mind of KB's Hamlet - not that I've become obsessed or anything.....

Margot (18 December 2009 8:05 am)

I too saw the trailer last night - oh my goodness, it looks so good. I really think it will tempt viewers to watch, it shouts 'quality'. Eight days to go.................

Nicola (18 December 2009 8:53 am)

Many thanks for giving me a mention!

Saw the trailer yesterday, and then (as I wasnt paying attention and cheering too loudly) I stuck with the BBC all night hoping to see it again. It came on once more, and I have to say I loved it. I was surprised to see moments from the final scene in there, I kinda of thought they would be held back foir dramatic effect (I was also surprised a photo of Hamlet's death appeared on the website!) They're beautiful iimages though. David "dies" very well.

I thought the trail was very engaging, and covered lots of the famous scenes, whetting the appetite for more. I also loved the brief voice over from Edward Bennett, there seemed to be every major character shoehorned in there without it feeling too overwhelming. The quality also looked fantastic. Obviously when we saw the BFI screening I was trying to imagine how it was "meant" to look, i.e. on a small screen, and it doesnt disappoint in anyway. It all looks very sumptuous and rich. The shot of him looking into the mirror (similar to the DVD cover image) was one of my favourite moments of the production & film (I wont spoil by telling readers which moment it is!)

John Wyver (18 December 2009 8:57 am)

@Nicola: just to say, there was a lengthy internal debate about whether to include 'the rest is silence', with competing arguments for trying to find a compelling final moment as against it acting as a 'spoiler'.

K (18 December 2009 9:01 am)

I;m not sure if this is considered notable, but I read Red magazine (Jan 2010 issue) on the way to the screening on Monday night and it had a picture of DT in it and said:

"if you only see one thing this month make it David Tennant's Hamlet on BBC Two on Boxing Day..."

Nicola (18 December 2009 9:27 am)

@John: I understand your dilemma. Obviously it's not so much a "spoiler" of how the story ends, but just how that very famous scene looks and sounds. I might have been tempted to just end on "the readiness is all" but perhaps that would have spoiled that scene too. Of course, with this, you kind of fear every scene being spoiled as it's so brilliant, and then you'd have no trailer at all...!

John Wyver (18 December 2009 9:51 am)

@Nicola: well, "the readiness is all" was indeed the main alternative, and an edit was made like that, but it was felt not to be as strong, and not to work nearly so well visually.

There is a certain pragmatism that you have to apply to these things -- if as you say you want a large audience to be attracted by a trailer. Also, hard though it may be to think this, not everyone is quite as passionate or as precious about this film as we all are. :-)

Gail (18 December 2009 9:54 am)

@John: Thank you for the mention!

I've seen the trailer three times now, and each time it's sent a shiver of delight down my spine. The film looks beautiful and the performances, dare I say it, look even more magnificent than they did on stage. I can't wait!!

Thank you for the links. I'd thought that the release of the film on TV and DVD would herald the end of this particular journey, but I feel that we're starting out again or perhaps more accurately continuing in a new direction. It's so exciting and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be involved in this way :)

Nicola (18 December 2009 10:04 am)

@John Good point! I had never though of myself as "precious" (passionate, most definitely), but, being honest, you're probably right. Someone asked me if, had the unlikely happened and the film was rubbish, would I have still loved it? I probably would have. Thankfully, it's not something I have to worry about!

@Gail: Yes, the journey will never be over, it's just a matter of finding new destinations :) *

*sentimental twit alert.

Iney (18 December 2009 10:07 am)

I haven't seen the trailer yet, but i'll just keep BBC running all day. I'm bound to catch it eventually.
The Hamlet site is great. It is a great introduction for poeple young and old who are not very familiar with the play. I send the link to a couple of people and my american friend replied: "Perfect! I never read Hamlet and now I have the cliff notes with pictures!" She's looking forward to PBS showing it.

@John- With transmission just around the corner, might now be the time to reveal to us the contents of the note you wrote to yourself and to your colleagues when you saw Hamlet in Stratford in the Summer '08. You mentioned this a few month ago and for some reason I just remembered.

victoria (18 December 2009 11:02 am)

Fantastic trailer! I too was surprised about the inclusion of the end scene, but I understand your reasons for keeping it in. Personally, I think it has more of an impact when you have spent the 3 hours with the character and then have that powerful moment, but if it gets more people to watch this brilliant production that's great!

I am certainly telling everyone I know to tune it!

CeCe (18 December 2009 2:15 pm)

@ Iney - well remembered ! I would love to know as well ...

The trailer does looks great - it translates so well onto the 'small screen' and will certainly attract the attention of everyone who sees it, fans or not. It must always be difficult to know what to put into a trailer and when to stop - obvioulsy, it needs to attract viewers but without spoiling the actual event : we've all been there with film trailers which turn out to be the best bits of a whole film... (That is most definately NOT the case with this film fellow bloggers!)

Haven't had a chnace to have a close look at the BBC site, but it is on my 'To Do' list (along with Xmas shopping... ) :-)

I am itching to comment on the film, so I can't wait until it's shown and we can all give our thoughts !

Helene (18 December 2009 3:50 pm)

Hi, John,
I found a one-minute YouTube clip of Hamlet, and find it gripping. I've been forwarding it to friends in the states, many of whom were unaware of the film. Now, even more will be glued to PBS to see when it will be aired here.

The BBC's Hamlet website is good, but I thought there was supposed to be a link to the Q&A that followed the BFI screening. Do you know when that will go up?

Thank you.

Sil-Portugal (18 December 2009 6:28 pm)

The trailer looks so beautiful and the site it's very well put together, I can't wait for Boxing Day!

Ruth (18 December 2009 7:18 pm)

I've managed to find the trailer at last. Wow - I was pertty excited already, but I think this is ratcheting up the anticipation even more.

The website is looking good already, even without most of the material. Its all coming together rather nicely :)

Anne C (18 December 2009 7:45 pm)

I've seen the trailer now and - wow. I really wish I could think of something more coherent, but it's just - wow. It looks fantastic.

I've only had a chance to have a very brief play on the website, but it looks very rich in content, which is great to see. I'll try and find time to get into it more (Christmas permitting) later this weekend.

On that note, and as this is a busy time for people, I assume the website content will be available for an extended period, or (better yet) indefinitely after broadcast?

Richard (19 December 2009 12:10 pm)

Three hours of behind-the-scenes video? Crikey! It's a shame that one day it'll all disappear, as websites inevitably do. Special edition DVD? Blu-ray?

Jill (19 December 2009 8:16 pm)

Terrific, compelling trailer! I can't imagine anyone catching this and *not* wanting to see the film. It reallly gets over the excitement and energy of the production, and how it works as a thriller. I think it will draw in those who may be wavering about whether Shakespeare is for them.

It must be incredibly difficult to create the prefect trailer. Faced with three hours of material, I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to go about it. @John - did one person mainly put this together or was it more of a collaborative approach?

Jill (19 December 2009 8:21 pm)

Um. "Prefect" = "perfect". A prefect trailer would be something else entirely...

John Wyver (19 December 2009 8:49 pm)

@ Iney: yes, now all I have to do is to find that note... but if I do have something I wrote back in the summer of 2008, I will post

@ Anne C: yes, the web material will be available indefinitely after broadcast, but the video content will only be viewable in the UK; the RSC will also have clips, which will be viewable worldwide

@ Jill: the trailer was done by the specialist unit at RedBee, the BBC's company that does these things, and it went through several iterations, with lots of discussion, but I don't know the details I'm afraid; BBC exec producer Bethan Jones and I offered some reactions to a couple of earlier versions.

Poly Gianniba (19 December 2009 11:15 pm)

Not that I was looking out for the weekend tv previews.

Daily Telegraph: "scintillating", "one of the most eyecatching, emotionally engaging Hamlets in years." "This is a production worth three hours of anybody?s time, connoisseurs and Shakespeare novices alike. "

Daily Mail (which I don't read, have to make that clear, but made a point of looking at the preview): "magnetic performance", "superb cast", "compelling".

As I was at the screening on Monday, I can testify to all of the above.

Another question for you John: BBC2 broadcasts a three part series about Shakespeare at its Learning Zone starting tonight. It's done with the collaboration of the RSC and Greg Doran. I don't know whether the series is new, but the third part is called "From Stage to Screen". It doesn't seem a coincidence that it's shown just a week before the Hamlet broadcast. Are you involved in this?

victoria (20 December 2009 1:41 am)

Hi John, like Poly I have discovered this programme tonight, halfway through part 1. I'm presuming all 3 programmes will be on this Hamlet, but will they be on the dvd at all?

Thanks!

John Wyver (20 December 2009 4:39 am)

@ Poly Gianniba: thanks! I've added those above.

John Wyver (20 December 2009 5:51 am)

OK team, the three low profile Learning Zone shows are in fact all of the behind the scenes stuff that will be on the website from immediately after transmission. The compilations (they're not really programmes, but collections of short films) needed to be broadcast for teachers prior to Boxing Day but we wanted them not to be widely seen as they contain far too many spoilers. That's the explanation -- and they'll mean so much more, and be far more fun AFTER you've seen the film itself. And once again, for UK viewers, they'll be available for an indefinite period

Anna (20 December 2009 9:02 am)

@ John, why do teachers need the compilations to go out before Boxing Day? Being a Shakespeare nerd I recorded last night's (and watched it as it was broadcast, as I was still awake) assuming it would be about Macbeth (and probably a few years old), as Orson Welles' film followed it. I couldn't believe their scheduling! I didn't mind for myself as I've loved the play for 30 years, and seen this production on stage, so the only potential for spoilers was the difference between the stage and screen, but I remember how many people in the theatre were completely ignorant of the plot - let's face it, how many other productions have placed the interval where Doran did? How many people who would otherwise be encountering Hamlet for the first time on Boxing Day, and discover that they can follow Shakespeare easily when he's in the mouths and bodies of top actors compared to when he's in the pages of a dusty school book, will now know the whole story in advance?
I should probably be emailing the BBC, as I know you have no say in scheduling, but it's madness. They wouldn't broadcast Doctor Who Confidential ahead of the actual programme!
That said, it was a very enjoyable surprise, and I"m sure will be valuable to newbies after they've seen the film.

Gabriele (20 December 2009 11:15 am)

Thank you for all the informations, John!
I,too, taped last night's Learning Zone program and couldn't help having a peek already. It all looks fantastic, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the real thing.
Actually, I don't quite agree with Anna about the scheduling of the Learning Zone programs before the broadcast. Since I'm not much of a Shakespeare nerd, and English is only my second language, I feel much like a student encountering Hamlet for the first time - at least in the original language (so far, I've only watched the play in its German translation). I know the plot (probably much like every English pupil who has read Shakespeare at school), but the language is quite different from modern English, and can be puzzling and sometimes hard to follow, even in a modern production. So, I found the interpretations and explanations in the Learning Zone program really helpful. This way, when I watch the film, I can focus on the performance and visuals much better.
And I suppose anyone who don't want to have their Hamlet experience 'spoilered' can wait with watching until after Boxing Day. About the website: It looks very promising. But I suppose the video footage won't be available outside the UK?

Nicola (20 December 2009 3:17 pm)

Having seen the film already, I of course wasnt that bothered about it being "spoiled" for myself, so when I caught it (10minutes after the start) I sat and watched. The insomniacs among us got a great Christmas treat, and I'm glad that it's the material that will be available online as I was disappointed to have missed a bit. I'm definitely recording tonight's though as I'd love to have it on a DVD to watch it back, rather than on the website :)

In fact... I would have paid extra for a 3hr behind-the-scenes DVD :P

Lisa (20 December 2009 4:12 pm)

YEAH I was taping it anyway (nerd!) so delighted to get home and see that it's all about Hamlet fantastic!!!! pays to be a swot sometimes!

Anna (20 December 2009 4:20 pm)

@ Gabriele, I'm glad you found the programme helpful.

You would be surprised at how many children leave school without knowing the plot of Hamlet - in fact, if I hadn't taken English A Level, I would have been one of them. Up to the age of 16, I had only studied 3 Shakespeare plays at school. I often meet people who, when they learn how much time I spend in Stratford, ask if the RSC does the plays in "modern English", and when I say No, tell me that they "did" a Shakespeare play at school and couldn't understand a word of it. When I ask if they've ever seen Shakespeare at the theatre, the answer is always no.

I've probably seen 25 of Shakespeare's plays without having read them first or known the story, and obviously there have been words and sentences that I haven't understood, but I've never missed anything important to the plot - except for a student production of The Tempest, when I got to the interval and realised that I didn't have a clue what was going on, and left. I saw a good production of it a few months later and it was crystal clear. That convinced me that all you need to do is find a competent company and turn up. I've also seen productions with friends who didn't know the plot, and they've been fine, as have children that I've chatted to at the RSC during intervals.

I suppose it's become something of a personal mission to persuade people to see the plays and trust the actors to tell the story, rather than thinking back to how impenetrable it all was at school. That, whether you're heading for Stratford or looking forward to Hamlet on TV on Boxing Day, you don't need to do loads of homework first in order to get through it. Once Shakespeare has hooked you in, you start doing all the reading, buying all the DVDs, etc!

I confess, I don't know a foreign language well enough to watch a play with any hope of understanding what's going on (and I have been to theatre abroad), so it's not my place to comment on how someone like you approaches Shakespeare. My annoyance with the scheduling was that a lot of people watching them might feel that they wouldn't have got through the film without having seen them first, and of course that they will totally spoil the film for many others by giving away the plot.

John Wyver (20 December 2009 4:55 pm)

Many thanks for the interesting comments. I have some sympathy with Anna's position, but honestly I think very few people are going to see these programmes stuck where they are in the middle of the night. And if the BBC hadn't been able to schedule them like this, they wouldn't have been able to commit the resources that they have done to making them.

Poly Gianniba (20 December 2009 5:18 pm)

Two more previews:
Sunday Herald (Scotland) - 20 December
"... absolutely thrumps with dark energy, sets Shakespeare reeling in a way we hadn't had on tv for years ... stark, spare but highly stylish (...) its gloomy Elsinore seemingly caught between the present and the late 30s. With its soldiers shivering in great coats, it evokes Orson Welle's famous 1938 modern dress staging of Julius Ceasar"

Sunday Mail - 20 December (again, disclaimer, I am not a Sunday Mail reader)
"Shakespeare's tragedy (...) depends entirely on our engagement with the Danish prince's plight (...) and Tennant is a lean, scowling hero, whose live-wire energy and wit enliven the musings on ethics, mortality and madness.
(...) Patrick Stewart as Claudius (...) becomes a cunning but slick and charming sociopath.
(...) dramatic pace of a compelling thriller (...) a rare treat for all viewers, and for literature students revision has rarely been so painless."

John Wyver (20 December 2009 5:27 pm)

@ Poly: is that really 'thrumps' and if so, what does it mean? Nice though -- thanks!! I'll include above in a while.

Anne C (20 December 2009 5:41 pm)

@PolyG - thanks for pointing out last night's Shakespeare Zone - turned the TV on just in time and was glued to TV. Sleep is over-rated.

@John, I take your point that it would be better to watch these after transmission, but I'm afraid I couldn't resist! Maybe I'll manage to hold off on watching the next two...

For now, based on the clips I've seen, the film looks extraordinary - it's clear that it's going to be amazing and I'm very excited to see the whole thing now. I think the Learning Zone material will be a fabulous resource for schools, however they choose to use it.

Poly Gianniba (20 December 2009 5:47 pm)

Sorry, it's "thrums", I am a lousy typist and for some reason I combined "thrums" and "trumps" in my head.

Michele Fry (20 December 2009 7:37 pm)

Anna, I've been telling people for TWO decades that Shakespeare wrote PLAYS not NOVELS and therefore, they're meant to be watched NOT read first. Whenever I've persuaded someone to watch a play before attempting to read it, they've always been delighted and excited and found the actual reading of the play much easier than they'd anticipated.

I relate my own experience of struggling with Richard II at school until I went and saw the RSC touring production of it in the Theatre Royal in Bath - at which point *everything* clicked into place. (Until then I'd only ever read some of the plays, not watched them.) And that production has stayed so firmly in my brain that I can still picture some scenes in my mind's eye 26 years later!

(Sorry, I've NO idea after all this time, who was in the production, but it was excellent!!)

K (20 December 2009 9:45 pm)

John

I can see your point about having the Learning Zone stuff screened before Boxing Day for teachers....but it's the end of term and no teacher I know (and that's a fair few) intends to plan any lessons before about January 3rd!

Still, if that is what it took to get the resources to make the film, then who's complaining (not me!)

(Is it wrong that I'm going to have a nap now, and get up at 1am to watch it? No spoilers for me as I saw the BFI preview)

Iney (21 December 2009 12:02 am)

Thanks for letting us know about Learning Zone. Being a irish viewer I wont be able to see video material online and will therefore be recording the next 2 programmes, shame I missed the first. I'll wait till after Saturday to view them though....

Jen (21 December 2009 2:38 am)

Loving the trailer. Even my Mum, who has always claimed that she doesn't like Shakespeare after being forced to "study" it at school (ie read not watch) has started showing an interest - I was asked earlier if Hamlet is mad, so she's starting with the easy questions ;)

I've just caught the second of the learning zone programmes and spent the programme admiring how beautifully shot it is and pondering some of the thoughts raised in the clips.

Lisa (21 December 2009 1:11 pm)

I am loving the learning zone programmes. It is fascinating to discover how the scenes came together and how the actors approached them. I loved hearing what Claudius and Gertrude had to say about their relationship last night (this morning) - it confirmed some of my suspicions! Will these be repeated at some point?

Can't wait to see the last one. Thanks again Illuminations and the BBC for making these behind the scenes shows.

I agree with Michele too - Shakespeare is meant to be performed not read.

bex (21 December 2009 7:29 pm)

@ john in response to this comment that you made on Saturday to @ Anne C: yes, the web material will be available indefinitely after broadcast, but the video content will only be viewable in the UK; the RSC will also have clips, which will be viewable worldwide

I know I'm starting to sound a bit like a broken record permanently on whinge-mode, but...

I really do wonder how the BBC can justify not making the content available to a worldwide audience if the production was paid for by PBS and the company in Japan as well ?

The reason they have always given for blocking outside access to online content is that it's paid for primarily by the license fee you all pay... but that's not true in this case.

It seems to me as co-producers Illuminations could have a voice in convincing them that they need to make this content open to everyone if they want a truly worldwide audience for this remarkable production and Macbeth as well.

Having it available for people in advance helps educate them and entices them to tune in when it is finally broadcast in their region. Perhaps even, like me, buy a Region2 copy because we can't wait that long.

John Wyver (21 December 2009 8:05 pm)

@ Bex: it's a fair point but the co-producers did not co-finance the behind the scenes material -- that's funded entirely by the BBC and by British licence fee payers; also, wait and see what those co-producers have in mind for their own presentations online.

Of course we want an international audience for our productions, but the financing is always dependent on the rights and uses of the production in different territories, and the needs and demands of the co-producers have to be respected, not least because that's the contractual basis on which the funding is provided.

It's a tricky issue. We want to continue to find funding for productions like this, including the educational material, and giving the productions away in other territories, while attractive in many ways, won't help secure co-funding now and in the future.

bex (22 December 2009 12:07 am)

@john I figured it was something along those lines.

Still, it seems like there ought to be a way to make things more available. I'd pay the license fee + a bit if they'd make it possible (I've heard that there's discussion going on at the BBC to do this, but the prices quoted were not just the license fee but really a gouging price that really wouldn't be fair).

Or what about putting them on iTunes or Amazon's movie site so we could pay for them ? I know there's still rights issues, but if the person acquiring them is actually paying then that can go a long way to mitigating the rights issues because they'll be compensated for it. iTunes and Amazon both have ways of restricting purchase to countries where the rights have been released.

Just thinking outloud for ways to expand the audience and make things available to those of us already in the know but out of the loop by virtue of our place of residence. You may have already contemplated all of these...

Anna (22 December 2009 3:37 am)

@John, how disruptive is it to have a "behind the scenes" film crew on set? Given how tight your schedule was, not to mention the mirrors to avoid, I'd have thought the last thing you needed was another group of people to be accommodated. I'm sure they were lovely people, but does it take longer to set up a shot when they're there? Can they choose which scenes they want to film being filmed?

John Wyver (22 December 2009 4:44 am)

@ bex: very good thoughts, and there have been discussions about this kind of thing in general (although not specifics in relation to the LZ programmes) - rights is a central element in all this, but we'll keep thinking and talking about what's possible.

@ Anna: I have to say I was worried in advance about having a bts crew on set, but in fact it worked out really well. They were the team from Wales that makes Doctor Who Confidential + Merlin: Secrets and Magic, and they really knew where to position themselves and how to be entirely discreet - there was never a problem, nor did they ever delay things (we didn't have time for that); they simply followed what was going on and grabbed what they could.

We discussed what they would film beforehand, and made sure David, Patrick and the rest of the cast, as well as Greg (who was happy sometimes to wear a radio mic) and the crew, were happy with this. They probably filmed on 10 or 11 of the 18 days that we were shooting.

Many of the interviews were recorded during the shoot in a space just off the main set - David's were filmed then between set-ups, which is why he sometimes seems to change costumes between answers. Other interviews (like mine, Greg's and Patrick's) were filmed afterwards. All of which must make this production one of the best-covered in terms of bts stuff. I think the team, led by Gillane Seaborne, did a tremendous job.

Jen (22 December 2009 11:55 am)

It's a credit to how well you described things here that the behind the scenes stuff matched with so much of what I'd imagined. It was lovely to put faces to names, particularly for you and Seb.

Lisa (22 December 2009 1:53 pm)

^ yeah it was nice to put faces to names - I saw Seb chatting to Sam afterwards - I thought he was an actor!

you guys must have been sitting right behind me!

Karen M (22 December 2009 3:24 pm)

I too have been watching the behind the scenes interviews n BBC2. No spoilers for me as I was at the screening.

It has been lovely to put names to faces especially you and Seb. I've always liked hearing how a programme was put together and choices that were made.

Anna (22 December 2009 7:25 pm)

Excellent, if brief, review of Hamlet at the start of tonight's Front Row on BBC Radio 4 (should be available on Listen Again soon, I expect).

John Wyver (23 December 2009 7:21 am)

I've added a link to the Front Row review on BBC iPlayer and also transcribed the discussion, which is downloadable as a .rtf file above.

Nicola (23 December 2009 9:11 am)

I've finally managed to watch part 2 of the Learning Zone programme last night (recorded). Well, I say I watched it... it actually took me over and hour to watch 27 minutes of it. I kept rewinding to rewatch bits. I can tell I won't be getting bored of this anytime soon, and I know I have a vested interest in the production, but I can tell the vast amount of knowledge and enthusiasm imparted by the footage will certainly be a godsend for classrooms and fans alike.

anne c (23 December 2009 11:40 am)

@john, thank you for the transcript of the front row feature - much appreciated. I think that's what i'd call a positive review!

bex (29 December 2009 7:12 pm)

John- The website Chicago Now has an article about the closing out of DTs time on DW and buried in the article is the first mention I've seen of an actual transmission date in the US for Hamlet.

It gives the date 28 April 2010

Now, PBS stations are independent entities and can choose to broadcast on that day or delay it til later in the week so it won't necessarily be the same for everyone... but I thought you might want to let folks know that there is some movement towards a projected date.

Since I can't leave a link, go to chicago . now . com and look for an article by Curt Wagner in his blog called Show Patrol

John Cooling (21 January 2010 7:31 pm)

Fantastic,.. the theatre on tv,... cast were as expected, great, but the colour and light did it for me,.. couldn't see where the light sources were,..Brilliant,.. Well done.
John

Stella (28 January 2010 10:20 pm)

I haven't explored the BBC2 website as much as I should due to lack of time, and now I am off on holiday. What wasn't obvious was a copy of the exact script which was used. My only copy of the play is my husband's school text book and of course Greg cut and changed things around. It is therefore difficult to watch the DVD and follow the text at the same time to pick up on some of the other subtleties. Have I missed it? Given that so much of the interest in Shakespeare is in the word play, the lack of matching text is a shame. It's those words, words, words.