Hamlet

By my reckoning, I've been listening to pop music for forty years now. From my early passions for Johnny Cash and Abba, through to the exuberance of Ska and then the start of my deep, abiding love for electronic music in my early teens, I've listened to loads of different music. In fact, the other night, I likened it to a river; narrow and gushing at its source, spreading out over time, until it has travelled through and encompassed all sorts of different places.

Indeed, these days whilst there's a lot on my CD racks that wouldn't surprise you, there is a lot that probably would. That said, there are a few artists I've never really liked or come to appreciate, the most contentious being Bob Dylan. Some people, when I tell them this, take great offence: "Call yourself a music lover?!" and so on.

Similarly, much as I love watching films, I don't think I've ever seen anything by Tim Burton that I really enjoyed. And then there's the question of authors: I've not enjoyed either of the Ian McEwan books I've read, nor anything by Terry Pratchett. It's just a matter of taste, isn't it?

But there's one writer I really wish I could appreciate and love, and that's William Shakespeare. I marvel at the lines and sometimes paragraphs that I read, I can see he is an amazing writer, but I simply can't follow the plays, whether watching them at the theatre or on TV, or reading the text. In fact, the only time I've come close to enjoying it was when I saw the National Ballet doing 'Romeo and Juliet': no dialogue and a helpful guide in the programme as to what was taking place.

However, a few months ago, the Minx found out that Maxine Peake was going to be playing Hamlet at the Royal Exchange and asked if I'd like to go with her. Well, I said yes, of course, but I can't say I was particularly looking forward to it, especially when I found out that it would be three hours long! In response to one of my many grumbles, she sent me a link to some notes on the play, so I'd at least have a rough idea of what was going on.

We met up with my eldest, Charlie, in the bar beforehand and I fortified myself with a couple of glasses of wine before we went in, but then it was showtime. Once again, I found myself at the foot of Mount Shakespeare.

I won't talk you through the entire performance but, on balance, I'd say I enjoyed myself. Maxine Peake was good as Hamlet, although the chap playing Horatio was my favourite and the chap who played the king also deserves an honourable mention. The set was nicely done and interestingly inventive and, all in all, it didn't feel quite like three hours :-)

To be honest, though, my problem remains with the words. I honestly don't think I could have followed the play without the Minx's crib notes. The brief off stage event of the trip to England, for example: something about a letter, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead!", something about pirates... It was like being told a story by Norman Collier.

And it was strange that, with the exception of "et tu, Brute?", pretty much every Shakespeare quote I know comes from Hamlet. And that in itself makes for odd watching; it seems quite surreal to listen to Hamlet launch into 'To be or not to be...'. I guess that's because the words have a life of their own outside of the play.

All that said, there were long chunks of the play when I could follow what was being said. I did have to concentrate - the language is clever (of course!) and sometimes hard work - but for the first time, I was able to enjoy it, particularly the graveside scene ("Alas, poor Yorick") for some reason. I'm not sure I'll rush into seeing another Shakespeare but I would go again, I'll just swot up a bit more beforehand.