Last year I spent some time reading Hamlet again, possibly the first time I’d read it since studying it for A-level. It was part of a campaign I had to read all of Shakespeare’s works. That didn’t work out so well and I quickly found that spending time studying Hamlet had greatly enhanced my enjoyment of it – an element that was missing in my reading of the other plays. So, I’ve given up until a later date.
The result of
the above musing was that I thought that Hamlet Globe to Globe would be a good
read. The idea is that Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre tried to take Hamlet to
every country in the world and on the whole succeeded. I enjoyed the
connections that were made between elements of Hamlet and the cultures that were
encountered on the journey.
I think
what I appreciated the most was the way that it allowed me to explore Hamlet
again. There’s a difference between studying a play for an exam and being able
to think about it for pleasure. I would say that there are benefits to both,
but this book reopened the play to me and took me around the world as part of
the deal!
This is a
book I would recommend. The author comes across as very down to earth and human,
and not afraid to talk about the less than glamourous side of the tour. It’s
fun and informative – what more could you want from a book?
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