Hamlet @ the Crucible

Today we left Mr B and Miss M with Gma and Gpa and drove over the Pennines to Sheffield - all to see the lovely John Simm in Hamlet.

What we weren't expecting was for him to turn up at Ego while we were eating lunch! Jude papped him from our table across the restaurant!

And as for the play? It was my first time at the Crucible and I fell in love with the theatre - it's a great space with a thrust stage. The performance was good, not the best Hamlet I have ever seen (Mr Tennant and Mr Brannagh were both very special), but definately worth the effort.

Simm acted well enough, but his verse was rather stilted and lacked flow. He's great to watch though.

There were great turns from John Nettles as Claudius and Hugh Ross as Polonius, as well as Barbara Flynn as Gertrude.

The best moment was the ghost appearing from nowhere at the beginning - whic was a real breath catcher!

As well as a first trip to the Crucible, this was also my first proper trip to Sheffield (I've changed trains there before, but never ventured out of the station before). And Sheffield turns out to be very nice indeed - obviously there has been a lot of redevelopment work over the last few years - and I liked it a lot.

The Winter Gardens were a real surprise - like Kew Gardens in the middle of the city!