Cumberbitch

Ten years ago I saw a virtually unknown actor live in Look Back in Anger who had such charisma that he just acted everyone else off the stage.  I've seen a lot of theatre, but I'll never forget it.  He was David Tennant.

Since then I've been on charisma-watch, looking to make sure that if I spot a brilliant charismatic actor I want to be seeing them live.

Enter Benedict Cumberbatch.

I've known of him since Atonement and loved him in Sherlock, but it was when I saw him in NT Live Frankenstein (OK, 5 times) that I was just blown away.  So seeing him live was added to the bucket list.

Last week I secured a new client in London and needed to come down for a meeting, and when looking for something to do in the evening my friend - knowing I was a Cumberbitch - told me that if I kept clicking refresh on the Barbican website I'd eventually pick up a return for the current hot ticket starring Benedict Cumberbatch - Hamlet.  And I did!

It was great to go to the Barbican.  I used to work round the corner for two years so I must have walked past it a hundred times but never went in.  It is a terrific venue, a real theatre-goers venue with extremely comfortable seats and every seat with good sight lines.

Hamlet isn't really my thing to be honest, and at three hours it was a pretty big commitment!  But Benedict Cumberbatch was indeed as captivating as I'd hoped and he has a real voice for Shakespeare.  I enjoyed his performance which was very energetic, and the set was beautiful, so it was a real visual spectacle.

Bucket list remaining - Neil Patrick Harris on Broadway.