+ Just came back from a weekend away. Was good to get out of London for a while and the weather was perfect, or as perfect as volatile English weather can get. We went to Portsmouth on Saturday which had a great factory outlet complex. But best of all we visited the HMS Victory, Lord Admiral Nelson's flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar. It was too awesome, particularly as a fan of the Hornblower series. We were able to walk up and down the Victory which is the only way you can appreciate how enormous this frigate was. It was a bit rainy but it only added to the atmosphere. Awesome.

+ Then we drove around the Cotswolds yesterday, the weather was perfect. We drove through tiny little countrysides which were really cute, including Lacock Village which is where they film a lot of the BBC period dramas (eg. Pride & Prejudice, Cranford, etc). The only downer was that there were so many people around, which kinda spoilt the atmosphere.

+ Finally, random pic of the day - how weird is this David Tennant photo? It's a pic from the set of St Trinians 2; I don't know anything about it but why have they done to my man? I have no words. Except: Crikey! And he looks way more 38 now than he does normally!

( Prepare yourself )

So put me down for the sin of greed because I went to see David Tennant, Patrick Stewart et al in Hamlet, again, for the closing night performance.

It was just as wonderful as the opening (preview) night, which I reviewed rather haphazardly. Maybe it was because I was sitting in way different seats this time round (centre first row Balcony vs. centre fifth row stalls for opening night) but it felt like a slightly different performance. I caught one tiny trip up which was so miniscule it wasn't relevant but it somehow made it a better experience, seeing how actors recover from it on stage.

At intermission I also had a funny convo with the guy selling ice creams - he was soooo into David Tennant it wasn't funny. I had rather off-handedly remarked how this was my second DT performance and he kinda got really fanboyish, asking how his performance was and how many performances he actually did as Hamlet in London before his surgery. The power and charm of David. LOL. I just wanted my bloody cookies and cream ice cream.

Did not hang around the stage door after the performance though - sub zero temperatures aside, I was quite satisfied with my previous encounter and unlike the opening night, there was a veritable scrum outside the stage door.

In other news, the heating and hot water is down at my house - not really a good thing to happen in the midst of winter! I actually slept in my puffy faux ski jacket last night. It was funny, except for the cold. I think if it doesn't get fixed tonight I'll hunker down at my mate's place - where they actually have heat and hot water! Brrrr.

A quick recap of tonight's opening night performance of Hamlet @ The Novello before I go off to bed.

( The performance )

( David Tenant @ the Stage Door )

David Tennant to leave Doctor Who.

I'm sad, but it had to happen. I'm glad we got closure with Ten/Rose. I'm glad they announced it before the Christmas special and the 4 other specials next year. And I'm double glad he's so pure of acting heart that he couldn't be persuaded by mere money to continue on another season. Because he's way too talented to be confined to just one TV show.

*sniffs* DT will always be the Doctor for me. He was my first. ;-)

The title says it all for I have attained the Holy Grail, aka the hottest tickets in London, aka tickets to see RSC's Hamlet! Not only that, scored tickets to the opening (3 Dec) and last performances (10 Jan), with the 3 Dec being premium seats (row F, which is dead centre in front of the stage). I've never had better seats at the theatre (b/c I am a cheapskate and do not believe in forking out unless the quality is worth it. Which in this case is a resounding yes).

Needless to say I'm stoked. *does the dance of joy*

Only slightly disappointed I didn't get tickets to the special event (Dec 18 there's a post-production talk with the actors and crew which would almost certainly include David Tennant and Patrick Stewart) as only top priced seats were left (£45), so instead of one ticket I elected to get 2 tickets (opening night is a reduced rate £30 and closing night I just wanted to be there, so I elected for the best nosebleed seats at £19).

Now that, my friends, is just what I'd come to London to see (performances and stuff, not seeing DT. Although yes, that will be great too!).

Now I just have to decide who to take with me!

Getting the tickets

It wasn't easy. It seems no one was exaggerating when they said the Hamlet tickets are the hottest ones in town. Tickets went on sale to the general public at 10AM today and were sold out 3 hours later! (which I would say is not accurate - I queued up at the Box Office this morning and only got my tickets at 2PM - 4 hours later!).

I got to the BO at 9.30AM and there were people there with sleeping bags and stuff. Everyone was paranoid about tickets and at 10AM you could see everyone trying to dial the RSC ticket line - not that anyone could get through. Their website apparently crashed within minutes and I suspect the phone lines weren't much better off. I kept trying until 12PM or so when I gave up as the actual BO was now in sight (and there were ushers and staff members telling us we should be able to get tickets).

Speaking of, here is a pic I saw taken when we were in the queue, so in theory if you squint really, really hard, I am one of the unlucky/lucky few who were able to get tickets this way.

ETA: So, I can sell my opening night tickets for £1,164 now? Sweet. Not that I would. These tickets are a result of my hard earned ... effort. ;-)

I've been obsessing over Doctor Who, specifically Doctor/Rose, for days. Ever since 4.12 The Stolen Earth.

( Major spoilers for 4.13 Journey's End )

Tagged by missalicebluewhat seems like an eternity ago, but in the world outside my head was only last week.