Yesterday was the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. To mark the occasion, the BBC broadcast a live event from the Royal Shakespeare Company celebrating the Bard’s work. A highlight of the show saw several esteemed actors battle it out over the best way to deliver the famous “to be or not to be” speech from Hamlet. And guess who was amongst them…
Yes, following on from his box-office breaking run as the Prince of Denmark last year, Benedict Cumberbatch took to the stage alongside a whole host of thespians like David Tennant, Ian McKellen, Rory Kinnear, Judi Dench… Tim Minchin and, even stranger, Prince Charles himself! See the sketch below:
Shakespeare Live can be viewed online (for UK residents) over at BBC Iplayer.
Shakespeare and Sherlock fans might also be interested to know that TV movie The Hollow Crown: Richard III, which will feature Cumberbatch as the hunchbacked king, will air next month.
Sherlocks Home 
sigh… I wish I could watch it, but nope, cuz I’m a Yank. Yanks need culture too! 🙂
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Get tunnelbear. My husband is British and we can watch bbc online using tunnelbear.
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Hmm, I just installed Tunnelbear, and I still can’t watch.
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Well that’s depressing – the video isn’t available in your country
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I can view the video and I am in Texas. 🙂
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I am in the US and it plays on mine.
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Reblogged this on Liturgical Credo and commented:
Hey folks — This is brilliant:
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I’m also in the US and it played for me too.
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Aside from Judy Dench, who is the woman in the sketch? I think she’s the only one not named in the description.
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Harriet Walters
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The lady in the photo is Harriet Walter, like Judy Dench she is also a Dame
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That’s Harriet Walter.. If you want to watch outside the UK, just click on the red arrow on the video. Don’t click on the BBC hyperlink, unless you are in the UK.
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This is awesome!
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loved this
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You might be able to catch it in a retransmission at select Cineplex movie theatres May 26 or June 5: http://www.cineplex.com/Movie/the-shakespeare-show
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Pingback: Battle of the Hamlets: Prince Charles Takes on Cumberbatch, Tennant on BBC - Signature Reads
Reblogged this on streeteditions.
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How unfair not to be able to see this. Sometimes crappy to be a Yank.
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Aaaand the BBC “has blocked this video on copyright grounds” 8P
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If you are having trouble, try here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/23/prince-charles-plays-hamlet-in-brilliant-bbc-sketch/
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i am in India
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so smallminded. Don’t they realize that Shakespeare belongs to everyone? So old-fashioned.
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