i hate hamlet.

this was the title of the show i saw last night. one of my mom's co-workers, Nancy Segal, is an actress on the side, and she reserved tickets for us for this show, in which she played the agent of a TV actor who gets cast as Hamlet for Shakespeare in the Park. the show took place at the Walnut Street Theater, in Studio 5, which is a blackbox. it was so strange to be in the audience, especially in a blackbox, because two of my shows from this past year were set in one, including my most recent show, ben jonson's volpone. also, after having taken michael's theatre class this past semester, i feel like i know so much more about theatre and how it works. it's hard for me, as an actor, to sit in the audience and not critique the performance as i watch. last night i found myself taking note of spots where pauses were too short, a cross was awkward, the dialogue was rushed, but once i got past that i really loved the show. it was clever, and my favorite character and actor by far was the man who played barrymore (details on the cast later).