A London production of Shakespeare's Hamlet with "Sherlock" star Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role has become the most in-demand production "of all time," according to online press reports, even though it doesn't open for more than a year.
Move aside, David Tennant. Step aside, Jude Law. Cumberbatch's Hamlet, to be directed by Lyndsey Turner (Chimerica, Machinal), is the most searched-for event at online ticket marketplace Viagogo, outstripping by four to one the next most popular stage production, the currently running A Streetcar Named Desire with Gillian Anderson at the Young Vic, and beating Beyoncé and Jay Z's "On the Run" tour by more than three to one.
Tickets went on sale this morning, and by some accounts the online queue grew to more than 20,000 places long. As of this writing, most tickets have likely already been sold. However, the producers are holding back 100 cut-rate tickets for each performance, to be made available on the day of the performance. Details of this program, along with further casting information, are not yet available.
The run at the Barbican Theatre is scheduled to begin performances August 5, 2015, open August 25, and close October 31.
Cumberbatch may be best known for the BBC crime drama "Sherlock," but he has appeared on stage in Hedda Gabler (Olivier Award nomination), Terrence Rattigan's After the Dance, and Danny Boyle's Frankenstein for which he won an Olivier among other plaudits for playing both Victor Frankenstein and The Creature on alternate nights, opposite Jonny Lee Miller. So he is no stranger to troubled-soul roles. (Trekkers will point out he was also Khan in 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness.)
One trouble Cumberbatch's Hamlet will not have, obviously, is filling seats. The claim of "most in-demand of all time" may be marketing hyperbole or journalistic bloviation--how can you measure such a thing?--but this Hamlet is clearly a heck of a Shakespearean hot ticket.
