Benedict Cumberbatch was snubbed at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards

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Benedict Cumberbatch has had a pretty big year. He won an Emmy for Sherlock, he got his first-ever Oscar nomination, he got married and became a father and he was given a CBE on the Honours List. But it’s not all roses and otters for Benedict! After killing himself night after night in Hamlet AND standing outside night after night to sign autographs and take photos with fans, it seems that Bendy has been “snubbed” for an Evening Standard Theatre Award. Those awards aren’t really the equivalent of a Tony Award – think more like a critics’ award, something like that. Still, the Evening Standard Awards are pretty prestigious and Bendy didn’t even get nominated! Rough stuff.

Benedict Cumberbatch’s much-hyped Hamlet has been snubbed by critics, after failing to win a single nomination at this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards. The Sherlock star’s production ran from August until the end of October at the Barbican, with the 100,000 available tickets selling out in minutes, almost a year before the first performance.

After initial complaints over changes to Shakespeare’s original structure of the play, theatre critics gave the production rave reviews, with The Telegraph critic, Dominic Cavendish, awarding the performance four stars, saying that Cumberbatch’s performance “justifies the hysteria”. But despite the warm reception, Hamlet does not feature in the nominations for this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Ralph Fiennes, James McAvoy, Simon Russell Beale and Kenneth Cranham will instead battle it out for the best actor category.

Fiennes, known by many as Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films, is nominated for his role in Man and Superman, while McAvoy has been put forward for his part in the comedy, The Ruling Class.

[From The Telegraph]

It wasn’t just a snub for Benedict for Best Actor, the whole play was snubbed! Maybe there were bigger problems with the rewrite than moving up the “To be or not to be” speech. Still, maybe this is just a signal that it’s James McAvoy’s year. McAvoy’s turn in The Ruling Class was by far the best-reviewed play on the London stage this year. And at the end of the day… another version of Hamlet does seem rather tedious, maybe?

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139 Responses to “Benedict Cumberbatch was snubbed at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards”

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  1. t.fanty says:

    MacAvoy and Barnes for the win!!!

    • Catherine says:

      Fanty, excuse my ignorance here but who is Barnes?
      Edit: I worked it out Peter Barnes

      Annoyed I missed Fiennes at the National now.

    • Cran says:

      The Ruling Class is one of my favorite films. I loaned a copy to my father and never saw it again. He wouldn’t even acknowledge he had it in his possession. Lol. My mom told me he watched it frequently and was in tears of laughter every time. Peter O’Toole was brilliant.

    • NUTBALLS says:

      Is there any rumors that The Ruling Class will be broadcast on NT Live? I want to see The Mac on stage, especially after all the raving reviews he got.

      And because he’s my favorite. McAvoy for the win!

      I enjoyed Man vs Superman too. Thank godthose of us stuck in the mountains can still enjoy some great theatre via NT Live.

      Not surprised that Bendy the Superstar Internet Idol didn’t get a nom from the critics.

      • EN says:

        > Is there any rumors that The Ruling Class will be broadcast on NT Live?

        I don’t think they recorded it. It is gone forever. I have hard time accepting such things in our age of technology.

      • Lisa says:

        You can probably see it at the V&A theatre archive. You can see his Macbeth there.

      • EN says:

        > You can probably see it at the V&A theatre archive. You can see his Macbeth there.

        I wonder why they don’t release the archive recordings on DVD, get them produced on demand. There is a market for it out there,.
        Is it because of copyright issues? Or nobody cares because it won’t be profitable?

      • Lilacflowers says:

        @En, copyright may be one issue, negotiated contracts and salaries of the actors may be another. Actors have a right to be paid if their work is recorded/broadcast and they also have rights to be paid for the sale of things like DVDs. Adding those costs might make putting on a production far too expensive.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        I would love to see there be a category of theatre contract negotiation in which a performer gets a percentage of the DVD, streaming income as musicians do with recorded music. Anyone involved in the creation of a theatre production needs to be compensated for their work when money is being made on it.

        The last NT Live production I saw was The Beaux Stratagem (which was fantastic, by the way) and we were shown how much goes into taping for NT Live, I can see why they don’t do it on just any play. There’s a lot of work and cost that goes into it and if they need to enter into additional negotiations with the playwright, producer, director and actors to pay them for each time the recording is broadcast, that complicates the process even more.

        I do wish that there would be structures put in place so that great theatre can be enjoyed around the world via cinema, online streaming or DVD. Good art should be available to all, regardless of location and income.

      • EN says:

        > we were shown how much goes into taping for NT Live,

        I also saw a similar thing during a Met Opera broadcast. it is amazing, they are recording from 20-30 cameras in real time, and the main guy has to give everyone directions what to do , where to do close up and when to show what.

        They get one rehearsal and from that they have to get a game plan – who is recording what , at what time, what actors/ singers etc. are going to do, where they are going to move.

        It is like making a movie only you get only one take. It is very stressful and very high stakes kind of job.

  2. Felice. says:

    Hardly any critics liked it. Just because he has 20,000 stans validating him doesn’t mean he’s actually hot stuff.

    • J says:

      reviews were somewhat mixed but no a good amount of legit critics liked it and/or him

      i was more surprised by them snubbing rylance and then everyman entirely

    • EN says:

      I didn’t see any “stans ” at my screening.
      And I think the number of people who saw it is higher than 20,000. More like 300,000?

      It was somewhat of a commercial production, easing people into “Hamlet” a little bit, done not just for those who love theater and have seen many Hamlets by now.

      It is the same thing in the movies. Not many people willingly watch highbrow drama, you have to entice them, otherwise you won’t be profitable . It doesn’t mean that people making such movies are being cheap, or aren’t good actors/ producers/ directors. But it is business, and it has to be profitable.

      • Leah says:

        Thats not 100% accurate. People go crazy for shakespeare as long as you put a popular tv or film actor in a leading part. Tennants Hamlet was a massive commercial success. So was othello with ewan mcgregor and chiwetel ejifor. Both productions managed to marry commercial and critical success. I honestly think this just wasn’t a great production, at least thats what i heard. Its not necessarily cumberbatchs fault, theres a lot of components that go into making a good production.

      • hermia says:

        100,000+ is more accurate. The theatre has 1,100 seats. There were at least 90 performances.

    • Maxine DuCamp says:

      The first review was harsh but it was controversially done on the first night of previews and the reviewer was not the paper’s (I forget which one at this point) theatre critic. If I remember correctly most of the reviews were quite positive, although more 4 star than 5.

      I’m a Cumberbatch fan and a theatre fan and love London so I took the opportunity to go and it live as well as 4 other plays during my 5 day visit in mid-September and here’s my 2 pence:

      I enjoyed it thoroughly although it wasn’t perfect. I though Benedict was brilliant in some parts, particularly the soliloquies (and the people next to me–a group of middle-aged friends, both male and female, from London who were not Cumberstans, loved the soliloquies and the rest of the play as well). That being said, I do feel that he over-acted a bit in some parts; nothing too bad, just my personal feeling.

      Cumberbatch’s Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia seemed rather tepid on his part (she was obviously a bit obsessed with him), at least compared with one or two other productions, so I didn’t find his reaction to her death the least bit believable. Also, in some other productions, Hamlet has an almost Oedipal relationship with his mother, Gertrude, which some feel partially accounts for his reaction to her remarriage; he’s not just mad that she remarried so soon after his father’s death, he’s also jealous. Again in this production, their relationship (on both sides) seemed a bit cold and distant. After processing this for a bit, I’m curious if this was a deliberate choice of the director to place even greater emphasis on the father-son relationship?

      By the time I saw it, I thought that Ciaran Hinds had risen to the role of Claudius. He and the grave digger were the other standouts for me. I wasn’t bother by “hipster Horatio” as many were. I am surprised that a production of this magnitude did not get bigger names as co-stars, but felt they all did a good job, or at least no one stood out as clunkers (whereas in Frankenstein, I was really disappointed in the supporting cast with a couple of exceptions).

      The set was spectacular, although I can understand the few who complained that it was too spectacular and distracted from the action of the play. But I can certainly understand how impressive it must have seen to the many first-time theatre goers. Oh everyone was extremely well behaved during visit. No phones out, no “screaming fans.”

      Overall, I’m very happy that I went and thoroughly enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the best thing that I saw in London and as the ES awards are so limited (only 3-4 noms in each category), I can understand how he or the play didn’t get any (am surprised that Es Devlin didn’t get a nod for set design though). A lot of the fans, for whom this was their first theatre experience, seem to think that this “snub” is elitism because this play brought in so many people who’d never been to the theatre before, but if you haven’t seen anything else, how are you in a position to judge that this play/actor is the best?

    • seesittellsit says:

      I think the reviews for Cumberbatch were generally good, it was the production that got slammed. Personally, I think “Hamlet” is going to prove the high point of Cumberbatch’s career, unless at a later point he attempts Lear or MacBeth or Henry IV – but otherwise from hereon in it’s going to be trying to make as much money as possible in so-so films like the Marvel franchise. He’s looking even odder as he ages and appears nearly haggard at this point. His crazy fans (both sides of them) may hang around a while longer, and the Sherlock specials and Season 4 may give him a boost, but I think his serious film career peaked with TIG, and his stage career with “Hamlet”. He has to figure out where he goes from here.

      • Anon222 says:

        Didn’t he just sign up for The Current War? That smells like another Oscar baity movie by The Weinstein company. A bit quick to say he peaked.

      • KT says:

        The Current War is unconfirmed, but yes, I agree, Anon 222. I’ve always thought he’ll be a mid-40s+ peaking actor. Nothing wrong with it.

        Some start off strong and fade, others improve over time. It depends on what’s holding them back/going in internally, I suspect.

  3. Sochan says:

    He’s not in a theatre league with McAvoy and Fiennes right now. Maybe never will be. He’s a decent character actor for movies and a comedic/dramatic lead for TV. There’s nothing wrong with any of this. One doesn’t have to win everything.

    • H says:

      This. I had friends from Canada fly over to London to see The Ruling Class and they raved about it. They also went over last month and saw Hamlet, and while they are Sherlock fans (normal ones, not crazy stans), they thought McAvoy’s acting was far superior to Cumberbatch’s.

      • Lisa says:

        McAvoy was awesome, in the fullest meaning of that word – superb performance! Benedict was alright, he really didn’t get much room to breathe in that production and I didn’t feel he got to make his mark or get to grips with the part – missed opportunity.

      • Kate says:

        I saw Fiennes, McAvoy and Cumberbatch live. The first two were exceptional. Very very exciting performances. Benedict was very good but not in their class. I go to the theatre a lot and he isn’t even in my top 5 male performances of the year. Ray Fearon in Hecuba, Geoffrey Streatfeild in The Beaux Stratagem and Johnny Flynn in Hangmen were all superior in my opinion. I didn’t see Kenneth Cranham but somebody I know said his performance was heartbreaking. I do think it should have got a stage design nomination though as that truly was a thing of beauty.

    • J says:

      right? he can go home and cry in his pile of money lol

      seriously tho it was well-received by audiences and at the end of the day that’s cool. it’s worse when a bunch of people pay to see something and hate it imo but of course im speaking as a person who’s sat through some crappy plays lol

    • whatsup says:

      To me he is a bit one note. Tends to speak quite quickly when trying to show emotion or intelligence. I don’t see emotion from his characters – it’s the actors around him which I feel tend to make him shine more than his own performance worth.

      • Sochan says:

        I think he is actually intelligent. I don’t think he’s at genius capacity, but I think he’s analytical and smart and well-read and capable of conversing on many topics with passion. I think he talks fast and mumbles because his mind is very quick. This kind of person is hard to understand, but an active mind finds it very, very hard to achieve brevity. They’re thinking so much about so many things at once and have very deep senses. It’s almost impossible for this personality type to say “the book was great, highly informative, and well-written”. He’s a Cancer and thus feels and thinks very deeply about things, and is likely very highly sensitive (in the literal sense of the word). It is a temperament and personality type. I don’t think he can help himself, really.

      • what'sup says:

        In person fine. But he does this in roles where he wants to display intelllect. There’s a difference and i feel that he is one note in his portrayal of similar characters of this ilk.

      • Sochan says:

        Well, I assume you’re referring to Sherlock and Alan Turing. Sherlock is written that way by the writers of that show, and Alan Turing was a real person who talked that way in real life. I’m not sure what the gripe is here, but in any case I’m moving on.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        I find the mumbling irksome.

      • KT says:

        It doesn’t bother me, but I’m not fussed by variations in speech.

        Sochan may be on the right road. There’s research in the linguist community that suggests mumbling is a form of unconscious streamlining rather than laziness or lack of focus.

        http://nautil.us/blog/mumbling-isnt-a-sign-of-lazinessits-a-clever-data_compression-trick

    • KTE says:

      He deservedly won every award going for Frankenstein, but his Hamlet just wasn’t that impressive – especially in comparison with that performance.

  4. Betti says:

    The play and his performance has been over-hyped and while i haven’t seen it and people who have say he’s good enough in it – he shouldn’t get a nom just because he’s Benedict Cumberbatch, the internet’s boyfriend and current IT boy. Other actors have given better performances and the list reflects that. Hamlet is a vanity project for him – he banged on about it long enough that someone created a production just for him so he could play his dream part and they could make a lot of money off ticket sales etc..

    He isn’t in the same league as McAvoy, Fiennes and Beale – who are ALL amazing actors. I have tickets to go see Fiennes in the Old Vic’s production of Isben’s The Master Builder next year – cannot wait as I have always wanted to see in him theatre.

  5. MexicanMonkey says:

    I have seen Hamlet, The Ruling Class and Man and Superman so these are the only performances I can judge, and I can honestly say that McAvoy and Fiennes gave better performances that Benedict. I’m not sure about the other nominees.
    So, maybe it wasn’t a snub and it was a simple case of there being better actors on stage this year?

    • Tina says:

      Totally agree. I must admit that I missed the Father, but of the rest I would say that Simon Russell Beale and Fiennes gave the finest performances. But McAvoy’s part was extremely showy and he did a good job, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he took it. Cumberbatch was good and Hamlet is a difficult part. But there were better performances by actors on the London stage this year. If anyone was snubbed, it was Mark Rylance for Farinelli and the King. (As for the women, Denise Gough deserves to win for her extraordinary performance in People, Places & Things – but Nicole Kidman will probably take it on grounds of fame).

      • icerose says:

        I saw Farinelli and the King live and he was fantastic.Maybe Rylance has just won to many times.I also saw Man and Superman live and Ralf was infinitely superior to Benedict and my daughter saw Benny and McAvoy and said he was also better than Benny,BC was okay but nothing to write home about,He may still get a nomination for the Oivier’s but the Evening Standards is usually the preview of how things will go

  6. procrastinator says:

    I saw both the Ruling Class and Hamlet, and I have to say, McAvoy nailed it. The whole production was spot on. Hamlet was also amazing but I do think it had more problems overall than Ruling Class, although I don’t think Cumberbatch was one of them (Ciaran Hinds on the other hand I think let down the production, and the pacing of the play was uneven. But it was one of the most spectacular and visually stunning productions I’ve ever seen ever. The mood of the play was absolutely perfect). I’m surprised it didn’t get ANY nomination because some of the design etc., was great. But theatre folk in London are pretty particular people (Brits, amirite?!), so also not surprising.

  7. A. Key says:

    Nobody cares really.

  8. KT says:

    The ESAs kind of lost their shine for me after the Mirren scandal 2 years back. I know politics are involved in all awards yet having that confirmed tends to put me off.

    It does seem strange the set didn’t merit any recognition, it was stunning. What about Whislaw? Was Bakkhai not well received either?

    • InvaderTak says:

      The Mirren scandal? I missed that one. What was that about? I’m not a huge theater follower.

      • Fluff says:

        After Helen Mirren won Best Actress, more than half of the judging panel resigned and it came out that two other nominees had beaten Mirren in the awards judging, and that the editor had decided to basically overrule the entire nomination and judging procedure to give Mirren an award she had not actually won. Huge scandal because it proves beyond any doubt what people had always suspected about the ES Awards – that they’re fixed.

      • InvaderTak says:

        Oh well yeah that’s not cool. Thanks Fluff.

    • EN says:

      > Was Bakkhai not well received either?

      I read great reviews of Bakkhai and how can Wishaw not be great at something? I am showing my fangirl colors here)).
      The takeaway for me is that there are so many great British actors right now, we should be happy.
      All the Best Actor nominees are deserving, but there are even more out there. It is a tough race.

      • Fluff says:

        I love Ben Wishaw but honestly Bertie Carvel stole the show.

      • Maxine DuCamp says:

        If I recall the reviews for Bakkhai correctly, it’s a similar situation to Cumberbatch’s Hamlet. Lead or in this case leads got good reviews, but reviews of the production as a whole were mixed, even more so than Hamlet.

      • Tina says:

        Bakkhai was good and Ben Whishaw is incapable of delivering a poor performance, but Carvel was also fantastic and the production had weaknesses – notably the chorus, who were much too present.

      • Lisa says:

        I love Bertie Carvel. Going to see the hairy ape soon! He was great in Bakhai

      • Kate says:

        Oh Goodness I forgot about Bakkhai. I adore Ben Whishaw, I think him and Judi Dench in Peter and Alice was the single most moving thing I have ever see on stage, however you are right Bertie Carvel absolutely stole it, the image of him, playing his mother, covered in blood is a sight that will take years to leave me. Agree though the chorus was a pain in the ass. I have seen The Hairy Ape (at the worlds most uncomfortable theatre) and he was brilliant in that as well. Such different characters, such brilliant performances. I honestly don’t know why he isn’t a superstar.

      • hermia says:

        Carvel also steals the show in The Hairy Ape at the Old Vic. If you are in London, go see!
        By the way, we met him at SD for the usual autograph and he’s a real gentleman; very suave.

      • KTE says:

        I really enjoyed Bakkhai, but then I’d just done the Illiad reading the day before, so I appreciated how short and sweet it was! I wasn’t so keen on The Hairy Ape, although Bertie is very good in it.

  9. Crocuta says:

    He wasn’t snubbed. It’s just that others were better. Why do fans have such trouble understanding that?

  10. Lilacflowers says:

    Does Anna Wintour know about this?

    Seriously, I saw the NTLive broadcast and while BC was a decent Hamlet, I have seen much better performances of the part (Rylance, Whishaw and some guy touring with the Shakespeare’s Globe Theater a few years ago whose name I can’t recall). Hamlet Pushing 40 was clearly a vanity performance from start to finish with some over-the-top bits from the star himself. I can understand why it would not get much traction with the award-bestowing critics. I saw Fiennes’s performance in a NTLive broadcast and he was so powerful. I really wish I could have seen MacAvoy’s performance. BC wasn’t the only high-profile snub – Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Rylance, and Bradley Cooper are without nominations as well. Looking forward to seeing MacAvoy in a tux when he accepts his award.

    • SusanneToo says:

      Slightly OT, but Rylance in Bridge of Spies-there’s my nominee for Best Supporting Actor this year. A magnificent performance.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        I wholeheartedly agree with that. He really deserves a nomination for that performance and I think he’ll get one.

      • Beth No. 2 says:

        Amen to that. Would love to see an Oscar nomination for Rylance.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        Rylance was wonderful in Bridge of Spies. I wasn’t expecting the deadpan humor that he brought to the role, either. He deserves a nom for it, for sure.

    • Lindy79 says:

      I was going to say, given her connection I am quite surprised he didn’t get the nomination, she loves him, we know this.

    • Betti says:

      Wishaw was sublime as Hamlet – i was it years ago at the Old Vic directed by Trevor Nunn. Bendy is a good actor but he can’t carry a production (theatre and movies) on his own – he gives better performances when he’s sharing billing (Johnny Lee Miller and Martin Freeman).

      • Nittfox says:

        Thank you!!! I’m a fan of Benedict, but I totally agree with you! In a lot of his acting, he seems to not have the ability to hold the screen without a strong actor with him…which is not a real fault, but it’s a issue with the awards season. Awards are usually given to those who almost steal the oxygen from a scene.

    • icerose says:

      lucky you -did you mean Hamlet or this years Bakkhai he was in did you actually
      because as far as I know Hamlet was never filmed and you have to go see it at the archives in London.
      I Wishaw have seen him on stage twice and he is always brilliant but The script fot Peter and Alice was over wordy. He was brilliant in Mojo.His timing was spot on .I missed Bakkhai so if it was not recorded for satellite broadcasts it will have to be the archives if i can manage it

      • KTE says:

        I saw Whishaw’s Hamlet in the V&A archive this year. The people at the V&A are absolutely lovely – you just need to make sure you book far enough in advance to get a slot. The quality of archive recordings is not up there with an NT Live, but I still found it a compelling performance, and it’s my favourite Hamlet. I wish I’d seen in live!

    • cranberry says:

      –“Hamlet Pushing 40 was clearly a vanity performance”

      Not really fair. Aren’t most of the actors that have played Hamlet in this category? How old was David Tennant when he played him? Plus Michael Sheen, Richard Burton, Derek Jacobi and Laurence Olivier were 40 yrs too.

      Ok I checked around. It seems the most common age popular actors have been when they played Hamlet is around 35. There are a number of 40 yr olds especially the farther back you look. Although Hamlet is supposed to be around 30 yrs old, it’s such a substantial, iconic role that every established actor still wants a crack at it before their age really starts showing.
      Fact is, especially in theater, as long as an actor can pass for 30-ish, it doesn’t matter if he’s 40. Passing for 30 is not like trying to pass for 25.

    • hermia says:

      Can I just say that his performance in the NT Live wasn’t the same as, for instance, the one on press night? I think theatre actors frequently go over the top when they know they are being filmed. He was more subtle on press night, so the critics saw a different performance.

  11. SloaneY says:

    Am a little surprised the Anna Wintour’s boy toy didn’t get a nom. Perhaps he has fallen out of favor? He didn’t offer to stroke her icy cheekbones?

    • Fluff says:

      Anna Wintour has no direct involvement or authority over the ES.

      • Dara says:

        Direct, no – but her father founded the awards when he was editor of the paper and Vogue/Conde Nast was a major supporter/sponsor of the ceremony last year. Anyone know if they are continuing that partnership this year?

  12. moon says:

    I don’t think tedium is a problem. We’re used to lots of Shakespeare in London.

  13. grabbyhands says:

    Every time I see him these days it astonishes me how much he’s aged in just a few years. He was so baby faced (comparatively) in S1 of Sherlock.

    Poor Bendy. I wonder if this will elicit another vague threat to move to Hollywood.

  14. Lizzy says:

    I have seen both “The Ruling Class” and “Superman and Me” and both where my personal highlights this past year. Hamlet left me pretty unmoved. It was not bad by any means and the stage setting was one of the most amazing I seen but still. I left it with one thought in mind. “Meh!” I guess it was a tad over hyped.

    • Ana A. says:

      Agree. “The Ruling Class” and “Man and Superman” moved me for quite some while. Hamlet was meh.

  15. genevieve says:

    I went to see the Hamlet production (at the movie theatre, because I am not a millionaire, sadly). I wouldn’t nominate it for any awards, either. He did some of the soliloquies beautifully, but the thing as an entirety was underwhelming.

    • Ana A. says:

      Totally agree. Saw it live and in the cinema. It was actually better in the cinema than live. I was really disappointed that I paid to watch it at the theatre (thankfully I only had to pay the tickets).

      It’s absolutely not a snub ny the critics. The play isn’t that good to get any award recogniton.

  16. EN says:

    I am not really surprised. I liked Benedict and several other actors, the set design, I thought the director did a great job and took risks, for which she should be commended and she made the whole thing enjoyable.

    But the cast was very uneven and at times outright weak. Then you have the commercial factor, the cumberbitches. Seriously, what serious critic is going to admit he/she liked an overhyped play and is on the level of the cumberbitches?

    And the competition is pretty strong too in the Best Actor field. The actors nominated are tough competition. Overall, disappointing for Cumberbatch but c’est la vie.

    Regardless of awards I am glad he did it as I enjoyed it and plan to watch it again.
    Too bad “Ruling Class” is not on NT Live. “Man and Superman ” is but wasn’t shown around here (Note to myself – send a few beginning emails to the movie theater manager).

  17. Mia4s says:

    I have a pet peeve about the use of the word “snub” for awards shows. A snub requires some deliberate forethought. A big part of the definition of “snub” is to ignore or slight. Critics saw the performances I presume? Affleck wasn’t snubbed for an Oscar nod. Cumberbatch and Rylance or whoever weren’t snubbed. They just weren’t nominated. This isn’t high school.

    Now if it was the golden globes we were talking about…

    • I hate that too–like last year for the Golden Globes…….one of the writers said Angelina Jolie was “snubbed” at the GGs. According to critics reviews, no she wasn’t. If they didn’t like it, they didn’t like it–so how is that a snub?

  18. seesittellsit says:

    I’m sick to death of him, maybe he’ll go away for awhile now that he’s been snubbed by LES awards.

    • EN says:

      Did someone drug you into “Hamlet” by force? Or how did you arrive to such sorry state?

      • Cee says:

        She was just stating an opinion, EN, no need to go straight to the jugular.

        @sees – he’s gonna start Doctor Strange in a few days so we will see less of him until promo time.

      • EN says:

        @Cee – we saw nothing of him for months, other than Hamlet. This is why I actually asked. It was really easy to avoid him by avoiding Hamlet. There was no promotion of it.
        There will be a lot of promotion of Dr. Strange.

        It just seemed like the OP wanted to say something, but what was it? It wasn’t just trolling trying to get rise of people, I hope.
        And no, I wasn’t going for the jugular, I never do.

  19. Fluff says:

    No disrespect to the other nominees but Simon Russell Beale was the best by far.

    Cumberbatch was fine as Hamlet, not spectacular, let down by a poor production. Sheen, Tennant, Beale and Wishaw all were better. I’d rate Cumberbatch and Kinnear about equal.

    • Leah says:

      Kinnear won the evening standard award for his Hamlet. His Hamlet was much higher rated than Cumberbatchs.

      • EN says:

        @Leah, I normally wouldn’t say anything but didn’t you just say below that you didn’t watch this production because you were afraid of “screaming women”, so how can you compare?

        I only noticed because I was going to say that I don’t think there were any screaming women.

        I aw some parts of KIinnear’s Hamlet and I thought it was very interesting, and a completely different take.

        I’d like to see Wishaw’s one. He probably was great because he seems to be a natural fit to play “Hamlet”.

      • Leah says:

        Huh? I am commenting on the fact that Kinnear won the evening standard award for his Hamlet. I thought that was worth pointing out since this post is about how cumberbatch wasn’t nominated for the very same award, and person above me seems to think Kinnears Hamlet was rated about the same as Cumberbatch which isn’t true at all. His hamlet was a lot more feted.

      • j says:

        the person above, fluff, said she’d rate them as equal. so it’s her personal, valid opinion and “true” and “not true” don’t even apply here lol

        if you live and die by critics tenannt got mixed reviews too. sheen was received well for his acting but some major critics loathed that play. but it’s hamlet and people are funny about it in general

      • EN says:

        > Huh? I am commenting on the fact that Kinnear won the evening standard award for his Hamlet

        Sorry, I guess I read something in your post that wasn’t there.

      • Leah says:

        @J
        i don’t live and die by critics.
        this is a critics award hence my comment.
        @En
        No worries, i get where you are coming from. My comment about screaming women wasn’t a reflection on the actor. I just can’t stand that kind of audience, the impression i got from the previews was flashing cameras and screaming. I have seen benedict on stage previously, i rate him highly. Its just his fangirls that turn me off.

      • Fluff says:

        For crying out loud Leah, I very clearly said I PERSONALLY rated Kinnear and Cunberbatch’s performances equally, and listed a whole bunch of actors whose Hamlets were better than both. Kinnear is a wonderful actor (his Angelo is one of the best I’ve ever seen) but his Hamlet just wasn’t – IMO of course – his strongest.

        I’ve seen over 20 productions of Hamlet and worked on three; I’m more than able to explain the various ways I felt the NT production didn’t work if you happened to be interested.

      • Leah says:

        Dear Fluff. I just pointed out the critical reception to Kinnear was far superior. I am not saying your opinion isn’t valid. Calm down.

      • Fluff says:

        >>>I’d rate Cumberbatch and Kinnear about equal.

        >>>person above me seems to think Kinnears Hamlet was rated about the same as Cumberbatch which isn’t true at all.

        I’m well aware of the critical response. The my favourite Hamlets of all time were obscure ones that were hardly reviewed at all.

    • Lurker says:

      deleted. I’m all mixed up. 🤐

    • Fluff says:

      I forgot to say – the finest Hamlet I’ve ever seen, ever, was Maxine Peake’s performance.

      • Lisa says:

        SRB is a great actor

      • Lilacflowers says:

        I would have loved to have seen that.

      • Froop says:

        Maxine Peake’s Hamlet is available on DVD by the way. So you still have a chance to see it, though I’m not sure if it’s available in the US.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        @Froop, thanks, I’ll look for that. It isn’t on Amazon, although they have Hamlets from Olivier, Branagh, Tennant, Hawke, Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Plummer, Kevin Kline, and Campbell Scott, which has reminded me that I did see Campbell Scott’s Hamlet years ago. I do recall thinking it was great at the time.

    • KTE says:

      I must get to the archives to watch SRB’s Hamlet at some point. I agree with you about Kinnear – love him as an actor (his Iago was teriffic!) but I just didn’t get the fuss about his Hamlet. I also loved Sheen’s, and enjoyed Tennant and Law a lot, but Whishaw (also seen in the archives) is my favourite Hamlet at the moment.

  20. antipodean says:

    On a different note, I would like to see Kenneth Cranham win. Such a solid actor, with a vast body of sterling work in his resume. These other young upstarts will get their turn another time.

  21. Leah says:

    I haven’t seen it. The idea of being in the theatre with screaming women of all ages put me off. I also heard the production wasn’t very good. I heard McAvoy was fantastic, but couldn’t get tickets to that show.

    • KTE says:

      It was actually one of the best-behaved audiences I’ve ever sat in. No screaming at all. I have heard the same from just about everyone else who saw it, so it’s a shame you were put off by the hysterical press coverage. It wasn’t a great production, but it was worth seeing.

  22. anon121 says:

    Wow-the negativity here. I saw Hamlet at the Barbican 4 times and was blown away. The physicality of Ben and many of the other actors was amazing (uh-jumping onto a table like it’s a mere ste anyone?). Having had the privilege to see the play on multiple occasions I was struck by how much a living thing it was. The tone seemed to change nightly. It was so different and so imaginatively done. I admit that I didn’t see any other plays and also admit that I’m probably not fit to critique performances being a mere Healthcare professional, but I thought all involved, especially Ben, we’re amazing. The set was amazing. Just my 2 cents!

    • hermia says:

      I agree. It is a living thing. I was blown away the first time, a tad more jaded the second, but by the third I felt the power and the sweat and tears behind it. And Benedict changed his performance so drastically from the previews to closing night. I ended up by loving it, like a friend. Maybe imperfect, but with so much heart and emotion that you forget the faults.

  23. Madly says:

    Haven’t read the BC’s board on IMDb in a while. Had to after this news. Marylou is insane. She has to be trolling, right?

    • j says:

      her and that wacko hiddleston fan from here that’s been trolling that board for like a year

      fandoms make people crazy i swear

      • InvaderTak says:

        Are we sure they aren’t the same person?

      • j says:

        don’t think so, entirely different speech patterns and marylou doesn’t hide as far as i can tell.

        it’s some tom hiddles fan from here but i don’t know who. typical fandom craziness sadly

    • EN says:

      She is a bit embarrassing. There is fangirling and then there is fangirling, a whole different level. ))

    • Fluff says:

      I’ve never visited his IMDB board (the Doctor Who board was full of racist trolls last time I looked), but it sounds anything, I’ll go check it out.

    • Lindy79 says:

      I never go on there anymore, not since the Oscars and all the slagging off of Eddie Redmayne for “stealing his Oscar for Benedict’s role”, it was gross. They act like BC is some sort of perfect flawless human and he’s the best actor that has ever lived.

      I just cant with blind adoration of anyone or anything with zero objectivity, it’s just not my bag.

    • Fluff says:

      Went to look. It’s quite cute that she’s calling Lyndsey Turner “one of the best theatre directors in the world.” I mean, Turner IS (though imo her Hamlet was not one of her better productions), but I doubt the fanpoodles have seen much of her work or even heard of her before this.

    • Mmmmmm says:

      Yes so crazy. What’s even nuttier is that even SHE, this crazy fan, admits that the rest of the production had problems – poor casting (everyone seems to agree on this), bad pacing at times, and not at all groundbreaking in it’s approach. Yes, Benedict can act the shit out of a part, but why should he be nominated in a sub par production?

      Just because critics thought he was a great Julian Assange, no one thought he should be nominated for an Oscar for it! The movie as a whole didn’t deserve any recognition.

    • Lilacflowers says:

      @Madly, is this the same IMDB person you posted about before who insists TH is a chain-smoking homosexual?

      • InvaderTak says:

        Lol. That’s some trolling right there.

      • J says:

        those boards are just a mess, but no lilacflowers, i don’t think that’s the same person, they stick to the TH boards I think–madly(?)

        and this hiddleston wacko who keeps going around & lying about it is just as ugh too. people need to get lives

      • cranberry says:

        There’s also a fan that says she and TH have royal ancestry in common. She was posting this in several places including Amazon product reviews that were totally unrelated. I think she even used her name and says she suffers from some medical conditions. She seems like she wants to talk to people about her life and her daughter and Tom. Some of the other Amazon reviewers nicely engaged with her a little asking if she thought Amazon the best place for her post, and she just continues to wright about herself. But she is nice about it – doesn’t say anything distasteful at least.

      • neutral says:

        @ cranberry – Tom’s royal ancestors??? Just because there is a Lord around 4 generations back doesn’t make them royal and the Vestys, who are the titled line, are not royal. They were (shock horror) in trade. Although in rather a big way.

      • Madly says:

        @lilac, No, it is another person.

      • Crocuta says:

        Homosexual? Even if EO was a PR move like many seem to think, wasn’t he spotted going to some tropical vacation with an unknown lady (I read that here, heh)? So at best he might be bi, fully gay is very unlikely. Is there a gossip piece I’m missing about him having a boyfriend?

        I am again thinking of that debate we had about One Direction dude: about fans declaring celebrities gay for no reason as part of a coping mechanism. It could apply here as well, especially if said fans are very militant about it.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        @Crocuta, no, no, actual gossip. Madly has posted before about someone who spams the IMDb boards with allegations that she can’t prove. When she posted about more shenanigans, I thought it might be the same person, but, apparently, it is someone different. So, gossip about IMDB posters, not about any actor.

  24. balticstar says:

    I like BC as Sherlock, but I am not a fan, neither am I a Cumberbitch. But I have seen him in “Hamlet” and he was great. Energetic, athletic, pathetic, thoughful, romantic, he really was playing, not overplaying, all the different personas of Hamlet. So, nobody who hasn’t seen it and is judging him on his Sherlock or whatever persona should do that before watching that performance, IMO. Of course it is still possible and credible that others have been better in other plays, but still, he was very good.

  25. bread says:

    It makes sense because I don’t remember any critics (and this is a critics’ award) raving about his performance. It was mostly agreed that it was good performance (as it would be because Cumberbatch is an experienced actor) in an uneven production.

  26. Phoebe says:

    I saw Hamlet in London and in the movie theater and I am pretty surprised he didn’t get a nomination. He worked his (noticeably smaller) butt off and although I found it to be slow and I thought that actress played Ophelia like a autistic mental patient, the production was very impressive. For it to not get ANY nominations is a shame. But as was mentioned, this is a critics award and not the Olivier’s – if it doesn’t get nominated for any Olivier’s then THAT would be a snub.

    • Ally8 says:

      Though my Khan-era ardour for Cumberbatch has cooled, I was at least looking forward to three hours of the voice. And wow, not even that was there. There was also little progression in the character. He started out sad, scoffing and disgusted, and pretty much stayed that way throughout, with the voice often remaining in the overwrought to strangulated shriek range — and this in a play that’s all about moving painstakingly from uncertainty and dithering to irrevocable action.

      I very much agree with you about the way Ophelia was performed, too. They chose a diagnosis and stuck with it, which is a depressing modern shortcut that thinks it’s super evolved. It was also somewhat creepy that adult Hamlet (in the 28 to 40 year range) was supposedly in love with someone so child-like in mental age, given the way she was portrayed. Not that there was any sense of moving affection or romance between them, so that alleviated it somewhat.

      On the whole, the older actors (Ciarán Hinds, Sian Brooke, Karl Johnson and Jim Norton) seemed to be performing in an altogether different, better play. Which leads me to conclude that the younger actors needed a lot more directing than they received to structure their performance. I make an exception here for Matthew Steer, who did wonders with very little (Guildenstern not so much). Maybe someone will think of Steer for a revival of the Tom Stoppard play.

      The set was fantastic in Act One, but then merely drowning it in rubble at the end seemed like a sad cost-cutting move. All in all, an interesting night out but no great shakes. Glad some nominators agree with me.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        Good critique.

      • Phoebe says:

        I was pretty jet-lagged when I saw it, but I nearly fell asleep in the endless 1hr 50min first half! Then I saw it in the movie theater and still wanted to fall asleep, so I guess I just found it a bit zzzzzzzz

        I am a Shakespeare fan, but this one was never a favorite and I tried to read it many times, but could never get through it all. I did think that it would be better because of him. I was mostly confused at the confetti cannon and piles of destruction it “created” made no sense to me- and many people have explained their interpretation of it to me, but it seemed like a stunt. I would like to have heard Lyndsey Turner or Benedict’s take on it- but since no one did any interviews about it, who knows?

        Even saying that, I’m still surprised that it didn’t get nominated for anything.

      • j says:

        i found hinds disappointing tbh

        a common complaint i kept seeing about hinds was people not hearing/getting him because he was quieter and that theater is so big. imo that’s why Cumberbatch, brooke, etc. went w/more projection, it was for the theater audience

      • neutral says:

        Phoebe, I feel your pain. I read and saw Hamlet at school and was left thinking “Oh get on with it you great wuzz” and nothing I have seen since has changed my mind!

  27. Hannah says:

    Sounds like he was good but others were better. I feel like this site and it’s commentators expect cumberbatch and hiddleston to win every award ever. There always all this disappointment and conspiracy theories if their movies don’t do well 😂

    • TotallyBiased says:

      Hey now–don’t lump us Dragonflies in with the Cumber-whatever they’re calling themselves these days.
      We get thrilled when our tall drink of water is nominated for ANYTHING, we don’t actually usually expect him to win because competition in his categories is usually so tough.
      His Evening Standard Award for Coriolanus was no surprise to anyone who read all of the reviews–the critics who made up the voting board that year had all raved about him in their initial reviews.
      And he’s gotten a nice nom for High Rise, but I don’t think we’ll consider him cheated if he doesn’t win. None of his other film roles yet released are award-bait material. We’ll see if Sony actually follows through with supporting IStL after it comes out next year–but given the movie’s issues, I don’t think it would take a conspiracy of any kind for his or EO’s much praised performances to be overlooked for awards.

      • j says:

        dragonfiles here seem okay

        hiddlestans, no. there are some awful people in the TH fandom too, all fandoms really imo

  28. dippit says:

    Saw three of those in contention; on that, I’d go McAvoy. Didn’t see Cumberbatch but, going by five different friends (some of whom also saw a varied spread of some of the others nommed), it’s not an outrageous ‘wronging’ that he’s not been given a nod. General consensus being he was reasonably a contender but NOT enough of a stand-out to assure a spot within a strongly competitive category. Also, the production itself did have issues. He’ll probably fair better in ‘What’s on Stage (audience led)’ and/or ‘Critic Circle Theatre’ awards.

    • hermia says:

      BC was certainly better than Russell Beale was in Temple. A fine, but unremarkable performance in a redundant play.

  29. Cee says:

    Let’s see what happens with the Oliviers.

    However, I would love to see BC cast in a comedy, especially if it’s an ensemble. Besides DS he’s playing the same character over and over again; he will be pigeonholed.

  30. cranberry says:

    Sophie looks very lovely in the photo.

    I hope TH lands someone as attractive as her.

  31. Pondering thoughts says:

    Oh well, Cumberbatch had received so many honours and awards and press he simply doesn’t need that one.
    Also playing Hamlet is a bit a very classic classic piece … perhaps an actors dream but nothing breathtakingly risky new or innovative, me thinks.

  32. hermia says:

    I said it back when Hamlet had just started its run that Mcavoy deserved to win for The Ruling Class. However, that Hamlet should not receive any nomination at all it’s frankly a travesty.
    Bunch of snobs, that’s what the UK critics are.

    • icerose says:

      Benny will win the Stage award which is open to the public and over the last few years is usually won by the nominee with the biggest fan base i,e David Tennant last year and the guy who played Harry Potter who gave a brilliant performance