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A scene from the Met Opera’s Bluebeard’s Castle

ON SUNDAY we ran into Grace at the ballet at the Cultural Center, and on Wednesday we saw her again at the opening of the Art Fair. “Uyy, culture!” she said, and there has been an unusual number of arts and culture events in February. I know, because otherwise I would’ve seen Deadpool five times (You snobs don’t know what you’re missing. My favorite line: “Of course looks matter! Ever heard David Beckham speak?”). For a few weeks it felt like Manila was a Culture Capital, fairly teeming with plays, screenings of classic Filipino movies, art expositions, even opera.

Then I learned that February is National Arts Month, which means that when it ends we go back to being, as Noel puts it, culture lower-case.

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A public service announcement from Benedict Cumberbatch, now playing Hamlet at the Barbican in London.

In truth, writing about Hamlet intimidates me. I’m afraid that Professor Wilhelmina Ramas, who taught Shakespeare at UP, will train her death stare on me and say, “No. No. Nonononono.” I had to armor myself by re-reading Shakespeare’s fan club president, Harold Bloom, who goes into such raptures over the play that I ended up even more daunted.

The Shakespeare’s Globe theatre touring production of Hamlet is designed to remove the intimidation factor and make the play audience-friendly and accessible. This it does, with great efficiency. The company composed of 12 actors and four stage managers is in the midst of a 150-country tour; the Philippines is its 125th stop. There is no set, just a curtain strung between two poles and several trunks that get moved around a lot—the stage design choreography would score high marks in a time-motion study. Actors in modified modern dress take on several roles and swap assignments for each presentation, probably to prevent them going mad from repeatedly performing a play about a guy who is either faking madness or really is mad.

Read our review of the Globe theatre’s touring production of Hamlet at BusinessWorld.