I understood it in that way that it was the actors who found "The Holy Grail" by playing "Hamlet" at Kronborg Castle - perhaps I misunderstood it
You are right, FasterB - I can play the clip again now.
M&F talked about the enthusiasm of British actors being able to play Hamlet at Kronborg, the very spot Shakespeare imagined the play. It's something very special. To feel the atmosphere, the Danish culture, the mood over the place. - Like the holy grail, Mary interjected, after which they both looked at each other. Okay, perhaps that comparison was a bit far out.
They have apparently seen Jude Law play Hamlet.
Mary also initially talked passionately about enjoying to go seeing a play at a theater, being provoked and made to think about what went on, to analyze the underlying layers in the play.
- Something women delight in doing, while we their husbands stand resting on our knuckles grunting in agreement, because apparently we didn't get half of what went on...
And if that's what the actors really meant, why in the name of the holy teacup didn't they just say so?!?
- The interesting bit about Hamlet and Shakespeare is that he no doubt placed the play at Kronborg, because it was a newly build, state of the art fortress at the time the play was written, and as such a name many English would have been familiar with but few would have actually seen.
However, had the good Shakespeare ever seen Copenhagen Castle that at the time was the official DRF residence, he would have become ecstatic! And he would without a moments hesitation have relocated the play there. Copenhagen Castle would have been every Hamlet actors wet dream come true!
The castle was hopelessly old fashioned, spooky, forbidding, draughty, infested with rats, with the wind howling around the spires and on top of that, apart from being used as a residence it also served as a dungeon. No doubt with entire processions of ghost walking the corridors at night!
Here is a model of the castle as it looked back in 1650:
https://app.box.com/s/849sjjk2l0460l8y3xqz
Here is an even better view of the castle:
http://s3-media4.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/p0cr0eePXJvBD9NxW6q9tA/o.jpg
- Before it was finally torn down.