To Be Was Not to Be

Posted on January 2, 2003 in Strange

I actually fished this gem out of the media sewer my self! Back in September 1971, when relations between the Brits and the Rooskies were especially low, some brilliant backer of James Bond got the bright idea of inviting a Russian theater company to come to England and present a performance of Hamlet as it had done in Moscow. The problem was that the Russians considered this particular company too “avant-garde” to allow to represent Mother Russia in the West. Diplomats hastened to find other solutions.

To be could not be. Fortunately, the “not to be” part that involved all of us was headed off by other means.