Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.

Who?!

I've never actually seen Hamlet before, but I was vaguely familiar with the plotline. Prince of Denmark is told by the ghost of his late father that he was murdered by the prince's uncle. The same uncle who is now married to the prince's mother and the new King. Prince goes mad, tragedy ensues, bloodbath at the end.

So forgive me for not knowing that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are, in fact, two characters in that play, with rather minor roles, involving them taking Hamlet to England, where they are supposed to deliver him to the King of England to secretly be executed.

This play, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead", was written in the 1960s by Tom Stoppard. It shows us what the two characters get up to during all the time they are not involved in the events of the play, Hamlet. More than that, they act as if they are actual characters in a play brought to life. So when events from Hamlet involve them, they know everything they are supposed to know, how to act, what to say, how to give their lines. As soon as the Shakespearian drama moves on to another scene, they are left behind, bereft of any self knowledge, like puppets with their strings cut. They constantly bemoan their lack of awareness, inability to do anything but follow events as laid down in the play, subject to the comings and goings of the other dramatis personae. So lacking in identity are they that they cannot even remember which one of them is Rosencrantz and which Guildenstern - nor can any of the other Hamlet characters.

The reviewer for the Evening Standard stated that "The play itself will be anathema to many. While lots of Stoppard's jokes still have bite, much of the humour that once struck audiences as dazzlingly original hasn't aged well." Fortunately for me, I have never even heard of it, and so it was perfectly enjoyable for me. A wonderful mix of metatheatre (there is a play within the play, where neither Rosencrantz nor Guildenstern recognise that the play is in fact about them) and existential angst and slapstick. Samuel Barnett and Jamie Parker, from the History Boys, play the leads with great energy, enthusiasm and affection. The play goes on a tad too long (some of the shipboard scenes culminating in a pirate attack could have been cut with no great loss).

I wish I could recommend that you see it - but I saw it on the last day it was showing at the Haymarket Theatre.

Ramadan and weight training

Ramadan mubarak! I've been too tired and busy to update this recently. The holy month of Ramadan began on August 1st 2011. During this month, muslims fast from dawn 'til dusk, abstaining from any food, drink, medicine, smoking or sex.

My training has been going fairly well up until now - I hit a few personal bests in the last weeks of July. I was not sure what to do during Ramadan. My gym is insanely busy in the evenings which is why I normally train before work. There was no way that I was going to be able to train and then not refuel on food or water until the evening!

Several people on the interweb had suggestions such as Nick Mitchell:
http://www.nickmitchellblog.com/ramadan-nutrition-supplements-exercise/

Unfortunately, his advice is not very useful for me. He suggests eating at 545am and breaking the fast at 730pm. Either he has no clue what he's talking about, or perhaps those are the timings for the USA. In the UK this year, fasting has been starting around 330am and ending close to 9pm. In theory I could train in the gym around 8pm and break fast straight after, but my gym is too busy at that time to get anything meaningful done. Also, I would prefer to be at home, break my fast with my family and perform the sunset Maghrib prayers, than be stuck at the gym.

Similar advice from another US trainer, which is again not applicable because I don't at the moment go to a 24hr gym

http://www.suhaibwebb.com/personaldvlpt/worship/fasting-ramadan/the-ramadan-nutrition-and-workout-plan-for-success-by-rehan-jalali-the-protein-shaikh/

Mehdi off stronglifts seems to think fasting is similar to intermittent fasting, but I'm guessing IF people usually pick their 8 hour feed window to be something convenient like 12-8pm, not 9pm-3am. Honestly, you don't have a clue!

http://stronglifts.com/ramadan-weight-lifting-training-build-muscle-lose-fat/

So my solution? Try to eat as best I can, and train once a week on sunday afternoons. I've noticed about 20% drop in strength already. I'm hoping that's just glycogen depletion and dehydration and not all genuine strength loss. Hopefully I can pick up again in September and not be too far off where I started.

There are threads on bodybuilding.com where several muslims seem to be carrying on training just fine. Maybe because they're mostly American and the fasts are shorter there in the US, or they're students and not working full time, or *whispers* most people on there are roid junkies!

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=136878153

In any case, I think for a month it's more important to devote yourself body and soul to God, and come back to the mundane when it's over.