'Twill be the year of the "Hamlets," apparently in 2007. There are three major productions of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" skeded for the upcoming months. Trouble is, you'll have to burn some petrol to catch 'em.

1. Rubicon Theatre, Ventura April 26-May 20, Rubicon Company member Joseph Fuqua in the title role. (www.rubicon.org)

2. South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, May 25 to July 1. Hamish Linklater (J-L Dreyfuss's brother Matt on "The New Adventures of Old Christine") plays H. (www.scr.org).

3. Old Globe Theatre, San Diego. June 16-Sept. 30 (www.theoldglobe.com). Casting undetermined.

Now, I tend to catch a lot of Shakespeare. It's good for me (I guess) and, quite often, it's part of the job. And, OK, yeah, I often enjoy it. There's nothing quite like hearing someone uttering the word "Forsooth!" in a dark auditorium. I suspect I've seen "Macbeth," "Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Much Ado About Nothing" upwards of 12 times apiece. This is not bragging. These are hours of my life I will never get back.

"Hamlet," however _ that pinnacle of literature, that play that absolutely everybody knows, ("To be or not to...oh shut the #$@! up!) _ has passed before my eyes in its entirety twice. Twice only. Both times in San Diego: once with Campbell Scott (son of George C. and Colleen Dewhurst), the second with "I am My Own Wife's" Jefferson Mays. I don't know from Ralph Fiennes or Ken Branagh or Simon Russell Beale or any other famous man or woman to play the role (My brother once saw Kevin Kline's understudy. How much must that suck). If anybody out there has a tale of a great "Hamlet" experience, believe me, I'd love to hear about it.

Conventional wisdom has it that you don't stage "Hamlet" unless you've got someone with the chops to pull off the Dane. Now, conventional wisdom has never stopped anybody, and there are no shortage of mediocre to really bad "Hamlets" sprouting up like so much fungus. The three I've listed are at reliable professional venues, so they don't figure to be vanity projects.

I don't know Hamish Linklater or Joseph Fuqua. I do, however, know Daniel Sullivan who will direct the SCR production. He's a better than average New York director and his productions of Shakespeare typically rock.

I'll catch the Globe production because I typically go to SD for the Shakespeare anyway during the summer (I'm sick that way.) Darko Tresnjak, the Festival's Artistic Director, will direct this production. The way they've got the Shakespeare repertory working down there, the Globe's Hamlet may well be played by an unknown. Which could be exciting.: "I saw him when..." potential.

Still, if I see all three productions at 3 hours at least apiece, plus travel time...sigh! yet more time that the Great American Novel remains unwritten.