Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Hamlet at the Guthrie

We went to see Hamlet at the Guthrie! Then we made a podcast about what we thought.

We also talk about the Patreon campaign to support the podcast.

This does not count as an "episode" in terms of Patreon. Just a little bonus! Our next episode is Hamlet Act V, which is also our 50th episode! That will make it the end of season 2 of the podcast, how exciting!

After Hamlet, we'll have a vote on what play to do next. We're considering Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus, Richard the Third, and Henry the Sixth, Part One. If there's something else you'd like to do first, please let us know what you think!

3 comments:

  1. I vote for Richard III and against R & J.

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  2. Somewhat off topic: have you two seen this? A HULU series called Complete Words which is all about a young Shakespeare-obsessed man who enters a National Shakespeare Competition? http://www.hulu.com/watch/623704

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  3. I was Polonius in a repertory production in Seattle in 2003. I was rather a controversial Polonius at that, as I was in my twenties at the time and had beat out other actors who were the right age for the role. The amount of makeup was taxing.

    We used a heavily edited version of the Folio text, which I was against, given that if one is going to use the Folio text, might as well use it all, as it is substantially shorter than Q2. Most egregious of the cuts the director made was the removal of Hamlet's four "O"s after his death speech. If you are going to use the Folio text, why remove that most characteristically charming of textual features?

    As it is, edited Hamlets are near universal in performance. Branagh's 1996 version of the second quarto text is a notable exception. Some scholars are even given to theorize that, given its length, Q2 as published was intended as a "closet script" meant for reading or private recitation rather than for public performance.

    What's really an interesting anomaly are those occasions when brave and usually fringe acting companies undertake to stage the first or the "bad" quarto. Haven't seen one myself, but I do work with an actress who was Gertrude in a production in 2010.

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