So Orson Scott Card has got his grubby homophobic paws all over Hamlet. (WARNING: link contains discussion of homophobia and [fictional] child molestation.)

All I really have to say is

WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK.

Day #21: An overrated play

I think I am going to be iconoclastic today. I mean, I suppose this is the point of the question, since by design it asks us to explain why plays generally considered among Shakespeare's finest are not really all that great.

So I am going to go right for the controversial answer: I think Hamlet is Shakespeare's most ( Read more... )

MMMMMMM THAT'S GOOD HAMLET.

I will probably post a long post about it later, but right now I am dizzy and have a headache, which may be Shakespeare-induced but is probably also because I haven't really eaten properly since breakfast. The short version is that there are some things I might not have done, but on the whole it is brilliant.Also I have ( Read more... )

Those of you in the States all remember what's on tonight?

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMLET!

A graphical representation of my mental state:


( Read more... )

Stupid Shakespeare thing: Article about Shakespeare and ageism from Psychology Today which is making me pissy because of the usual disregard for context and because it turned up on my flist at a time when I am feeling pissy anyway because I cannot fall asleep. FFS PEOPLE JAQUES != SHAKESPEARE, AND THE APPEARANCE OF ADAM -- WHO WAS PLAYED BY ( Read more... )

I feel that there needs to be, like, a Hamlet vid to this song.

Click to view

Incidentally, I feel much better after sleep and food and things, so if I do have swine flu it has not yet made itself known.

Via fuunsaiki:

Speaking at a lunch held at the Haymarket Hotel, Oliver Ford Davies, 69, who was nominated for his portrayal of Polonius, tells me: "We are intending to film it over two or three weeks in June. It won't be a full feature film as there isn't time but it will certainly be more than just the filming of the stage. It will be fantastic to work ( Read more... )

I was perusing just now a book of various Hamlet-related anecdotes, and it had some notes given by Sir John Gielgud when he directed the play in 1964 (this is the production starring Richard Burton), courtesy of William Redfield's Letters from an Actor. They are awesome, so I will share them with you all.

To Polonius (Hume Cronyn): It's a bit spry ( Read more... )

It is here if you want to know. There is no sex in it but there is a lot of vaguely-defined meta.

So watching Derek Jacobi!Hamlet last night has reminded me that, yes, I really do like the play despite the amount of stupid Hamlet/Horatio slashfic out there (NB if you are on my flist I don't mean yours), and while thinking about Hamlet and fic in conjunction I wondered something.

Does the fic that retells Hamlet in Holden Caulfield's voice ( Read more... )