Hamlet Blog
I must say that I'm LOVING the Illuminations blog with all the posts about the Hamlet filming. It's excellent getting a first hand view from someone (John Wyer) who's quite involved but, at the same time, a bit removed from the action since he's not an actor or the director. He's being careful not to give too much away about the details of the production (though obviously not worried about giving away any spoilers about the storyline *g*), but the little tidbits are fascinating.
Like this one:
My first e-mail to Greg Doran about a possible screen version of his Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company is dated 16 March 2008. 'Let me know if there's anything in my thought,' was my too-casual sign-off. Since then the idea of Hamlet for the screen has been on and off and on more times than a Martin Creed installation. Exactly one year ago yesterday the cast came together for the RSC for the first time to rehearse. Now they've done their day of remembering and at around 9 o'clock this morning we'll turn over on Act 1 Scene 4. Hamlet: 'The air bites shrewdly...'
They were working on producing a DVD before the cast even met for the first time! Before the first rehearsal and certainly before they had any feedback on how it would be received critically, though I'm sure that with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart they were aware that there would be a lot of interest from the public. So this just may be how long the process usually is when trying to put something together. If you want a DVD next year about a stage performance that hasn't happened yet, start now.
I am also interested in the comments John Wyer has made about the set design and costuming:
So about the mirrors I'm not going to be very specific, but only to say that you're absolutely right that these were completely central to the stage production. As Hamlet tells the First Player, "the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature".
Now as you can imagine it's really, really tricky to work with mirrors on a film set -- quite simply you risk seeing the camera and the crew. So Greg has been thinking about other ways that we can work with parallel ideas and he has been devising another kind of (related) metaphor.
Rob Jones' costumes will be just as they were on stage -- except that we have to enhance the quality of some of them to ensure that they look great on screen. HD filming has very different demands from the theatre.
Annette, different spaces around one location -- Rob Jones has developed the set designs but kept the overall look and feel. But there will be more variety. Costumes are from the stage production, but brought up to the standards demanded by HD filming. And, yes, the cast are pleased to find that (so far) they still fit!
Certainly, they are going to have to make some changes. This isn't just a filming of the stage play. It's a reimagining of the stage play for film and what works on stage is not necessarily what works on film. I look forward to seeing what they do with the mirrors idea and what changes we can see to the costuming. I thought that they might be remaking them for the film (at least those of the main characters: following the same patterns but making changes). Since they're apparently using the same ones, we may not even notice the alterations.
And it wouldn't be nearly as much fun to read without some squeeing by the producers:
After lunch, David Tennant and Ed Bennett worked on the climactic sword fight between Hamlet and Laertes. It was fascinating to see how their muscles remembered the moves, and only occasionally did they need to peer at the tiny video screen on which fight director Terry King played back his footage of how they'd developed their feints and parries.
Later in the day, Patrick Stewart as the ghost terrifies Hamlet -- and us -- as he disappears with a powerful, resonant 'Remember me!' Then as David Tennant delivers a section of the text straight into the camera, grabbing you by the metaphorical lapels, compelling attention with an urgency, an intensity -- you think, Yes, this will work.
We filmed the second half of Act 1 Scene 2 this morning, with Hamlet's 'Frailty, thy name is woman' soliloquy, plus his first conversation with Horatio. Having turned in an immaculate, immensely moving performance of this wonderful speech, David Tennant stayed for lunch (the choice today was chicken, red mullet or a gratin) and was then released.
My buddy and co-producer Seb Grant has, briefly, been a stand-in for David Tennant on set this morning. It might not mean much to you, but he was childishly pleased.
Like this one:
My first e-mail to Greg Doran about a possible screen version of his Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company is dated 16 March 2008. 'Let me know if there's anything in my thought,' was my too-casual sign-off. Since then the idea of Hamlet for the screen has been on and off and on more times than a Martin Creed installation. Exactly one year ago yesterday the cast came together for the RSC for the first time to rehearse. Now they've done their day of remembering and at around 9 o'clock this morning we'll turn over on Act 1 Scene 4. Hamlet: 'The air bites shrewdly...'
They were working on producing a DVD before the cast even met for the first time! Before the first rehearsal and certainly before they had any feedback on how it would be received critically, though I'm sure that with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart they were aware that there would be a lot of interest from the public. So this just may be how long the process usually is when trying to put something together. If you want a DVD next year about a stage performance that hasn't happened yet, start now.
I am also interested in the comments John Wyer has made about the set design and costuming:
So about the mirrors I'm not going to be very specific, but only to say that you're absolutely right that these were completely central to the stage production. As Hamlet tells the First Player, "the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature".
Now as you can imagine it's really, really tricky to work with mirrors on a film set -- quite simply you risk seeing the camera and the crew. So Greg has been thinking about other ways that we can work with parallel ideas and he has been devising another kind of (related) metaphor.
Rob Jones' costumes will be just as they were on stage -- except that we have to enhance the quality of some of them to ensure that they look great on screen. HD filming has very different demands from the theatre.
Annette, different spaces around one location -- Rob Jones has developed the set designs but kept the overall look and feel. But there will be more variety. Costumes are from the stage production, but brought up to the standards demanded by HD filming. And, yes, the cast are pleased to find that (so far) they still fit!
Certainly, they are going to have to make some changes. This isn't just a filming of the stage play. It's a reimagining of the stage play for film and what works on stage is not necessarily what works on film. I look forward to seeing what they do with the mirrors idea and what changes we can see to the costuming. I thought that they might be remaking them for the film (at least those of the main characters: following the same patterns but making changes). Since they're apparently using the same ones, we may not even notice the alterations.
And it wouldn't be nearly as much fun to read without some squeeing by the producers:
After lunch, David Tennant and Ed Bennett worked on the climactic sword fight between Hamlet and Laertes. It was fascinating to see how their muscles remembered the moves, and only occasionally did they need to peer at the tiny video screen on which fight director Terry King played back his footage of how they'd developed their feints and parries.
Later in the day, Patrick Stewart as the ghost terrifies Hamlet -- and us -- as he disappears with a powerful, resonant 'Remember me!' Then as David Tennant delivers a section of the text straight into the camera, grabbing you by the metaphorical lapels, compelling attention with an urgency, an intensity -- you think, Yes, this will work.
We filmed the second half of Act 1 Scene 2 this morning, with Hamlet's 'Frailty, thy name is woman' soliloquy, plus his first conversation with Horatio. Having turned in an immaculate, immensely moving performance of this wonderful speech, David Tennant stayed for lunch (the choice today was chicken, red mullet or a gratin) and was then released.
My buddy and co-producer Seb Grant has, briefly, been a stand-in for David Tennant on set this morning. It might not mean much to you, but he was childishly pleased.