draco hamlet- at last!
Ok, westerly has SHAMED me into posting, considering that she managed to put out some thoughts on the production a matter of HOURS after we saw it Sunday, while I, with all my quantity of love and healthy criticism, have seen it THREE TIMES and am only now getting off my bum.
Haha, whoops?
First things first- I admit it, I can be blinded by clever stage business. Elissa made quite a few salient remarks about the weaker performances strewn throughout the cast and several odd choices of Crazy Michael Kahn (CMK) that I probably wouldn't have picked up on because of being distracted by the SHINY! happening in the background. Lo, she is wise and can stand through TWELVE HOUR SHOWS if the need arises. ;)
That understood, let's start with the most important part of any Hamlet: the Hamlet. Like E, I kept using 'Slings and Arrows' as a reference point throughout the evening(s), and I can hear Geoffrey Tennant remarking how, whatever he might invent as a director, it's not his Hamlet- the production goes down as belonging to the actor who plays the prince. And for that honor, CMK chose... Draco Malfoy!
During 'To be or not to be'
'How all occasions do inform against me'
Ok, maybe not Draco Malfoy. Rather, Jeffrey Carlson, a former student of CMK's from Julliard who rocketed to daytime stardom a few months ago on 'All My Children' for his ABSURDLY overacted portrayal of daytime's first transgendered character.
The first time I watched him, I had NO IDEA what to make of his interpretation of the role. By the time I saw it again, I knew exactly what he was going for. His Hamlet is, essentially, a kid- plucked from college because of the death of a father he revered and NOT EMOTIONALLY EQUIPPED for revenge at this time, thanks. His first entrance is fantastic- Gertrude and Claudius are dancing to the amusement of a number of onlookers when Hamlet stalks across an upper level, bedecked in emo black. He watches them for a moment and, disgusted, whips off his backpack and lets it fall with an enormous THUNK to the floor below, then huffs off to the wings. G&C are suitably struck from their bubble of happy and C launches into his speech. When Hamlet returns, he's a surly, petulant child and the first two times, he TORE through his first soliloquy in a TANTRUM.
Frankly? I thought it was LOUSY- he flailed and kicked the floor and I was wholly unimpressed. It's true that Hamlet is a mess, unable to speak in complete sentences, jumping wildly from thought to thought but the problem was that JC's Hamlet was too much of a mess. He tore through the word, giving them no chance to breathe and my heart sank for the evening ahead. Let it be known, however, he slowed it down on Sunday- perhaps the import of closing night made him revel in the words a little more, savoring for the last time. Whatever it was, it worked WAY better.
But then I got distracted by the shiny again! Hamlet has been throwing his hissy fit in front of a table of wedding champagne and starts to slink off when Horatio and the others enter. As soon as he recognises Horatio's voice, however, JC whirled around and TACKLED Horatio with a shriek of glee. The relief and JOY his presence brought Hamlet was palpable- his entire manner shifted and gave a real glance at how this kid ever managed to make friends at Wittenberg in the first place. Nicely played, CMK. ;)
One of my favorite things about JC's performance was his dizzying speed through the dialogue- it distracted in the soliloquies too many times, but in conversation it was BRILLIANT to watch. It showed me for the first time the extent to which Hamlet operates alone during the majority of the play- no one can keep up with him. He whirls around them and when he's finished, half the characters are left with a, Bzuh? Or at least Polonius was. Elissa (rightly) gets annoyed by a Polonius played as comic relief, but my GOD I was in STITCHES every time they had a scene.
He had a wonderfully dry delivery that led to a load of terrific line readings. I loved his utterly frank 'The air bites shrewdly. It is VERYCOLD', accompanied by a shuffling Cold Dance that I recognised all too well from recess duty in below freezing weather. Also a favorite was his 'Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space' given with such a feeling of, 'HelLO, where have YOU been?' I nearly burbled with delight the first time I saw it. ;)
I was mesmerised the first time I saw him- which is not to say entirely won over. But I liked so many little bits, tiny moments in the way he carried himself or the way he tried to bury his head in a sofa while Polonius went on the 'Tragical-comical...' spiel that I went two more times and by Sunday, I felt that I understood the character in a new way because of his performance. However much I thought he NAILED 'To be' for me on Sunday, his soliloquies by and large were pretty unenjoyable, and that's not ideal for a Hamlet. Obviously. ;) But yeah- he brought his reading home to me in a way that I'd never been able to, conjecturing about on my own, despite his flaws in enacting it.
Plus, with the bleached hair, he kind of resembles a Viking god, so that didn't hurt. ;)
The rest of the cast was mostly adequate. I rather liked Laertes; and I TOTALLY DUG the shininess of the frat-boy-esque Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; Ophelia I didn't mind (damning praise, it's true). Claudius made me giggle, because he was played by Robert Cuccioli and therefore forever in my mind as Jekyll and Hyde in the Frank Wildhorn musical of that name. Heh. ;)
The standout for me was the KICKASS performance of Ted van Griethuysen as the Ghost, the Player King, and the Gravedigger. He was just uniformly kickass, but I especially dug (heh) his gravedigger. Elissa was SPOT ON when she said that the hillybilly diggers were from another play ENTIRELY, but I liked it SO VERY MUCH that I didn't care. The Southern twang tickled my ear (and hey- they say Southern American might be more akin to Elizabethan pronunciation than RP anyway) and again with the revelations- for the first time, I saw that the Gravedigger is the ONLY PERSON IN THE PLAY who can keep up with Hamlet. He is RIGHT THERE with the wordplay and the bad puns- imagine a pun-off between Hamlet and the Gravedigger for a moment, and you might well be witnessing a little slice of my personal heaven. ;) (OMGBADPUNSARELOVE)
Now, because this is how I think of things, a list of KICKASS bits and the things that made me say YOU SO CRAZY, MICHAEL KAHN!!!
- when Hamlet snuck onstage during Claudius' big speechifying (post-bag drop), he slipped Ophelia a present: an iPod with a card attached, later revealed as the one Polonius quotes to G&C. Now, here's the thing. O listens to the playlist Hamlet has apparently made for her before Laertes comes to speak to her; she's singing along, entirely oblivious to his sneaking up behind her until he pokes her and she flails in surprise and the dialog begins. All well and good. But the first night I went, I SWEAR she was singing 'Blue Wind' from Spring Awakening. Sunday she was singing the song that appears during her mad scene, which is what she's SUPPOSED to be singing, according to an interview I read with the props artisan. Nevertheless, I came home CRACKING UP about it the first night and I hold firm to what I heard. *nods*
'SPRIIIING AND SUMMMMMMER EVERY OTHER DAAAAAAY'
- I thought this was a mistake the first night, but no, it was just a bit of AWESOMENESS. So, this was a modern dress production, right? Hamlet goes out to meet the Ghost properly equipped with a black coat, but this gets removed during his struggle to break free of Horatio and Marcellus and follow the Ghost. When he meets up with them, he's obviously not thinking quite clearly and grabs his coat back, putting it on blindly. He's so busy thinking about five million things that he doesn't notice he's put it on inside out and it actually got played two ways. The first time, it went ENTIRELY unremarked upon during the scene; Sunday, H glanced down and noticed it, thus inspiring him to assume the antic disposition.
- Sadly, this led to a moment of YSOC,MK!!! When Ophelia comes shrieking in to Polonius, CMK changed the text from 'his doublet all unbraced' to 'his jacket inside out!' LAME. SO LAME. OH MY GOD, we could have figured it out. *headdesk*
- Also, the swearing scene had me in STITCHES. The sight of a frustrated and frantic Hamlet scooting back and forth across the stage on his knees as he tried to follow the Ghost's voice was almost too much awesome. Ohhh, funny funny. :)
- Cos that's something that JC did- he brought out SO much of Hamlet's sense of humor. When I read the play, so much of that aspect of the character flies right over my head (but not the puns, because puns are ALWAYS awesome and acknowledged), but this production reminded me but good. ;)
- The entrance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is one of my guiltiest pleasures in shiny staging. They were led onstage into a shared space of the royal family's quarters, marked by a large green sofa and two end tables. Strewn atop are Claudius' jacket and Gertrude's knee high stockings, which Osric (here a constant bodyguard figure, combining lots of the little messenger-type roles) removed before going to fetch G&C. The boys thought this was HYSTERICAL and Rosencrantz made a few bom-chicka-bom noises as Guildenstern idly stuck his chewing gum underneath an end table. Obviously at a loss for what to do, Rosencrantz flipped a coin over to Guildenstern (heads!)- the laughter for this grew each time I saw it. They then flopped onto the couch and slowly turned an initial flop into some of the best couch bouncing I've ever seen, FLINGING themselves up and down until the King made his presence known. ENTIRELY gratuitous and ENTIRELY awesome. :)
- Other awesomeness stemming from these two- just before he sent them to Hamlet, Claudius gave R&G each a handheld tape recorder, the better to spy upon H with. They were obviously reluctant, but hijinks were had as the boys tried to angle their jacket pockets as close to H as possible. As Hamlet sank glumly onto the couch for 'I have of late', R&G quickly stuffed their recorders into the cushions at his side. Note- I LOVED JC's rendition, complete with sardonic fist pumps at 'The beauty of the world!', 'The paragon of animals!', and R&G's frat boy characterization made their snickers at the end seem spot on. But here's the where the awesome lies- it becomes incredibly clear that Hamlet knew their game from their first hesitation to answer if they had been sent for, so when they willingly offer H their hands at the close, he pulls them down roughly toward him on the couch. He releases them on 'You are welcome: but my uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived' and frankly states 'I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is
southerly...', digging his hands into the cushions. He pulls out the recorders and speaks directly into them: 'I know a hawk from a handsaw', then hands them back.
DUDE. AWESOME.
When grilling them later, Claudius replays those last lines disdainfully for the boys' benefit. HEE!!
- 'To be or not to be' was moved to just after 'Except my life (x3)', incidentally. Hamlet took out a bottle of pills and played with them in his hand, seemingly ready to end it all until the moment the tone of the soliloquy shifts.
- More shiny! The second half begins with the speech to the players and CMK has H curled up in a theatre seat onstage, eating a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. Why is this so awesome? NOBODY KNOWS. :D!
- There's a glorious moment when the players join hands for a pre-show power circle- and then beckon Hamlet to join them. He bashfully squirms in his chair- Me?, then quickly bounds up and links his hands with theirs. It takes all of two seconds, but it COMPLETELY encapsulates that amateur devotee theatrelust so many of us know so well and we feel a rush of fondness for that crazy, mixed up kid who obviously wants to just go back to school and get cast in some nutty student production that will let him strut around the university with that special feeling of pride because HE is in a PLAY.
- And then CMK had to BE SO CRAZY, cos, did he actually ever READ the speech to the players? Cos guess how he decided to stage the play within the play.
No, no, guess.
...
KABUKI.
*EXPLODES WITH COMPLETE NON-UNDERSTANDING*
OH MY GOD. Is there another form of theatre more stylized, more artificial, filled with more sawing of the air and NEED I SAY MORE???
Well, maybe just another YOU SO CRAZY MICHAEL KAHN!!!
- Another nice touch courtesy of the modern setting: throughout the 'Mousetrap'(and indeed, during Claudius' initial public speech), a cameraman has been busily snapping away. As the King rises, Hamlet grabs away the camera and takes a quick shot of his panicked face. When the time comes to compare the faces of the two kings, he lovingly removes a picture of his father from his wallet. For his uncle, it's the Polaroid. Heh. ;)
- It must be said- however much this Hamlet truly is on the edge, the 'antic disposition' is a glorious fabrication. There really is a great line drawn between the two that the audience can understand- on the inside, Hamlet remains that angsty teen who sulkily sparred with his mother over his 'inky cloak', then went on to have a tantrum of angry mourning on the floor and panicked to his bones at the weight of responsibility entrusted him by the ghost of his father. He's a MESS, but he mostly keeps it together for show. The Antic side is entirely a conscious creation. It's beautifully illustrated just before the 'Mousetrap'- he's been hanging around with the players looking completely normal as he happily eats his Doritos. As he tells Horatio, however, he 'must be idle' and BAM!- it's time for the double identity to emerge. He musses his slicked-back hair, rolls up his left trouser to the knee (but never the right, for there he keeps that bare bodkin), flings off a shoe, and begins to strut in a manner alarmingly akin to a raptor as the court enters. BLESS. :D
- Another tiny bit of awesome from Jeffrey Carlson: in the moment after he stabs Polonius, a heartbreaking look of manic glee and pride flitted across his face in the moment before he saw the body. He had done it- it was over- and then as it faded, he broke before your eyes ever so slightly. This is a Hamlet who, for all his histrionics, can take a lot of things in stride. He never misses a beat with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's betrayal and can conquer a flood of elation and disappointment in the blink of an eye and just Get on with It.
- I said it before, but it bears repeating- Hamlet and the Gravedigger are the OTP of Puntasticness. :D! Hamlet comes alive in his presence in a way that we only see with the players- you can SEE his brain click on as he settles into the flow of the banter. They reached this bit, Hamlet sitting at the grave as the Gravedigger puttered inside:
HAMLET: How came he mad?
Gravedigger : Very strangely, they say.
HAMLET: How strangely?
Gravedigger : Faith, e'en with losing his wits.
HAMLET: Upon what ground?
Gravedigger : Why, here in Denmark.
HAMLET: *FALLS OVER BACKWARDS IN A HEAP*
EMILY: *SWOONS*
- And last of all- this is a Hamlet who, in the midst of the duel, has both swords in his hands and SEES the difference, then in a split second and with complete knowledge of what he does, hands his own sword to Laertes and keeps the poisoned one. KICKASS.
There you have it! Very disjointed, hardly complete, but all I have to say at present. There's more in my notes, but nothing else that needs to be set down for posterity. Suffice to say that it was my first Hamlet and I loved it, despite its flaws, take it for all in all.
Rock on, Emo Hamlet.
Haha, whoops?
First things first- I admit it, I can be blinded by clever stage business. Elissa made quite a few salient remarks about the weaker performances strewn throughout the cast and several odd choices of Crazy Michael Kahn (CMK) that I probably wouldn't have picked up on because of being distracted by the SHINY! happening in the background. Lo, she is wise and can stand through TWELVE HOUR SHOWS if the need arises. ;)
That understood, let's start with the most important part of any Hamlet: the Hamlet. Like E, I kept using 'Slings and Arrows' as a reference point throughout the evening(s), and I can hear Geoffrey Tennant remarking how, whatever he might invent as a director, it's not his Hamlet- the production goes down as belonging to the actor who plays the prince. And for that honor, CMK chose... Draco Malfoy!
During 'To be or not to be'
'How all occasions do inform against me'
Ok, maybe not Draco Malfoy. Rather, Jeffrey Carlson, a former student of CMK's from Julliard who rocketed to daytime stardom a few months ago on 'All My Children' for his ABSURDLY overacted portrayal of daytime's first transgendered character.
The first time I watched him, I had NO IDEA what to make of his interpretation of the role. By the time I saw it again, I knew exactly what he was going for. His Hamlet is, essentially, a kid- plucked from college because of the death of a father he revered and NOT EMOTIONALLY EQUIPPED for revenge at this time, thanks. His first entrance is fantastic- Gertrude and Claudius are dancing to the amusement of a number of onlookers when Hamlet stalks across an upper level, bedecked in emo black. He watches them for a moment and, disgusted, whips off his backpack and lets it fall with an enormous THUNK to the floor below, then huffs off to the wings. G&C are suitably struck from their bubble of happy and C launches into his speech. When Hamlet returns, he's a surly, petulant child and the first two times, he TORE through his first soliloquy in a TANTRUM.
Frankly? I thought it was LOUSY- he flailed and kicked the floor and I was wholly unimpressed. It's true that Hamlet is a mess, unable to speak in complete sentences, jumping wildly from thought to thought but the problem was that JC's Hamlet was too much of a mess. He tore through the word, giving them no chance to breathe and my heart sank for the evening ahead. Let it be known, however, he slowed it down on Sunday- perhaps the import of closing night made him revel in the words a little more, savoring for the last time. Whatever it was, it worked WAY better.
But then I got distracted by the shiny again! Hamlet has been throwing his hissy fit in front of a table of wedding champagne and starts to slink off when Horatio and the others enter. As soon as he recognises Horatio's voice, however, JC whirled around and TACKLED Horatio with a shriek of glee. The relief and JOY his presence brought Hamlet was palpable- his entire manner shifted and gave a real glance at how this kid ever managed to make friends at Wittenberg in the first place. Nicely played, CMK. ;)
One of my favorite things about JC's performance was his dizzying speed through the dialogue- it distracted in the soliloquies too many times, but in conversation it was BRILLIANT to watch. It showed me for the first time the extent to which Hamlet operates alone during the majority of the play- no one can keep up with him. He whirls around them and when he's finished, half the characters are left with a, Bzuh? Or at least Polonius was. Elissa (rightly) gets annoyed by a Polonius played as comic relief, but my GOD I was in STITCHES every time they had a scene.
He had a wonderfully dry delivery that led to a load of terrific line readings. I loved his utterly frank 'The air bites shrewdly. It is VERYCOLD', accompanied by a shuffling Cold Dance that I recognised all too well from recess duty in below freezing weather. Also a favorite was his 'Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space' given with such a feeling of, 'HelLO, where have YOU been?' I nearly burbled with delight the first time I saw it. ;)
I was mesmerised the first time I saw him- which is not to say entirely won over. But I liked so many little bits, tiny moments in the way he carried himself or the way he tried to bury his head in a sofa while Polonius went on the 'Tragical-comical...' spiel that I went two more times and by Sunday, I felt that I understood the character in a new way because of his performance. However much I thought he NAILED 'To be' for me on Sunday, his soliloquies by and large were pretty unenjoyable, and that's not ideal for a Hamlet. Obviously. ;) But yeah- he brought his reading home to me in a way that I'd never been able to, conjecturing about on my own, despite his flaws in enacting it.
Plus, with the bleached hair, he kind of resembles a Viking god, so that didn't hurt. ;)
The rest of the cast was mostly adequate. I rather liked Laertes; and I TOTALLY DUG the shininess of the frat-boy-esque Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; Ophelia I didn't mind (damning praise, it's true). Claudius made me giggle, because he was played by Robert Cuccioli and therefore forever in my mind as Jekyll and Hyde in the Frank Wildhorn musical of that name. Heh. ;)
The standout for me was the KICKASS performance of Ted van Griethuysen as the Ghost, the Player King, and the Gravedigger. He was just uniformly kickass, but I especially dug (heh) his gravedigger. Elissa was SPOT ON when she said that the hillybilly diggers were from another play ENTIRELY, but I liked it SO VERY MUCH that I didn't care. The Southern twang tickled my ear (and hey- they say Southern American might be more akin to Elizabethan pronunciation than RP anyway) and again with the revelations- for the first time, I saw that the Gravedigger is the ONLY PERSON IN THE PLAY who can keep up with Hamlet. He is RIGHT THERE with the wordplay and the bad puns- imagine a pun-off between Hamlet and the Gravedigger for a moment, and you might well be witnessing a little slice of my personal heaven. ;) (OMGBADPUNSARELOVE)
Now, because this is how I think of things, a list of KICKASS bits and the things that made me say YOU SO CRAZY, MICHAEL KAHN!!!
- when Hamlet snuck onstage during Claudius' big speechifying (post-bag drop), he slipped Ophelia a present: an iPod with a card attached, later revealed as the one Polonius quotes to G&C. Now, here's the thing. O listens to the playlist Hamlet has apparently made for her before Laertes comes to speak to her; she's singing along, entirely oblivious to his sneaking up behind her until he pokes her and she flails in surprise and the dialog begins. All well and good. But the first night I went, I SWEAR she was singing 'Blue Wind' from Spring Awakening. Sunday she was singing the song that appears during her mad scene, which is what she's SUPPOSED to be singing, according to an interview I read with the props artisan. Nevertheless, I came home CRACKING UP about it the first night and I hold firm to what I heard. *nods*
'SPRIIIING AND SUMMMMMMER EVERY OTHER DAAAAAAY'
- I thought this was a mistake the first night, but no, it was just a bit of AWESOMENESS. So, this was a modern dress production, right? Hamlet goes out to meet the Ghost properly equipped with a black coat, but this gets removed during his struggle to break free of Horatio and Marcellus and follow the Ghost. When he meets up with them, he's obviously not thinking quite clearly and grabs his coat back, putting it on blindly. He's so busy thinking about five million things that he doesn't notice he's put it on inside out and it actually got played two ways. The first time, it went ENTIRELY unremarked upon during the scene; Sunday, H glanced down and noticed it, thus inspiring him to assume the antic disposition.
- Sadly, this led to a moment of YSOC,MK!!! When Ophelia comes shrieking in to Polonius, CMK changed the text from 'his doublet all unbraced' to 'his jacket inside out!' LAME. SO LAME. OH MY GOD, we could have figured it out. *headdesk*
- Also, the swearing scene had me in STITCHES. The sight of a frustrated and frantic Hamlet scooting back and forth across the stage on his knees as he tried to follow the Ghost's voice was almost too much awesome. Ohhh, funny funny. :)
- Cos that's something that JC did- he brought out SO much of Hamlet's sense of humor. When I read the play, so much of that aspect of the character flies right over my head (but not the puns, because puns are ALWAYS awesome and acknowledged), but this production reminded me but good. ;)
- The entrance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is one of my guiltiest pleasures in shiny staging. They were led onstage into a shared space of the royal family's quarters, marked by a large green sofa and two end tables. Strewn atop are Claudius' jacket and Gertrude's knee high stockings, which Osric (here a constant bodyguard figure, combining lots of the little messenger-type roles) removed before going to fetch G&C. The boys thought this was HYSTERICAL and Rosencrantz made a few bom-chicka-bom noises as Guildenstern idly stuck his chewing gum underneath an end table. Obviously at a loss for what to do, Rosencrantz flipped a coin over to Guildenstern (heads!)- the laughter for this grew each time I saw it. They then flopped onto the couch and slowly turned an initial flop into some of the best couch bouncing I've ever seen, FLINGING themselves up and down until the King made his presence known. ENTIRELY gratuitous and ENTIRELY awesome. :)
- Other awesomeness stemming from these two- just before he sent them to Hamlet, Claudius gave R&G each a handheld tape recorder, the better to spy upon H with. They were obviously reluctant, but hijinks were had as the boys tried to angle their jacket pockets as close to H as possible. As Hamlet sank glumly onto the couch for 'I have of late', R&G quickly stuffed their recorders into the cushions at his side. Note- I LOVED JC's rendition, complete with sardonic fist pumps at 'The beauty of the world!', 'The paragon of animals!', and R&G's frat boy characterization made their snickers at the end seem spot on. But here's the where the awesome lies- it becomes incredibly clear that Hamlet knew their game from their first hesitation to answer if they had been sent for, so when they willingly offer H their hands at the close, he pulls them down roughly toward him on the couch. He releases them on 'You are welcome: but my uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived' and frankly states 'I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is
southerly...', digging his hands into the cushions. He pulls out the recorders and speaks directly into them: 'I know a hawk from a handsaw', then hands them back.
DUDE. AWESOME.
When grilling them later, Claudius replays those last lines disdainfully for the boys' benefit. HEE!!
- 'To be or not to be' was moved to just after 'Except my life (x3)', incidentally. Hamlet took out a bottle of pills and played with them in his hand, seemingly ready to end it all until the moment the tone of the soliloquy shifts.
- More shiny! The second half begins with the speech to the players and CMK has H curled up in a theatre seat onstage, eating a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. Why is this so awesome? NOBODY KNOWS. :D!
- There's a glorious moment when the players join hands for a pre-show power circle- and then beckon Hamlet to join them. He bashfully squirms in his chair- Me?, then quickly bounds up and links his hands with theirs. It takes all of two seconds, but it COMPLETELY encapsulates that amateur devotee theatrelust so many of us know so well and we feel a rush of fondness for that crazy, mixed up kid who obviously wants to just go back to school and get cast in some nutty student production that will let him strut around the university with that special feeling of pride because HE is in a PLAY.
- And then CMK had to BE SO CRAZY, cos, did he actually ever READ the speech to the players? Cos guess how he decided to stage the play within the play.
No, no, guess.
...
KABUKI.
*EXPLODES WITH COMPLETE NON-UNDERSTANDING*
OH MY GOD. Is there another form of theatre more stylized, more artificial, filled with more sawing of the air and NEED I SAY MORE???
Well, maybe just another YOU SO CRAZY MICHAEL KAHN!!!
- Another nice touch courtesy of the modern setting: throughout the 'Mousetrap'(and indeed, during Claudius' initial public speech), a cameraman has been busily snapping away. As the King rises, Hamlet grabs away the camera and takes a quick shot of his panicked face. When the time comes to compare the faces of the two kings, he lovingly removes a picture of his father from his wallet. For his uncle, it's the Polaroid. Heh. ;)
- It must be said- however much this Hamlet truly is on the edge, the 'antic disposition' is a glorious fabrication. There really is a great line drawn between the two that the audience can understand- on the inside, Hamlet remains that angsty teen who sulkily sparred with his mother over his 'inky cloak', then went on to have a tantrum of angry mourning on the floor and panicked to his bones at the weight of responsibility entrusted him by the ghost of his father. He's a MESS, but he mostly keeps it together for show. The Antic side is entirely a conscious creation. It's beautifully illustrated just before the 'Mousetrap'- he's been hanging around with the players looking completely normal as he happily eats his Doritos. As he tells Horatio, however, he 'must be idle' and BAM!- it's time for the double identity to emerge. He musses his slicked-back hair, rolls up his left trouser to the knee (but never the right, for there he keeps that bare bodkin), flings off a shoe, and begins to strut in a manner alarmingly akin to a raptor as the court enters. BLESS. :D
- Another tiny bit of awesome from Jeffrey Carlson: in the moment after he stabs Polonius, a heartbreaking look of manic glee and pride flitted across his face in the moment before he saw the body. He had done it- it was over- and then as it faded, he broke before your eyes ever so slightly. This is a Hamlet who, for all his histrionics, can take a lot of things in stride. He never misses a beat with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's betrayal and can conquer a flood of elation and disappointment in the blink of an eye and just Get on with It.
- I said it before, but it bears repeating- Hamlet and the Gravedigger are the OTP of Puntasticness. :D! Hamlet comes alive in his presence in a way that we only see with the players- you can SEE his brain click on as he settles into the flow of the banter. They reached this bit, Hamlet sitting at the grave as the Gravedigger puttered inside:
HAMLET: How came he mad?
Gravedigger : Very strangely, they say.
HAMLET: How strangely?
Gravedigger : Faith, e'en with losing his wits.
HAMLET: Upon what ground?
Gravedigger : Why, here in Denmark.
HAMLET: *FALLS OVER BACKWARDS IN A HEAP*
EMILY: *SWOONS*
- And last of all- this is a Hamlet who, in the midst of the duel, has both swords in his hands and SEES the difference, then in a split second and with complete knowledge of what he does, hands his own sword to Laertes and keeps the poisoned one. KICKASS.
There you have it! Very disjointed, hardly complete, but all I have to say at present. There's more in my notes, but nothing else that needs to be set down for posterity. Suffice to say that it was my first Hamlet and I loved it, despite its flaws, take it for all in all.
Rock on, Emo Hamlet.