adequately serpentine but not altogether gorgeous

[angevin2]

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

Comments

[olivia_circe]

Oh my god, those are wonderful. HE COULD ADD A PROGRAMME NOTE. Oh, Gielgud.

[angevin2]

I KNOW. &hearts!

[serrana]

Oh dear, they are awesome. Which is good, because I'm having one of those mornings that involves a lot of cleaning up other creatures' poop.

[missdisco]

To First Gravedigger: Superb, truly. I don't understand what you do at all, but you do it awfully well.

this made me laugh

[darthfox]

God, I love actors. :-)

[tempestsarekind]

These are wonderful; you've made my day!

What is this book of Hamlet-related anecdotes, btw?

[angevin2]

It's called There's Nothing Like a Dane and the editor is Clive Francis.

[gileonnen]

But Letters from an Actor is apparently just solid gold by itself. My friend lillieoz once did a long, enchanting run of transcriptions; if I'd been able to find the blasted book, I'd have bought it straightaway.

[angevin2]

Oh, man. Another thing I have to track down!