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To Be Or What The Hell . . ?
Mar. 19th, 2007 10:42 amQuestions, I get questions. So many questions, troubling the minds of the modern-day-a-go-go American Youth, what with their rock-n-rolls and their grand-theft-autos and their baggy pants and their interest in Elizabethan dramas.
I now have 22 actors who have expressed their interest to me regarding Ian W. Hill's Hamlet, 9 who have said they definitely can't do it, 3 (including myself) who are definitely in, 2 who are in pending final check on schedule conflicts, and 19 people who haven't responded. Not bad.
And I get questions. Here's one from the probable Guildenstern (pending, as always, schedule conflicts), on reading my draft of the script, from an email he titled "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Jews," and my answer:
Just a quick question, out of curiosity -- how's your conception of R & G affected by your choice to make them Jewish? Do you see them as very Jewish -- slight Yiddish lilt?
Yes, VERY slight - more noticeable on one than the other (haven't decided which yet, depends on which actor it sounds better on). They are definitely out for assimilation - I don't think they're "observant," but they may keep some trappings of "Jewishness" about them because it's expected of them.
And from another actor:
I've been so hung up on my obsession with playing Laertes that I forgot to ask the obvious question, that being what you're looking for in Laertes as a character. I noticed you wrote up a little something for someone who asked about Claudius (I'm a faithful reader of the blog), so I was hoping you might be able to do the same for me and Laertes.
Sure. Laertes is probably everything Hamlet would like to be. Talented, quick, decisive, non-neurotic, able to enjoy life, smart, handsome. They probably grew up around each other at Elsinore, Laertes getting all the advantages of living in a royal environment with a respected father in a high position without the disadvantage of actually being royal and having to live up to your responsibilities (not always a disadvantage, to be sure, but for someone as insecure as Hamlet, disastrous). Hamlet has always probably felt somewhere that Laertes would make a better king than he. If they played together as kids, Hamlet would conceive the fantasy game they would play, and Laertes would star in it as the hero. The negative side to Laertes is that the world of privilege has left him with a certain sense of entitlement, and he has a nasty temper when he feels he (or his family) is not being given the proper respect - a kind of nouveaux-riche insecurity (he's a bit of a self-righteous, priggish hypocrite, too - he's very serious about keeping his sister's honor pure, but he feels he has every right to whore around). His temper has probably gotten him into more than a few scraps (Hamlet's probably helped him out of some of them). While he has these problems, he's probably one of the most mentally healthy of all the main characters of the play -- almost everyone else in this version wants to be something other than what they are. He's perfectly happy being what he is, he just wants more respect for that.
I've had an extended dialogue with another actor, through email and a bit in person a couple of nights ago, mainly regarding Claudius, his guilt (or lack thereof), his competence (or lack thereof), and audience sympathy for Hamlet (or lack thereof). It's a bit long to excerpt here, perhaps, and unlike other people I've quoted here, I'm not sure of his feelings about it, so I won't include it -- but I will post a poem by Cavafy, from 1899, that I sent in my last email to him, which is not exactly in line with my take on the play, but it comes close in some ways, and has the feel of some of what I want:
KING CLAUDIUS
My mind moves to distant places.
I'm walking the streets of Elsinore,
through its squares, and I recall
the very sad story—
that unfortunate king
killed by his nephew
because of some fanciful suspicions.
In all the homes of the poor people
secretly (because they were afraid of Fortinbras)
he was mourned. A quiet, gentle man;
a man who loved peace
(his country had suffered much
from the wars of his predecessor).
He behaved graciously toward everyone,
the humble and the great alike.
Never high-handed, he always sought advice
in the kingdom's affairs
from serious and experienced persons.
Just why his nephew killed him
was never satisfactorily explained.
The prince suspected him of murder;
and the basis of his suspicion was this:
walking one night along an ancient battlement
he thought he saw a ghost
and with this ghost had a talk;
what he heard from the ghost supposedly
were certain accusations made against the king.
It must have been a fit of fancy
and an optical illusion
(the prince was nervous in the extreme:
while studying at Wittenberg
many of his fellow students thought him a maniac).
A few days later he went
to his mother's chambers to discuss
some family matters. And suddenly,
while he was talking, he lost his self-control
and started shouting, screaming,
that the ghost was there in front of him.
But his mother saw nothing at all.
And that same day, for no apparent reason,
he killed an old gentleman of the court.
Since the prince was due to sail for England
in a day or two,
the king hustled him off posthaste
in order to save him.
But the people were so outraged
by the monstrous murder
that rebels rose up
and tried to storm the palace gates,
led by the dead man's son
the noble lord Laertes
(a brave young man, and also ambitious;
in the confusion, some of his friends called out:
"Long live King Laertes").
Some time later, once the kingdom had calmed down
and the king lay resting in his grave,
killed by his nephew
(the prince never went to England;
he escaped from the ship on his way there),
a certain Horatio came forward
and tried to exonerate the prince
by telling some stories of his own.
He said that the voyage to England
had been a secret plot, and orders
has been given to kill the prince there
(but this was never clearly ascertained).
He also spoke of poisoned wine-
wine poisoned by the king.
It's true that Laertes spoke of this too,
But couldn't he have been lying?
Couldn't he have been mistaken?
And when did he speak of this?
While dying of his wounds, his mind reeling.
and seeming to talk deliriously.
As for the poisoned weapons,
it was shown later that the poisoning
had not been done by the king at all:
Laertes had done it himself.
But Horatio, whenever pressed,
would produce even the ghost as a witness:
the ghost said this and that,
the ghost did this and that!
Because of all this, though hearing him out,
most people in their hearts
pitied the poor king,
who, with all these ghosts and fairy tales,
was unjustly killed and disposed of.
Yet Fortinbras, who profited from it all
and so easily won the throne,
gave full attention and weight
to every word Horatio said.
Today I email the 22 actors who have expressed interest and start setting up meetings/readings, then I email the 19 who haven't answered yet and double-check that they got the email, then I email the ones who are probably in and update them on being in a holding pattern. These emails are no longer bulk, but individual (with some cut-n-paste to save time), so it'll take a little while.
And I have to go get cat food before the little monsters eat me alive -- we ran out last night and gave them a can of soft food to tide them over until we got more crunchy bits, and, as always, that just makes them food-simple, following me and yowling every time I go to the kitchen for more coffee. Which looks to be a good idea now too . . .
"C'n it B tym fer gushyfood, plz?"
I now have 22 actors who have expressed their interest to me regarding Ian W. Hill's Hamlet, 9 who have said they definitely can't do it, 3 (including myself) who are definitely in, 2 who are in pending final check on schedule conflicts, and 19 people who haven't responded. Not bad.
And I get questions. Here's one from the probable Guildenstern (pending, as always, schedule conflicts), on reading my draft of the script, from an email he titled "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Jews," and my answer:
Just a quick question, out of curiosity -- how's your conception of R & G affected by your choice to make them Jewish? Do you see them as very Jewish -- slight Yiddish lilt?
Yes, VERY slight - more noticeable on one than the other (haven't decided which yet, depends on which actor it sounds better on). They are definitely out for assimilation - I don't think they're "observant," but they may keep some trappings of "Jewishness" about them because it's expected of them.
And from another actor:
I've been so hung up on my obsession with playing Laertes that I forgot to ask the obvious question, that being what you're looking for in Laertes as a character. I noticed you wrote up a little something for someone who asked about Claudius (I'm a faithful reader of the blog), so I was hoping you might be able to do the same for me and Laertes.
Sure. Laertes is probably everything Hamlet would like to be. Talented, quick, decisive, non-neurotic, able to enjoy life, smart, handsome. They probably grew up around each other at Elsinore, Laertes getting all the advantages of living in a royal environment with a respected father in a high position without the disadvantage of actually being royal and having to live up to your responsibilities (not always a disadvantage, to be sure, but for someone as insecure as Hamlet, disastrous). Hamlet has always probably felt somewhere that Laertes would make a better king than he. If they played together as kids, Hamlet would conceive the fantasy game they would play, and Laertes would star in it as the hero. The negative side to Laertes is that the world of privilege has left him with a certain sense of entitlement, and he has a nasty temper when he feels he (or his family) is not being given the proper respect - a kind of nouveaux-riche insecurity (he's a bit of a self-righteous, priggish hypocrite, too - he's very serious about keeping his sister's honor pure, but he feels he has every right to whore around). His temper has probably gotten him into more than a few scraps (Hamlet's probably helped him out of some of them). While he has these problems, he's probably one of the most mentally healthy of all the main characters of the play -- almost everyone else in this version wants to be something other than what they are. He's perfectly happy being what he is, he just wants more respect for that.
I've had an extended dialogue with another actor, through email and a bit in person a couple of nights ago, mainly regarding Claudius, his guilt (or lack thereof), his competence (or lack thereof), and audience sympathy for Hamlet (or lack thereof). It's a bit long to excerpt here, perhaps, and unlike other people I've quoted here, I'm not sure of his feelings about it, so I won't include it -- but I will post a poem by Cavafy, from 1899, that I sent in my last email to him, which is not exactly in line with my take on the play, but it comes close in some ways, and has the feel of some of what I want:
KING CLAUDIUS
My mind moves to distant places.
I'm walking the streets of Elsinore,
through its squares, and I recall
the very sad story—
that unfortunate king
killed by his nephew
because of some fanciful suspicions.
In all the homes of the poor people
secretly (because they were afraid of Fortinbras)
he was mourned. A quiet, gentle man;
a man who loved peace
(his country had suffered much
from the wars of his predecessor).
He behaved graciously toward everyone,
the humble and the great alike.
Never high-handed, he always sought advice
in the kingdom's affairs
from serious and experienced persons.
Just why his nephew killed him
was never satisfactorily explained.
The prince suspected him of murder;
and the basis of his suspicion was this:
walking one night along an ancient battlement
he thought he saw a ghost
and with this ghost had a talk;
what he heard from the ghost supposedly
were certain accusations made against the king.
It must have been a fit of fancy
and an optical illusion
(the prince was nervous in the extreme:
while studying at Wittenberg
many of his fellow students thought him a maniac).
A few days later he went
to his mother's chambers to discuss
some family matters. And suddenly,
while he was talking, he lost his self-control
and started shouting, screaming,
that the ghost was there in front of him.
But his mother saw nothing at all.
And that same day, for no apparent reason,
he killed an old gentleman of the court.
Since the prince was due to sail for England
in a day or two,
the king hustled him off posthaste
in order to save him.
But the people were so outraged
by the monstrous murder
that rebels rose up
and tried to storm the palace gates,
led by the dead man's son
the noble lord Laertes
(a brave young man, and also ambitious;
in the confusion, some of his friends called out:
"Long live King Laertes").
Some time later, once the kingdom had calmed down
and the king lay resting in his grave,
killed by his nephew
(the prince never went to England;
he escaped from the ship on his way there),
a certain Horatio came forward
and tried to exonerate the prince
by telling some stories of his own.
He said that the voyage to England
had been a secret plot, and orders
has been given to kill the prince there
(but this was never clearly ascertained).
He also spoke of poisoned wine-
wine poisoned by the king.
It's true that Laertes spoke of this too,
But couldn't he have been lying?
Couldn't he have been mistaken?
And when did he speak of this?
While dying of his wounds, his mind reeling.
and seeming to talk deliriously.
As for the poisoned weapons,
it was shown later that the poisoning
had not been done by the king at all:
Laertes had done it himself.
But Horatio, whenever pressed,
would produce even the ghost as a witness:
the ghost said this and that,
the ghost did this and that!
Because of all this, though hearing him out,
most people in their hearts
pitied the poor king,
who, with all these ghosts and fairy tales,
was unjustly killed and disposed of.
Yet Fortinbras, who profited from it all
and so easily won the throne,
gave full attention and weight
to every word Horatio said.
Today I email the 22 actors who have expressed interest and start setting up meetings/readings, then I email the 19 who haven't answered yet and double-check that they got the email, then I email the ones who are probably in and update them on being in a holding pattern. These emails are no longer bulk, but individual (with some cut-n-paste to save time), so it'll take a little while.
And I have to go get cat food before the little monsters eat me alive -- we ran out last night and gave them a can of soft food to tide them over until we got more crunchy bits, and, as always, that just makes them food-simple, following me and yowling every time I go to the kitchen for more coffee. Which looks to be a good idea now too . . .
"C'n it B tym fer gushyfood, plz?"
