| Double Hamlets |
|
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0131 Friday, 26 March 2010
[1] From: Matteo Pangallo <
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
>
[2] From: Michael Yawney <
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
>
[3] From: Abigail Quart <
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
>
[4] From: Kevin J Donovan <
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
>
[5] From: Conrad Cook <
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
>
[6] From: Hardy M. Cook <
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
>
[1]----------------------------------------------------------------- Hannibal Hamlin < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it > wrote:
>An Irish friend just informed me of a production of Hamlet he's I've never heard of this with Hamlet, but I have been involved with productions that divided up other characters. I performed in a production of Julius Caesar and split the role of Brutus with my identical twin brother: his Brutus was the "rational" side of the character (the one, for example, who delivers the funeral oration and who ultimately commits suicide) and mine was the "emotional" (the one who actually stabs Caesar) -- none of the characters (including the two of us) could see the other Brutus. It also allowed us to make the "It must be by his death" soliloquy into a kind of dialogue. The other split-character I've been involved with was Ariel in a production of Tempest that I directed several years ago; one Ariel attempted to win Prospero's favor (and thus freedom) by doing everything possible to please him, the other did everything possible to spite him. The two Ariels made it possible to stage some amusing "magic" business (for example, in the log scene or with the harpy), particularly because none of the other characters (including Prospero) "knew" or could "see" that there were two of them. I have no objections to this kind of theatrical device if there is a clear reason for the choice and if the audience can grasp those reasons. If the device does not inform the production somehow, however, then it would strike me merely as a gimmick for the sake of novelty and spectacle. It risks becoming more a distraction than a contribution to the performance if done poorly.
Matteo A. Pangallo
[2]------------------------------------------------------------- Dividing Hamlet up has been done before. Off the top of my head, I recall Travis Preston had four Hamlets in his production at NYU late 1980s.
Hope this helps,
[3]------------------------------------------------------------- I saw a Columbia University School of the Arts production that divided up the Hamlets and practically every other major character, too.
[4]------------------------------------------------------------- The most recent issue of The Shakespeare Newsletter contains a review by Bernice W. Kliman of a production this past summer by The Hudson Warehouse featuring three actors playing Hamlet "interactively." She also refers in passing to a 1976 production "with twin actors playing Hamlet as angel and devil respectively."
Kevin J. Donovan
[5]------------------------------------------------------------- Hannibal Hamlin < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it > wrote:
>An Irish friend just informed me of a production of Hamlet he's Yes, in prison. Prisoners in the US are sometimes given Shakespearean plays, and often _Hamlet_, to perform as a kind of performance art therapy. The lead role is split among four prisoner actors, who are all on the stage at once and rotate about every sentence, as I recall. They had a bit of it on the radio. The reporter said the production "works." The part I heard, well, sounded like it was being recited by prisoners in rotation. Hard to judge from a sound bite; I'm sure such a production could work. Conrad. PS - They also only did act 5.
[6]------------------------------------------------------------- Not exactly Hamlet but Todd Haynes's 2007 film _I'm Not There_ has six characters (played by Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw) embodying different aspects of Bob Dylan's life, work, and public persona. The film opens with the caption: "Inspired by the music and the many lives of Bob Dylan." Except for the caption and credits, Dylan's name does not appear in the film itself.
_______________________________________________________________ DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
|