Comments on: A Little Night Hamlet http://www.bardblog.com/a-little-night-hamlet/ Quips, Quibbles, Queries, and Quarks from a Quirky Bardolator Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:07:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Gedaly http://www.bardblog.com/a-little-night-hamlet/comment-page-1/#comment-790 Gedaly Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:07:15 +0000 http://www.bardblog.com/?p=347#comment-790 If only you could have timed that with the fireworks! Could've been great. We timed ours to a nearby clock tower chiming. As soon as the clock sounded we began, and an hour later we hear "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go..." GONG! GONG! GONG! .... I was surprised that we were running on time for that moment. It was very cool. I'm glad I wasn't the one who made the cut. I helped clean it up and found more places to nip and tuck, I don't envy whoever originally took the 4000 lines of text to less than half. It probably also helped that most of our audience was a theatre-going and theatre-doing crowd. They knew what was going on even if the details weren't all there. Hehe, scenic designer. How true. I need to go back and read more Harley Granville-Barker. Many of the things he has to say are very quotable. I love to borrow his words and use them for teaching/directing/vocal coaching. One I really like is something to the effect of (pardon my paraphrasing), "There isn't one way to speak Shakespeare's verse, he didn't have one way of writing it." If only you could have timed that with the fireworks! Could’ve been great. We timed ours to a nearby clock tower chiming. As soon as the clock sounded we began, and an hour later we hear “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go…” GONG! GONG! GONG! …. I was surprised that we were running on time for that moment. It was very cool.

I’m glad I wasn’t the one who made the cut. I helped clean it up and found more places to nip and tuck, I don’t envy whoever originally took the 4000 lines of text to less than half. It probably also helped that most of our audience was a theatre-going and theatre-doing crowd. They knew what was going on even if the details weren’t all there.

Hehe, scenic designer. How true. I need to go back and read more Harley Granville-Barker. Many of the things he has to say are very quotable. I love to borrow his words and use them for teaching/directing/vocal coaching. One I really like is something to the effect of (pardon my paraphrasing), “There isn’t one way to speak Shakespeare’s verse, he didn’t have one way of writing it.”

]]> By: JM http://www.bardblog.com/a-little-night-hamlet/comment-page-1/#comment-788 JM Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:15:46 +0000 http://www.bardblog.com/?p=347#comment-788 WoW! I edited a version down to 2 hrs.for an outdoor festival and I thought I pushed it about as far as I could (without literally weeping over some of the cuts I had to make). They started in daylight and ended in darkness (with lights) but the deadline was the beginning of a nearby nightly fireworks display. It's a shame I couldn't count on the punctuality of the 1/2 mile or so removed pyro-techies, otherwise it might have been a nice addition to Fortinbras' closer-"Go, bid the soldiers shoot." But I believe you when you say it worked. Once again we return to the text. I've had some similar first hand acting experiences with little else to rely on but the text. And it's so true, what you say about what it needs and what it doesn't need. Banish the rococo! One of my heroes, Harley Granville-Barker, said we wouldn't know real Shakespeare until we took it completely out of the hands of the scenic designer. (I paraphrase but that's essentially the sentiment) Looks like you experienced something of what he tried to make general practice nearly 80 years ago. I wish more had listened to him. I think there'd be more appreciation for the Bard--AND more venues for the Journeyman as well. WoW! I edited a version down to 2 hrs.for an outdoor festival and I thought I pushed it about as far as I could (without literally weeping over some of the cuts I had to make). They started in daylight and ended in darkness (with lights) but the deadline was the beginning of a nearby nightly fireworks display. It’s a shame I couldn’t count on the punctuality of the 1/2 mile or so removed pyro-techies, otherwise it might have been a nice addition to Fortinbras’ closer-”Go, bid the soldiers shoot.”

But I believe you when you say it worked. Once again we return to the text. I’ve had some similar first hand acting experiences with little else to rely on but the text. And it’s so true, what you say about what it needs and what it doesn’t need. Banish the rococo! One of my heroes, Harley Granville-Barker, said we wouldn’t know real Shakespeare until we took it completely out of the hands of the scenic designer. (I paraphrase but that’s essentially the sentiment)

Looks like you experienced something of what he tried to make general practice nearly 80 years ago. I wish more had listened to him. I think there’d be more appreciation for the Bard–AND more venues for the Journeyman as well.

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