So Ophelia dumps Hamlet because her dad wants to see how he'll respond. Determine what's causing the crazies.
Hamlet then asks "Are you honest? Are you fair?" and basically says it's better to be truthful than to be pretty because if you lie it's like turning beauty into a whore.
Basically. That's the gist. The word whore is in there.
So the kids obviously have no idea what that means. They just hear the word whore.
So a girl asks if Ophelia really is cheating on Hamlet.
The answer is NO. Hamlet isn't calling Ophelia a whore, he's imploring her to be truthful to him. And when he determines she isn't going to be up front with him, he pushes her away and tells her to go to a nunnery.
We hurt the ones we love the most. If you've read the play and understand it, you'd say something like that.
But that's not the answer that was given. Instead, we gave a fifteen minute meandering response suggesting that maybe Ophelia IS cheating on Hamlet, Hamlet is just trying to "warn everybody". Warn everybody of what? That Claudius is a psycho killer?
That's what all our answers are like. Instead of just giving the answer Shakespeare has given us, we're treated to the actors' individual interpretations of the characters and their behavior.
We don't need that. This isn't about what cool edgy thing you think you're bringing to a centuries-old character. It's about educating. It's about doing a faithful production of 'Hamlet' for a bunch of kids who have never seen it before.
The other question I love is "Do you feel all the comedy you added in takes away from the seriousness of the tragedy?"
Well duh. Yeah! Of course it does. But we can't say that. We have to each give a ten minute response that, well, in LIFE there are funny things so there are funny things in Shakespeare's tragedies. And in all Shakespeare's plays there are funny things.
Funny things, yes, but even the Gravedigger/clown has a dark edge to him that's in keeping with the melancholy, dreary Elsinore. This isn't a farce.
Today I've officially stopped caring about this show. No more. No more. It's over. Just tell me where to go and I'll put in the costume and say my lines. Just keep the paycheck coming.
Showbiz.
-- Post From My iPhork
Location:Union Turnpike,,United States
No comments:
Post a Comment