Variations on the same theme

Back from Hamlet!

I don't quite know where to start. This was my first time in Stratford, Shakespeare lover that I am, so we went around to see all the famous places. Went and saw his grave, too. I just wish I could keep going there to see more and more and yet more productions. They were putting up a Brechtian Coriolanus in the park and I really, really wish I could've caught that. Oh well. Seeing everybody again was lovely, although way too short, and can it be time for BattleStarFury already?

As for the play itself, well. David Tennant was as good as I figured he would be in this part, while Patrick Stewart as Claudius was, well, Patrick Stewart. There's really not much you can say there. I wasn't really impressed by Ophelia, but I rather liked Horatio. I was very sad they'd cut his exchange with Fortinbras at the end (the rest really was silence), for a variety of reasons.

The performance was quite funny; they fully exploited Polonius' comic potential, the grave digger was just as funny, the clown players were very crude. David's Hamlet also garnered many laughs, as did Rosencratz and Guildenstern (who were totally gay for each other in a way that made me very happy).

On a more serious note, I love that they chose the reading of the play that I myself like best and find most interesting. My favourite bit had to be that Hamlet was mouthing along to Lucianus' speech (the player about to kill the player king). Also my favourite scene, in the Queen's closet, was done just as I wanted it to be, very physical, with Hamlet even kissing the queen good night at the end. He actually showed up in her closet wearing one of the players' crowns. Seriously, how awesome and wonderful and squee! If you find absolute Oedipus complexes squee-worthy, which I clearly do when they're Shakespearean.

Sadly, neither David nor Patrick showed up to sign anything afterwards, which fairly disappointed me. Not so much that I couldn't get anything signed (had they shown up, I'm not sure I would've been ready to fight my way to them to get a signature), but that they wouldn't take ten minutes to sign stuff for their fans.

Oh, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw was in the audience. She played Martha's sister in Who, and stars in Bonekickers for those of you who like cracktastic archeology shows starring Adrian Lester and Hugh Bonneville.

I want to be at BattleStarFury already.

Discuss the relationship between power, obedience and spectatorship in Henry V and Hamlet.

My Shakespeare exam. Ah, we'll see. SO MUCH to say, so little time.

"Shakespeare and Excess" was the theme of the annual congress of the SFS - the French Shakespeare Society. That's where I met Brian Cox, people. Who is an amazing person, on top of a fantastic actor, I cannot stress this enough. (Notice how I'm not capslocking? Go me.)

There were talks, lots of talks, more or less interesting, by more or less charismatic speakers. René Girard (quite a star among Shakespeare scholars) was supposed to give a talk on Romeo and Juliet, but was unable to fly over for health reasons and consequently somebody else read the paper he forwarded. As for other celebrities, we got a few actors from the production of Cymbeline currently playing in Sceaux, the director of the Midsummer Night's Dream that's also playing these days, and, of course, Brian Cox.

Brian Cox is not just talented, he's also wonderful, lovely, funny, giving, and not at all snobbish. Brian Cox has that same voice of his I do so love to hear in real life. Brian Cox is everything but a snobbish prat. Brian Cox is wonderful. And Brian Cox recommends the book The Reckoning is based on, "Mystery Play". Brian Cox says it has a much wider range than the film managed. Brian Cox mentioned Deadwood during his talk, and that gives him a lot of points in my book. Brian Cox would like to play Othello. Brian Cox knows what an apostrophe is.

Now, for the one few of you on the flist who care about Shakespeare, here are the talks I went to and took substantial notes on. Just say the word, and I'll type up my notes and get them to you and then we can chat Shakespeare a lot. It's a bit insane how much I enjoyed myself. Three days of Shakespeare classes and it seriously kicked ass. I embrace my scholarly geek fully. ( Anyway, the talks! )

So this probably won't interest anybody but me. Oh well!

Review time, now that we've watched all four.

( The Taming of the Shrew. )

( Much Ado About Nothing. )

( A Midsummer Night's Dream. )

( Macbeth. )