Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

My daughter and I attended the Minneapolis, MN Guthrie Theater production of #Shakespeare's As You Like It this past Tuesday. There were many strong performances & interesting choices regarding casting, costumes. The goddess Hymen, who officiates at the marriage ceremony at the end, was dressed like Beyoncé, a cute and witty touch. Female actors were cast for Jaques & Touchstone. This made me think: Why not a usurping duchess & her sister? (This would lose the theme of masculinities—toxic masculine usurper & banished brother who is less toxic— which is still very relevant....) Controlling dads? moms? Helicopter parents? It could work. Some aspects of the production seemed fractured, including the musical styles, accents, costumes: Shepherds had southern drawls, people in the Forest of Arden wore cowboy hats. I was surprised that, in the age of Trump and his having attained the presidency without winning the popular vote, there was no nod toward the usurper ...

Adrienne Darvay Nagy on Hamlet & Dracula One of my favorite Hamlet-related LinkedIn connections is Adrienne Darvay Nagy, who brings whole new realms of Shakespeare research and literary observation to my attention, as well as continental European Shakespeare performance history, of which I'd otherwise be unaware. If you're a Hamlet fan, you should follow her posts. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6492044564071739392 #Hamlet #Shakespeare #Dracula

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (on Navy Pier) is doing Hamlet April 17 - June 9, 2019, as I'm told by Michael Hayden, who is playing Claudius. It will be produced by founder and artistic director Barbara Gaines, who is "Internationally renowned for her populist and dynamic interpretations of Shakespeare." There is a free enrichment program/lecture an hour before the May 4-June 9 Sat & Sun matinees, and a Pub Cast Call an hour before the Friday evening performances May 17 & 24. The poster has the traditional skull, but it's wearing a green jester's hat, as Yorick was both the king's jester and a sort of affectionate surrogate father figure for Hamlet, a nice touch. For more information at CTS, click HERE: https://www.chicagoshakes.com/plays_and_events/hamlet

In recent years, notable productions of Hamlet in the UK and Washington DC have highlighted the topic of Surveillance: The picture below is from Shakespeare Magazine, issue 14, July 2018, with Andrew Scott as Hamlet at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London. Scott played Moriarty in the BBC series, Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. —The king sends for Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to act as spies. —In a particularly chilling scene, Polonius, whose son Laertes departed for France after listening to a long list of fatherly advice ending with “this above all: to thine own self be true,” sends a spy after his son to plant mildly scandalous rumors in order to discover news of his son’s scandalous exploits. —Ophelia agrees to act as bait while Claudius and Polonius eavesdrop. After 9/11/01, the USA and other governments used the events of that day to justify greatly increased spending on global surveillance, much of which violates rights to priva...

PRODUCTION OF HAMLET WITH ESPIONAGE TWIST IN D.C. Interview regarding a production of Hamlet with (appropriately) an espionage twist, around the corner from (a-ha!) a spy museum, located in (of course) Washington D.C. Claudius claims that planting Ophelia as bait and eavesdropping is OK, since, because he's king, they are "lawful espials," because, as Nixon used to say, if the president does it, that makes it legal. Polonius sends Reynaldo to spy on Laertes; Rosencrantz & Guildenstern spy on Hamlet; and Hamet and Horatio spy on Claudius and his reaction to "The Mousetrap" play-within-the-play.... This also brings to mind the excellent 2006 film, "The Lives of Others," about electronic surveillance and meddling in formerly communist countries.... Funny how a very old play can still prove to be very relevant. ~~~~~~~~~~ Shakespeare Theatre Company stages ‘Hamlet’ with modern espionage twist By Jason Fraley | @JFrayWTOP February 5, 201...

Meet me in St. Louie? (for Hamlet) St. Louis Dispatch ARTS AND THEATER At last, the Rep goes big with Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' By Judith Newmark St. Louis Post-Dispatch Oct 8, 2017 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Links to a description of my book project: On LinkedIn : https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV On this blog : https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html [Originally posted around the week of 10/10/17 on LinkedIn ]

Nothing male or female but thinking makes it so? To paraphrase Shakespeare's Hamlet: Is there nothing male or female but thinking makes it so? (Or when Hamlet spoke the original line to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, "nothing good or bad," was he feigning, playing a role, pulling their chain?) Although not the norm, there have been notable productions of Hamlet in the last two centuries in which the prince haas been played by an actress, Sarah Bernhardt's performance in a 1900 film adaptation being one of the more famous. Some productions rotate actors through key parts; this was the case in the recent Guthrie production of King Lear in Minneapolis, where two excellent actors took turns playing the role of Lear. A Great Lakes Theater production of Hamlet in Cleveland has one male actor and one female actor take turns with the role of the prince (not in the same show, but on different nights). . . . After "The Mousetrap" play-within-the-play, Hamlet...

I attended the last performance of #King Lear at the #Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota tonight. The backdrop to the stage made it seem the story was unfolding in a missile silo. It was acted very enthusiastically, with Edmund sometimes clownish in his villainy. [ Trailer ] Please chime in to discuss the play if you're a Lear fan. I was struck at how Lear's discussion with Burgundy of Cordelia's dowry treated her like a whore for sale, and reminded me of Ophelia speaking of Hamlet's "tenders" of his affection, and her father saying she should charge a higher rate (legal tender), as well as other Shakespearean moments where a wife complains about a husband's secrecy and that she feels treated like a whore, for pleasure and comfort, but not for the sharing of secrets. Favorite lines: "'Tis the time's plague when madmen lead the blind." "Get thee glass eyes; And like a scurvy politician, seem To see the things ...