Shakespeare in 2039 Lindsay Harris Friel 11/10 '14

Saw a truly good production of Hamlet today, at Hedgerow Theater. It made me have more sympathy for Laertes and Horatio than before. Horatio in this case is the deeply-friend-zoned would-be lover (played by a woman, an inspired choice).  And poor Laertes, the guy goes through all Hamlet's hell in less than an act. 

Got to see it with my favorite smart 12-year-old, and it was wonderful to experience it with him. 

I wish someone would make a cinematic first-person shooter of Hamlet. Seriously. 

I also wish (and I hate to say this, but I will) for a 25-year moratorium on Shakespeare.  I'd be willing to allow universities to do one Shakespeare play a season, but only if no white people are cast in the production. I love Shakespeare, but I think not enough other work gets a chance. I also think we need to let a generation roll over and see it with fresh eyes. 

that being said, it was a lovely show. 

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11/10 '14 1 Comment
That was the first production of Hamlet that I have seen that I actually enjoyed. I have always liked the text, but watching the play was often deadly - there is SO much said and so little action. Making Laertes and Horatio sympathetic, passionate and therefore interesting went a long way toward making the end of the show more emotionally impactful and less of a farcical festival of body-dropping. Also, Hamlet being over-the-top sarcastic when he was "crazy" made the show a lot funnier, at least to me. The sarcasm was a modern touch - humor has changed since Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, and this production caught up with the changes without altering the text. Well, they cut it, but they didn't rewrite it, I mean.
Shelle Klein Houser