Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio....

[wildcard_47]

For those of you who haven't memorized bits and pieces of Hamlet, that's what we finished watching today. Five hours of watching this movie, however, though it's probably my second-favorite Shakespeare play and I love it dearly, is just too much to take. Whew. I need to do something else for awhile.

Also, I can appreciate that Ken has surrounded himself with such a good cast of actors, (save for the random appearances of Jack Lemmon, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams -- that was more than a little incongruous with the rest of the play/cast) and is a decent actor himself. (Though I sometimes think he's too melodramatic or forced in his performances.) I'm glad he wants to be accurate with the scriptwriting and be true to the original and unabridged play. Honestly, though, it's probably good we've finished it and that we're watching King Lear tomorrow. Because I had stopped paying attention after Ophelia died. When we got to the dueling scene between Laertes and Hamlet, I was basically sitting there thinking, "Okay, somebody start getting slain already so we can finish this domino effect of death and I can go eat lunch."

Besides that, nothing much else is happening here, except that I'm driving to Jamestown for a checkup with my doctor this afternoon. Hopefully she doesn't cut me for eating lots and lots of junky food. 

Oh, and the best part about King Lear tomorrow? It's starring JAMES EARL JONES as Lear, whee! As my prof. pointed out this morning, "I would listen to that man read the phone book and pay money for it, he's such a good actor." To which I said, amen.

Comments

[rowyn]

Whoa. I never much liked any of Shakespeare's tragedies (although I have seen Akira Kurosawa's Ran twice) but I might be willing to sit through James Earl Jones doing King Lear.

My favorite movie ever is Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing". <3

[wildcard-47.livejournal.com]

I have actually never seen Branagh's adaptation of "Much Ado", but the play's probably my favorite read out of all Shakespeare's comedies.

I read it over the summer and basically adored it; mostly because Beatrice and Benedick are hysterical. :)

[rowyn]

Emma Thompson plays Beatrice and Branagh is Benedick. It's awesome. =)

[maypanic.livejournal.com]

If you ever find your way down to Atlanta, you have to visit the Shakespeare Tavern. They're brilliant. They're doing an amazing Twelfth Night right now, Much Ado is coming in June- but what I'm most looking forward to this season is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
In May, I think.

I second the rec for Branagh's Much Ado.

Much as I love Hamlet- in depth study and tearing apart of anything can dampen the joy.

[wildcard-47.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow! Though I don't often journey down to Atlanta, I would definitely like to check out the Tavern, if possible. After all, Georgia's not so far from NC, really! And I could make many excuses to skip work and see Much Ado or some other Shakespeare performances. Ros and Guil would be awesome to see, too - I studied it along with Hamlet and really enjoyed it.

You're right about in-depth study - it's one of the reasons why I hated "The Scarlet Letter" and other "classics" for so long. :) Shakespeare, though, I generally like; the movie was just strange, I think, because it was very detailed and a little slow-moving because of it.

[maypanic.livejournal.com]

Their 12th Night is so brilliant because two of the leads- Feste and Orsino- are played by a pair of brilliant singer-musicians, who are also members of my beloved RenFaire group, the Lost Boys. They've incorporated music all through the story, it's fantastic.

If you do make it for MAAN or R&G, tix are cheapest on preview nights- $12 and open seating, so get there early. Otherwise, Sundays upstairs are cheap, get there early and IMHO first row balcony are some of the best in the house. Food is fantastic, too.

http://shakespearetavern.com
http://thelostboysonline.com