#It is after that that Hamlet returns. He’s had Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed he’s killed Polonius and he still needs to kill Claudius

[crow-in-springtime]

You ever think the reason Horatio was so loyal to Hamlet was because he felt like he was responsible since he showed him the ghost in the first place?

[thehamletdiaries]

I wrote this for the Hamlet discord and made myself have feelings so I thought I'd share

I think Horatio stays for a time at Elsinore - he is the carrier of Hamlet's story but importantly also of his message that Fortinbras should be King. It's Hamlet's wish (and, slowly Horatio realises, what genuinely is best for peace and stability) so he makes that his purpose and mission. During this time he writes and writes and speaks often and in many places - telling the story of Hamlet, almost as we know it - but in his version, he lies; he says Claudius sent all three men - Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - to their deaths and Hamlet alone escaped, he says nothing of Hamlet's treatment of Ophelia, and whilst he is truthful about Hamlet killing Polonius he claims that was Claudius's set up too. People need a martyr and Hamlet's full truth would not give them the story they all need. But what he tells truly and faithfully is who Hamlet was - how much he loved him and why; this brilliant Icarus like figure, full of fire, who shone like the sun he flew too close to. The prince, already loved by the people, is given so rich an epitaph that his name might live longer than many who did become King. And his legacy gives credence to Fortinbras's reign, bringing peace.

Fortinbras marries a woman very distantly related to Hamlet's family in order to solidify his position and reign. It's Horatio who helps her find her way in court - this man who was from outside court himself helping this woman who never wanted to be Queen. Horatio finds the writings of Ophelia - in truth, he had first gone searching for them to destroy any that might say some truth about Hamlet he does not want to be revealed - but he finds something else instead; this young girl believed she would be Hamlet's queen and she wanted to be a good queen. She wrote at length about the way they would rule, together; the kind of prosperity and joy they would bring - how they would invest in the arts and education, how they would support enterprise and relgious tolerence. He gives Ophelia's writings to the new Queen to help guide her.

Horatio goes home often - to the farm he grew up on on the border of Denmark and Germany. He has no male relatives left, but he still has his mother, grandmother and sister. They all hold him when he cries, but it's only his sister he truly tells everything too. The whole story. Everything about who Hamlet was and how truly he loved him.

Horatio's sister eventually marries and has children, as, of course, does the new Queen. Both women suggest naming one of their sons Hamlet, but Horatio asks them not to. It would be too painful for another to have his name. When the Queen has her third and fourth child, however, twin daughters, she does name one Horatia.

Horatio tries to go back to Wittenberg once but it is just too painful.

He is at his heart a scholar, and after many years at court he does want to return to school. He wanders looking for somewhere to be. He even goes as far as Egypt but that is too strange and too different. He eventually finds himself at the University of Florence, where he graduates and continues on to the professorship he'd always assumed he would have before he met the prince. He writes about philsophy, mostly; a discipline now forever coloured by what he has seen. He lives a fairly lonely existence, but his stoic nature sees him through. He gets up every morning and goes to bed every night. Time doesn't take away the pain but it changes it; makes it bearable in a way he would not at first of thought possible. He often cries but he is often happy too. He has long since stopped searching for Hamlet's ghost. If Hamlet were a ghost, he has reasoned, it would mean he wasn't in heaven. And Horatio has to believe that's where his prince is; in heaven.

[louisetaylor]

unfinished business

thinking about the ghosts in Hamlet after the play ends. When a ghost comes back, they find themselves where they belonged in life. Old Hamlet found himself surrounded by blood and revenge and punishment. Polonius haunted the corridors of power for decades, never seeing his daughter even when her ghost stood by him. Ophelia found herself lying on a streambed, the sun shining through the water above her. She went to the castle, wet and cold and crowned with flowers. Attended her own funeral and cried as Hamlet and Laertes mourned her. Confronted old Hamlet one dark midnight in the great hall, no one else there, told him his son was near to breaking under the weight of his father's legacy and didn't deserve to be the scourge of justice.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern joined Polonius, who was glad of the company. Ophelia haunted young Hamlet, visited his dreams, kissed him in his sleep. When Gertrude fell, Ophelia was there to catch her, the mother she never had. They both watched Hamlet finally kill Claudius, whose ghost stared at them for a moment and then disappeared to who knows where. When Laertes died, Ophelia turned away from him, as she'd always wanted to do when they were alive. Laertes went away to find his father, who may not have been Polonius after all.

When Hamlet died, Gertrude and Ophelia were waiting for him. Ophelia fell into his arms, because though he may have insulted her, she'd seen him mourn for her, seen him swing between moral judgment and honest anger and love. And still she loved him more than anyone. Hamlet kissed his mother's forehead, watched Horatio tell his story and Fortinbras bring Denmark back to some sort of peace. Hamlet's unseen hand on Horatio's shoulder as Horatio knelt and cried at his grave. Ophelia sitting nearby on her gravestone, humming Hamlet's favorite song. Hamlet and Ophelia giggling at Fortinbras' confusion when the pirates come in claiming that the dead prince owed them money. The gravedigger talks to the ghosts sometimes, when no one's around. Yorick moved on long since, to Hamlet's disappointment. One dark winter night, unseen by the guards, Hamlet brings his mother and lover up to the walltop. As the bell rings one, old Hamlet marches out of the whirling snow in full armor. He extends his hand to Hamlet, not seeing the women. Hamlet considers for a long time, then shakes his head. The women come forward to stand beside Hamlet, who reaches out to his father. Old Hamlet thinks of all the penance he has yet to do, the punishment Gertrude deserves for marrying a villain just because her bed was cold and empty. His son deserves purgatory for dying without last rites…and yet Ophelia gave him last rites by holding him as he died, Laertes was forgiven as he died, Gertrude had her son's love as she died. Old King Hamlet slowly raises his hands and takes off his helm. It falls with a ghostly clash into the falling snow as he steps forward to receive his wife and son's forgiveness. They disappear into the snow, away to the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns.

"Heaven is wherever I fall" (Wherever I Fall, the movie Cyrano)

[rozasadowska]

Hamlet

At the beginning of the play, there is a ghost in the remnants of Elsinore Castle in Denmark. At first, it is discovered by a pair of watchmen that appears to resemble King Hamlet. His brother Claudius had inherited the throne and married the king's widow Queen Gertrude. Hotario, who also saw the ghost, and watchmen brought Hamlet to see it and the king suddenly speaks to him. He confessed his personality and that he was murdered by Claudius. He ordered Hamley to seek revenge and disappeared. 

Prince decided to devote himself to this. However, he started to be very melancholic about this because of his nature as a madman.   Claudius and Gertrude worried about this and decided to employ two of his friends- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Polonius suggests that the man may be simply crazy in love with his daughter- Ophelia, so the girls agree with Claudius on spying on Hamlet. It turns out that the prince does not seem to be that madly in love.

Because there is a group of actors coming to Elsinore, Hamlet decides to make a conspiracy to test if Claudius would react if they make a scene of his father's murder. That would test his uncle's guilt. When the moment comes, Claudius leaves the theatre. Even Hotario agrees that it is suspicious. Hamley decides to kill the murderer, but finds him praying, so he cannot kill him as then his soul would go to heaven. Claudius is concerned about the nephew's madness and decides to send him to England. 

Polonius hides behind Hamlet's mother's bedchamber. The prince wants to confront his mother and is sure that this is the king who is hiding there and pulls out his sword killing Polonius. He is immediately dispatched to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Claudius secretly orders Hamlet's death there. 

Ophelia drowns in the river for the grief. Meanwhile, Polonius's son Laertes returns to Denmark in a rage and is convinced by Claudius that it was Hamley who caused both deaths. Hamlet's ship ends up in Denmark and Clausius decides to use Laert to ensure Hamlet's death. The plan goes that Laert will fence Hamlet with poisoned blood so that if he draws blood, the prince will die. 

During Ophelias' funeral, Hamley attacks Laert stricken with grief. There is a courtier Osric to arrange the match.

There was a backup plan the king decided to poison a goblet that he would give to Hamlet should he score the first and second hits. After all, Gertrude takes the drink and dies, but Laertes also succeeds in wounding Hamlet. Before death, Laertes gets hurt by his blade and reveals that Claudius is responsible for the queen's death. They both die.

A Norwegian prince Fortinbras is surprised to see the entire royral family lying sprawled on the floor(along with Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern killed by Hamlet as he discovered the plan). Hotario fulfills Hamlet's last will and tells his whole tragic story. Fortinbras orders to burry him in a noble manner befitting a fallen soldier. 

ME ABOUT HAMLET

I think that Hamlet is a very multi-dimensional character with many characteristic traits. He had a very reactive nature because of which he keeps being tossed by emotions and morale. He becomes a madman, resigning from love and having mood swings.

He is ready for death, which is very admirable. What I find interesting is how amazing is his last request. He wants his story to be heard after his death. He is very sensitive, which is beautiful. 

[uljhasa]

Play 7 : The Curse of Hamlet

Prince Hamlet is depressed. Having been summoned home to Denmark from school in Germany to attend his father's funeral, he is shocked to find his mother Gertrude already remarried. The Queen has wed Hamlet's Uncle Claudius, the dead king's brother. To Hamlet, the marriage is "foul incest." Worse still, Claudius has had himself crowned King despite the fact that Hamlet was his father's heir to the throne. Hamlet suspects foul play.

When his father's ghost visits the castle, Hamlet's suspicions are confirmed. The Ghost complains that he is unable to rest in peace because he was murdered. Claudius, says the Ghost, poured poison in King Hamlet's ear while the old king napped. Unable to confess and find salvation, King Hamlet is now consigned, for a time, to spend his days in Purgatory and walk the earth by night. He entreats Hamlet to avenge his death, but to spare Gertrude, to let Heaven decide her fate.

Hamlet vows to affect madness — puts "an antic disposition on" — to wear a mask that will enable him to observe the interactions in the castle, but finds himself more confused than ever. In his persistent confusion, he questions the Ghost's trustworthiness. What if the Ghost is not a true spirit, but rather an agent of the devil sent to tempt him? What if killing Claudius results in Hamlet's having to relive his memories for all eternity? Hamlet agonizes over what he perceives as his cowardice because he cannot stop himself from thinking. Words immobilize Hamlet, but the world he lives in prizes action.

In order to test the Ghost's sincerity, Hamlet enlists the help of a troupe of players who perform a play called The Murder of Gonzago to which Hamlet has added scenes that recreate the murder the Ghost described. Hamlet calls the revised play The Mousetrap, and the ploy proves a success. As Hamlet had hoped, Claudius' reaction to the staged murder reveals the King to be conscience-stricken. Claudius leaves the room because he cannot breathe, and his vision is dimmed for want of light. Convinced now that Claudius is a villain, Hamlet resolves to kill him. But, as Hamlet observes, "conscience doth make cowards of us all."

In his continued reluctance to dispatch Claudius, Hamlet actually causes six ancillary deaths. The first death belongs to Polonius, whom Hamlet stabs through a wallhanging as the old man spies on Hamlet and Gertrude in the Queen's private chamber. Claudius punishes Hamlet for Polonius' death by exiling him to England. He has brought Hamlet's school chums Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to Denmark from Germany to spy on his nephew, and now he instructs them to deliver Hamlet into the English king's hands for execution. Hamlet discovers the plot and arranges for the hanging of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern instead. Ophelia, distraught over her father's death and Hamlet's behavior, drowns while singing sad love songs bemoaning the fate of a spurned lover. Her brother, Laertes, falls next.

Laertes, returned to Denmark from France to avenge his father's death, witnesses Ophelia's descent into madness. After her funeral, where he and Hamlet come to blows over which of them loved Ophelia best, Laertes vows to punish Hamlet for her death as well.

Unencumbered by words, Laertes plots with Claudius to kill Hamlet. In the midst of the sword fight, however, Laertes drops his poisoned sword. Hamlet retrieves the sword and cuts Laertes. The lethal poison kills Laertes. Before he dies, Laertes tells Hamlet that because Hamlet has already been cut with the same sword, he too will shortly die. Horatio diverts Hamlet's attention from Laertes for a moment by pointing out that "The Queen falls."

Gertrude, believing that Hamlet's hitting Laertes means her son is winning the fencing match, has drunk a toast to her son from the poisoned cup Claudius had intended for Hamlet. The Queen dies.

As Laertes lies dying, he confesses to Hamlet his part in the plot and explains that Gertrude's death lies on Claudius' head. Finally enraged, Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword and then pours the last of the poisoned wine down the King's throat. Before he dies, Hamlet declares that the throne should now pass to Prince Fortinbras of Norway, and he implores his true friend Horatio to accurately explain the events that have led to the bloodbath at Elsinore. With his last breath, he releases himself from the prison of his words: "The rest is silence."

The play ends as Prince Fortinbras, in his first act as King of Denmark, orders a funeral with full military honors for slain Prince Hamlet.

[hamletandthegang]

Reunite

Ophelia, Hamlet, Horatio, and Maggie all walked around to the far side of the castle, where there was a secret entrance they used whenever they wanted to avoid Claudius or the guards. The grass was still wet from where it had rained earlier, and they walked in silence, each lost in their thoughts.

Ophelia became more and more nervous by the second of what the reaction would be from the others. She had started feeling very guilty that she had stayed away for so long, only now revealing the fact that she was alive to her life-long friends. But she also felt like she was somewhat justified in her actions and hoped the others would understand. She mostly just didn't want to face Annalise.

Maggie was wracking her brain, trying to rapidly stitch together a plan from the pieces of the failed assassination attempt from an hour ago. She had the rebels, the police force, and now a perfect way into the castle and a clear shot to the King. All she lacked were the forces to combat the sheer amount of military and guards connected to the court…

Hamlet was still trying to process the fact that his girlfriend was still alive. He had been told she'd lost her mind and killed herself, come to find out she was alive and well and hanging out with what used to be one of his worst enemies. It had also dawned on him what he had done to her father, and suddenly her hesitation to his presence made a whole lot more sense. What had he done?

Horatio was exhausted. The last three weeks had felt like years. First coming back from England, Hamlet immediately killing Polonius and being sent back to England, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern narrowly avoiding dying out in the middle of the sea, getting a concussion and being bed-ridden for a good 36 hours, and then one of his best friends losing her mind and then dying and then NOT dying. He didn't even want to process the sheer amount of emotions he felt about her appearance- he just felt utterly overjoyed. He wanted to hug her and never let go, but she seemed very sensitive to any physical touch at the moment, so that was not an option. So instead, he was left to walk along quietly, filled to the brim with a feeling of uncontainable exhausted joy.

Hamlet helped them all into the side door then himself, shutting the door behind him and knocking into Horatio. They climbed up through the bottom of the ledge that led to the small door and then stepped out into the castle hallway. They made their way upstairs and to the third-floor window where the rebels were waiting impatiently in the car underneath and unfurled the climbing ladder to let them up. After each of them tumbled through the window and filed into the least-used wing of the castle, they continued to where they knew the others would be at this time of night.

The group had taken to playing board games in the little game room near the kitchen every night, trying to find ways to act normal and pretend as if they were simply college students hanging out together. Ophelia swallowed hard as they turned the corner and could hear the low voices coming from that room and tried to prepare herself for their reactions.

Hamlet and Horatio walked in first, leaving Ophelia and Maggie behind the wall separating the game room from the two steps up into the kitchen.

"Hey! How'd it go?" Anna's cheery voice asked, and Ophelia nearly turned around and left on the spot.

"Well, we didn't get Claudius, but- uh, we have someone here to see you all," Horatio spoke, and Ophelia took a deep breath and stepped around the corner.

The silence shot like bullets.

Rosencrantz, Marc, Anna, and Guildenstern all sat there completely stunned.

"Hi, guys," Ophelia said hesitantly.

Annalise screamed, stood up, and backed around behind the chair she was sitting in as a shield. "Is this some sick joke? Are you a fucking ghost or something? Huh?!"

"Hey, hey, no it's okay. Let's just sit down and-" Horatio tried to explain, but Annalise kept talking.

"No no no no no no this can't be real- I saw your grave! I saw your grave!" Annalise shouted, beginning to get choked up. "I saw the empty bottle- I saw it! Goddamnit this isn't real-" her back hit the wall, and before Ophelia could go over to her, Guildenstern had shot up and wrapped his arms around her, nearly pushing her over. Rosencrantz was still staring, completely in shock, and Marc had his hands over his mouth, barely taking in the information in front of him.

Ophelia could feel Guildenstern shaking, and when he finally let her go, he looked almost green. He sat back in the chair behind him and pulled a hand through his hair, staring at her as if she'd disappear at any moment.

"Holy shit-" Rosencrantz finally spoke. "Phelia? Damn! You really had me!" He started laughing, and Ophelia couldn't help but smile. This was the way Rosencrantz dealt with everything- he laughed. Ophelia had missed hearing it. As a child, his home had been extremely loud and downright abusive at times, and he had quickly developed a coping mechanism of joking to diffuse situations and the ability to laugh through almost anything.

"Marc?" Hamlet placed a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up, hands still clamped over his mouth.

"Can I…?" He motioned to Ophelia's hand, and she held it out. He hesitated, then grabbed hold of it, and once he felt how completely solid and warm it was, a hesitant grin spread across his face. "Thank Christ," he breathed, then stood up and hugged her. He hadn't forgotten about the ghost of the former King that stalked the grounds at night.

Annalise had finally started breathing again and approached her cousin hesitantly. "You died, right?"

"Nearly," Ophelia smiled out of nervousness. "I think Laertes gave me something that just knocked me out for a long time so somehow I just woke up on the sand and- yeah. I don't really know what happened, but my memory was really messed up for a while afterward so after I found Maggie, I just stayed with her for a bit while I tried to recover from it all and-"

"Wait, Maggie?" Guildenstern asked.

"Oh!" Ophelia noticed that she still was standing in the kitchen and motioned for her to come in. Annalise gasped when she revealed herself, and the room went silent again.

"It's okay," Horatio interjected. "I think she's cool." Maggie shot a grateful look at him.

"Are you sure?" Rosencrantz asked him, glaring at Maggie.

"She wants to help us take down Claudius. She also apparently saved Ophelia and let her stay with her, so yeah, I guess." Hamlet shrugged.

"Alright," Annalise said, obviously still hesitant. "I'm watching you though."

"That's justified," Maggie said.

"So, you're just- back?" Marc asked, turning back to Ophelia.

"Yeah, I suppose. Is that okay?"

"Are you kidding?! Yes! Please don't leave again," Marc said, eyes beginning to shine as the emotions of the night caught up to him. He put a hand over his face and tried to keep himself from falling apart entirely.

"I'll try my best," Ophelia said, also feeling the lump in her throat return.

"What do we do now?" Rosencrantz asked.

Ophelia thought for a moment, and after no one said anything, suggested. "We could just- play Monopoly? That sounds kinda fun." She pointed to the game that they had been playing before they had arrived.

"Let's do that," Annalise nodded and sat down, reshuffling the cards so they could restart the game.

They sat in a circle around the small table the board was laid out on and reset the game to play again. They pulled up another fold-out chair for Maggie and began to play. They didn't know what else to do. What even was 'normal' anymore?

[crackspinewornpages]

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark -William Shakespeare

A1S1

(in high school we had groups that had to make a video based on this play)

Francisco and Bernard are guarding the castle, it’s so dark they can’t see each other, (seems a problem when you’re supposed to be guarding should have brought torches) then they hear footsteps, it’s Horatio and Marcellus. Marcellus asks if it appeared again, not yet, the past two nights it showed, Bernard starts to explain the experiences when the ghost appears.

It’s the previous king and Horatio starts to question it but it walks away and disappears. Horatio confirms it looked like the king Hamlet wearing the armor he wore to fight Norway and slayed the king Fortinbras, his son is now gathering an army, “and even the precurse of fierce events, as harbingers preceding still the fates and prologue to the omen coming on;”p.1007 The ghost reappear and disappears at dawn and Horatio thinks to get Hamlet to see if it will talk to his son.

A1S2

In the castle the King, Queen, Hamlet, Polonius and others are grouped so Claudius can give a speech about his dead brother. The previous king is dead but let’s not mourn since he just married his brother’s window. Oh, and Fortinbras thinks they’re weak now, sent a message for them to surrender, so he’ll send Cornelius to Fortinbras’s bed ridden uncle and that’s the news. (wait wait wait go back to the potential war please that sounds pretty urgent) Claudius turns to Laertes (I played Laertes and the joke was he’s a hermaphrodite since we couldn’t really hide my big boobs) who wants to talk to him, he wants to return to France, he only came to see the coronation, Polonius will support him and the king allows it. Then he asks Hamlet why he’s still upset and his mother orders him to take off his mourning clothes, people die all the time he should know that. Hamlet says they suit his mood, (we played Hamlet as an emo) Claudius says that’s sweet but fathers die all the time, it’s duty to mourn but he’s doing it too much, (his dad died two months ago) maybe go back to school, or stay here and Hamlet agrees to stay for his mom.

Hamlet is left alone and soliloquies that he wants to die, (emo just go write some bad poetry) his father only died two months ago and here his mom married his uncle within a month. “It is not nor it cannot come to good; but break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue!”p.1010 Horatio, Marcellus and Bernard come to him and he greets them happy to see his friend Horatio. Horatio claims to come to the funeral, but Hamlet says he came for the wedding and Horatio confesses they followed. They then tell Hamlet they saw his father’s ghost who wouldn’t speak, they thought he should know. Hamlet confirms their description is like his father so agrees to watch with them tonight and see if it will speak to him. “My father’s spirit in arms! All is not well; I doubt some foul play: would the night were come! Till then sit still, my soul: foul deeds will rise, though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.”p.1011

A1S3

In Polonius’s house Laertes is telling his sister goodbye and to write, also don’t get involved with Hamlet. “Perhaps he loves you now,”-“but you must fear, his greatness weigh’d, his will is not his own, hoe he himself is subject to his birth;”p.1011 (he doesn’t really have a choice his duty and country will come first) He warns to stay away from him or she’ll be hurt, “Be wary then; best safety lies in fear: youth to itself rebels, though none else near.”p.1011 Ophelia (her actress played her like a party girl) agrees to listen to his advice. Polonius comes to give Laertes some advice, don’t act rash, hold old friends close be slow to embrace new ones, don’t get into fights easily but if he has to kick ass, dress nice, listen and never borrow or lend money, also be true to himself. When Laertes leaves Polonius asks Ophelia what he told her and her relationship with Hamlet. She says Hamlet loves her Polonius forbids her from seeing him and don’t believe anything he says. (why wouldn’t you want your daughter to be a queen are you trying to spare her the cost of the crown)

A1S4

On the platform Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus meet as the trumpets sound and Hamlet says his uncle likes to rouse his habit, and that such a thing is better broken then goes on that his revelry looks bad on the country, (a king that constantly parties like it’s 1999 doesn’t look good) when ghost daddy appears and Hamlet calls to him. “I’ll call thee Hamlet King, father, royal Dane, O! Answer me:”p.1013 He wants to know why after they buried him he’s come back, what should they do, it beckons Hamlet to follow and he does despite Horatio and Marcellus telling him not to. When he does his friends don’t like it, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,”p.1014 so they follow after Hamlet.

A1S5

Finally the ghost speaks that he is tormented and requires vengeance, “till the foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purg’d away.”-“Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.”p.1014 (could have told your distraught son that you love him but no give him a morally agonizing quest when he’s emotionally fragile) A most foul murder, he was sleeping in the orchard when a serpent poured poison in his ear and now wears his crown and married his queen. “If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not; let not the royal bed of Denmark be a couch for luxury and damned incest.”p.1014 (they’re not related by blood to each other so not technically incest) He says to leave his mom for heaven to judge and leaves Hamlet who begs him to stay and swears to remember and go through with the request, “that one may smile, and smile, and be a villain:”p.1015 (why is Shakespeare so damn quotable) Swearing to kill his uncle his friends find him but Hamlet only tells them what happened if they won’t say anything and swear on their swords even though he may act crazy not to reveal anything. They do after the ghost shouts from the ground to swear (he’s in the ground so is he in hell) and Hamlet bemoans his responsibility. “The time is out of joint; o cursed spite, that I was ever born to set it right!”p.1016

A2S1

In Polonius’s house Polonius gives Reynaldo money and letters to give his son also to spy on him and gives him instructions on how to and sends him off. (helicopter parent much) Ophelia then comes in, she’s frightened because Hamlet came in her chambers disheveled, grabbed her, stared at her then let her go and left. (like he agonized over having to leave her) Polonius decides to talk to the king about it since Hamlet must be in love and will do something desperate and Ophelia says she refused him and Polonius thinks that rejection made him crazy.

A2S2

King Claudius and Queen Gertrude meet Rosencrantz (I also played him changed his name to Rose) and Guildenstern and the king summoned them because of Hamlet’s behavior, unable to recover from his father’s death, what else could it be, so they’re here to make him happy. (did you try therapy) They agree to and the queen has them go get Hamlet. Polonius then enters announcing the ambassadors have returned Voltim and Cornelius. Voltim says the new king of Norway told his nephew not to make war with the Danes but Poland instead, Fortinbras agreed to as long as he can cross his army through Denmark and Claudius is relieved he avoided war. (…you’re a dumbass) Voltim and Cornelius leave and Polonius tells them Hamlet is crazy, pity but true, they need to find the reason. (he’s not taking his father’s death well you people are dense idiots)

He acted crazy with his daughter after she rejected him, he gives the queen Hamlet’s love notes. They plan to prove it by his hiding behind a curtain as Hamlet walks through the lobby and plant Ophelia to see if he’s really crazy for her. The queen notices Hamlet is reading and walking and the leave while Polonius stays to talk to him. Hamlet acts crazy calling Polonius a fish monger but Polonius notices his words are barbs.

When Polonius leaves Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter and greet Hamlet and Hamlet asks why they came. Rosencrantz says they came to visit him nothing else (sure) Hamlet thanks them but knows the king and queen sent them because he’s depressed. Rosencrantz turns the conversation to the visiting actors, “He that plays the king shall be welcome; his majesty shall have tribute of me;”p.1021 Hamlet asks questions about them then tells his friends they are welcome to stay and he also only pretends to be crazy to fool his uncle-father and aunt-mother. (don’t word it like that)

Polonius enters announcing the actors arrival and Hamlet wants one of them to give a speech of the fall of Troy. (symbolism) Polonius assures they are the best actors as they enter Hamlet welcomes them very enthusiastically and praises the speech one gave and recites Priam’s slaughter and one player continues it. (symbolism) Polonius complains it’s too long, Hamlet gets them to recite more and Polonius begs not to. Hamlet allows him to leave with the players and yells for them to play the Murder of Gonzago (symbolism) and he’ll write a speech for them. (is Hamlet a theater nerd he is dramatic enough) When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave him Hamlet soliloquys of his plan to reveal his uncle in the play but he can’t say anything about it, “Am I a coward? Who calls me villain?”p.1023 For his father he must get revenge, have the players act out his father’s murder on front of is uncle to reveal himself. “the play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.”p.1024 (check out the Star Trek episode The Conscience of the King it is one of the best of TOS)

A3S1

In a room Claudius, the queen, Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are discussing Hamlet’s behavior. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern haven’t found a reason for his depression (his dad died) but he did seem excited about the actors (not for the reason you think) and the king sends them to find out more. Now they plan to set Ophelia to see Hamlet’s reaction and they leave as Hamlet is coming. He’s soliloquizing again, “to be, or not to be: that is the question:”p.1024 Is it nobler to kill himself after the act, then he sees Ophelia, she wants to return his letters but he didn’t send them and that he did love her once. He tells her to join a nunnery then breed sinners and it would be better had he not been born and lists his faults. (get over yourself) He asks about Polonius, “Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool nowhere but in’s own hoiuse.”p.1025

He leaves and Ophelia prays he’ll be restored and woe is her, “to have seen what I have seen, see what I see!”p.1025 (girl there’s so much worse) The king and Polonius reenter and Claudius says he’s not crazy from love, it wasn’t in his speech. There’s danger in it, they have to prevent it by sending him to England, maybe the change will get him over his depression. Polonius thinks the origin is from neglected love and has Ophelia tell him what he said to her, the king thinks he needs to be watched closely.

A3S2

In the castle Hamlet is discussing with the actors playing them up with praise and how to act their roles he gave them. Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come and Hamlet has them hurry the actors to the stage. Horatio comes and Hamlet is so happy to see him he expresses his  affection for his qualities and asks him to observe his uncle during the play. The king and queen and others enter and Hamlet talks nonsense and asks Ophelia if he can lie in her lap. The actors enter the stage and act out the prologue of a murderer killing the king and seducing his wife, Hamlet calls the play the Mouse-Trap. (not the one by Agatha Christie) The actor nephew enters the stage revealing he is the one to kill the king by pouring poison in his ear. Claudius leaves the play and the rest follow and Hamlet takes it as a sign and Horatio also noticed how he acted.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come back and Hamlet talks nonsense, they tell him his mother wants to talk to him. Rosencrantz says his behavior has struck her and asks what’s the cause of it (gee what could have happened recently) Hamlet doesn’t answer. The actors come with their recorders and Hamlet accuses Rosencrantz of playing him like a flute, “Call me what instrument you, will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.”p.1030 (bitch I will play you like the cheap kazoo that you are) Polonius comes to take Hamlet to the queen and Hamlet steels himself to talk to her. “let me be cruel, not unnatural; I will speak daggers to her, but use none;”p.1030 (you know it’s bad when you have to tell yourself not to stab your mom)

A3S3

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are talking to the king, “I like him not, nor stands it safe with us to let his madness range.”p.1030 So he’s sending them to England with Hamlet. Polonius comes after they leave to inform him Hamlet is going to see his mother and he’ll spy on them. Now, alone, Claudius starts talking about his crime and guilt over murdering his brother, then starts to pray. Hamlet comes by and tells himself he can’t kill him while he’s praying because he’ll just be sent to heaven. (yeah don’t want another Canterbury incident) “that would be scann’d: a villain kills my father; and for that, I his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven.”p.1031 But it turns out Claudius didn’t mean those prayers. (then what was the point to show how bad he is)

A3S4

In the Queen’s room Gertrude has Polonius hide behind a curtain as Hamlet comes in. She tells him he offended his father Hamlet says she did, he doesn’t like that se married his uncle. She fears he’ll kill her and Polonius starts calling for help and Hamlet starts stabbing him behind the curtain. Polonius dies and Gertrude calls it awful, Hamlet says its not as bad as killing the king and marrying his brother. Hamlet then sees its not Claudius but mostly innocent Polonius. (we had Claudius and Polonius be played by the same person and this was the joke H: I thought that was Claudius they just look so much alike) Hamlet then torments his mother showing her pictures of Hamlet and Claudius, does she have eyes and he soliloquys and Gertrude begs him to stop. (please stop monologuing) “Nay but to live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, stew’d in corruption, honeying and making love over the nasty sty,-“p.1033 She begs him to stop and he keeps berating her.

Ghost daddy enters and Hamlet starts talking to him and Gertrude calls him mad and ghost daddy tells him to talk to her. She asks what he’s looking at and Hamlet asks if she sees anything, she doesn’t see or hear anything. He tells her to look at his father as it disappears then Hamlet tells her he was only pretending to be crazy (yeah talking to no one isn’t helping your case) don’t tell Claudius, also don’t have sex with him. (cause it’s super gross) Then he points to Polonius’s corpse and says heaven punished him with this, “I must be cruel only to be kind: thus bad begins and worse remains behind.”p.1033 He has to go to England with his school friends, “whom I will trust as I will adders fang’d,”p.1034 They’ll be hoisted on their own petards and he tells his mother goodnight as he drags away the body.

A4S1

Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are talking but Gertrude has them go away so she can talk to him alone. Gertrude tells him Hamlet is crazy and killed Polonius and Claudius believes he’s a threat to them all, how can they handle it without causing nationwide scandal. He tells Gertrude Hamlet must be sent to England while they cover it up. (well they are rich enough to get away with it) He calls Rosencrantz and Guildenstern back and tells them what happened.

A4S2

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find Hamlet and ask him where the body is and Hamlet won’t tell them. He does round a bout saying he can’t trust them since they’re spies for Claudius and warns them, “when he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you,”p.1035 Rosencrantz says he doesn’t understand.

A4S3

The king tells his attendants he sent people to find the body, Hamlet is dangerous but they can’t put the law on him. (take note royalty are apparently exempt from murder) Rosencrantz enters saying Hamlet won’t tell them where he hid the body. Guildenstern brings Hamlet who says Polonius is at supper with the worms. “we fat all creatures else to fat us, and fat ourselves for maggots:”p.1035 (The Worms Crawl In The Worms Crawl Out~) Finally tells him he’s hidden under  the stairs, the king sends people for it. He tells Hamlet he must leave for England at once, when he goes Claudius tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to follow, make sure he gets on board. With them gone Claudius hopes England will obey the sealed letters ordering Hamlet’s execution.

A4S4

In a plain in Denmark Fortinbras tells is captain to inform the king they are moving through Denmark as agreed upon. (see Fortinbras is what we call a foil like Hamlet he’s a prince, named after his father, father was killed, but instead of being like Hamlet dicking around he gets shit done) Meanwhile Hamlet and his friends notice the army and the captain runs into them and tells them the army is to fight Poland. “we go to gain a little patch of ground that hath in it no profit but the name.”p.1036 Hamlet marvels at so many people dying for little cause, (wonder what he’d think of modern events) he parts from them and soliloquys again (Shut up, Hamlet!) about his revenge giving him little gain.

A4S5

In the castle Gertrude and Horatio are talking to a gentleman, Ophelia isn’t taking her father’s death well. The gentleman comes back with Ophelia who’s singing about her father being dead and gone. The king comes in and she’s still talking and singing nonsense and when she walks away he orders Horatio to follow her. Then he tells Gertrude, “when sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.”p.1037 Polonius dies, Ophelia went mad the people are suspicious and Laertes secretly sailed back. There’s a noise and the gentleman warns Laertes is coming with a mob of commoners calling for him to be king. Laertes breaks down the door calling for the king to give him his father, wanting revenge. Claudius admits he’s dead and Gertrude says he didn’t do it. (well…)

Ophelia reenters and when Laertes sees her state he’s enraged, Ophelia sings and passes around flowers. “there’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray, love, remember, and there is pansies, that’s for thoughts.”-“there’s fennel for you, and columbines; there’s rue for you; and here’s some for me;”-“There’s a daisy; I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.”p.1038 (I’m not going to list all the flower meanings but there’s a theory that Ophelia went crazy and because of that she knows the outcome of the play and is mourning the living) Claudius is all for Laertes getting revenge as long as it’s the right person (as long as it’s not him) Laertes wants him buried with no rights and Claudius is all for it. (as long as it’s Hamlet)

A4S6

In a room Horatio is talking to a servant who tells him sailors have letters for him. One gives it to him from the ambassador for England, it’s from Hamlet his ship was boarded by pirates and he was returned to Denmark. (Ho: How are you not dead? Ha: I have no idea! :D) They also have letters to the king and queen and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are still headed to England.

A4S7

In another room Laertes and Claudius are talking, Laertes wants to know why he did nothing against Hamlet, because the people love him and Gertrude loves him and he couldn’t upset them. “And so have I a noble father lost; a sister driven into desperate terms,”p.1040 He will have his revenge. A messenger enters with a letter from Hamlet that he’s returned alone (C: Oh! Give me a big fat break!) and Laertes is pleased his revenge won’t be delayed. Claudius wants him to since Hamlet is jealous of Laertes swordsmanship (in the video C: You can use a sword right? L: ah…. C: You’ll be fine) he will duel him with a sharp foil. Laertes plans to poison it and if that fails Claudius will poison his drink. Just then the queen comes in with news that Ophelia just drowned in a river (Horatio you had one job) went in holding her garlands (our teacher told us to be careful a previous group for the suicide scene pulled a Good Son and the cops were called) her dress became heavy and pulled her under (the exact reason I was warned never to swim in a dress) the king has them follow Laertes fearing his rage reawakened.

A5S1

In a churchyard two clowns (they are called clowns I guess because they’re comedy relief) are digging a grave talking about how the grave is for a woman and if she should be buried here since it may be suicide and they make gallows humor. Hamlet and Horatio see them as one goes off and the other is singing. The clown tosses up skulls and Hamlet wonders what they did in life and asks the clown whose grave it is, the clown says it’s his but not, it’s for a recently dead woman. The clown goes on to say he’s been a gravedigger since Hamlet killed Fortinbras and young Hamlet was born. Hamlet picks up a skull, “Alas! Poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio;”p.1043 (Yorick is what I named my cat skeleton) He was his father’s court jester, where’s his merriment now and puts it back down. “Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam,”p.1044 (no matter how great we were we return to the earth)

They hide when the funeral procession arrives carrying Ophelia and Hamlet sees Laertes first. It starts and when Hamlet sees Laertes mourning his sister realizes it’s for Ophelia. Gertrude spreads flowers hoping she would have been Hamlet’s wife and Laertes leaps into the grave to hug her and wants to be buried with her. (dude while dramatic that is seriously inappropriate) Hamlet leaps in and Laertes attacks him until they get out of the grave and Hamlet declares his love for Ophelia, he’d do anything for her even eat a crocodile (so I’ve eaten alligator before no great feat) and will be buried with her too. (just just stop) Gertrude calls it all madness as Hamlet leaves with Horatio and the king reminds Laertes to be patient.

A5S2

In the hall Hamlet and Horatio talk Hamlet tells him how he found letters on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ordering his execution in England. So, he wrote new letters ordering their executions, he isn’t sorry fir them but for his actions to Laertes. (well you did disrespect his sister’s funeral after murdering his father) Osrice greets Hamlet then make him a fool of himself when he contradictorily agrees with whatever he says by confuses Hamlet and Horatio when he praises Laertes. A lord enters and asks Hamlet if he is ready for the duel and his mother is waiting for him, against Horatio’s warnings Hamlet agrees to the match. Hamlet says he’s ready to fall, “If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.”p.1047 (he’s just ready for it to be over)

The king, queen and Laertes enter and Hamlet apologizes to him claiming it was madness that he murdered Polonius. Laertes says he won’t forgive him unless someone advises him to. “But till that time, I do receive your offer’d love like love, and will not wrong it.”p.1048 Hamlet accepts it and they are given their foils and fight, (we used a pool noodle and pool que I was a wimpy little bitch) and Claudius claims if Hamlet wins the first hit he will drink to his health poisoning it. (the poison was Mio) Hamlet hits but refuses to drink, he hits again and Gertrude drinks from the cup before Claudius could stop her. Laertes tells himself to kill Hamlet with a poisoned sword is almost against his conscience but Hamlet goads him to continue and Laertes hits him but in the scuffle switch swords and Hamlet wounds him.

Claudius calls the match off as the queen falls and Laertes lay dying, “I an justly kill’d with mine own treachery.”p.1048 Hamlet asks about his mother and she calls she was poisoned. As Laertes dies he calls out to Hamlet that he is also dying, his sword was poisoned and so is the queen, all the king’s doing. Hamlet then stabs Claudius and makes him drink the poison, doubly dead and as Laertes dies says it’s served, “Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet: mines and my father’s death come not upon thee, nor thine on me!”p.1049 Hamlet forgives him and tells Horatio to tell his story as there was a noise outside as Fortinbras is coming. Hamlet tells Horatio to tell Fortinbras what happened and dies. “Good-night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”p.1049 (Horatio was played gay)

Fortinbras enters the castle and asks what the hell happened and one of the ambassadors announce Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Horatio says he will tell them the story and Fortinbras sadly embraces his fortune and has his captains carry Hamlet off like a soldier, “for he was likely, had he been put on, to have prav’d most royally: and, for his passage, the soldiers’ music and the rites of war speak loudly for him.”p.1049 (I sadly never got to see our final project but as a class we did see the Mel Gibson movie)

[suits-of-woe]

im shaking.. would you do fluffy hamratio?? maybe like a fix it or something... i love them!!

Thanks for the prompt and sorry for taking ages to write it! There’s honestly so many good options for alternate Hamlet endings that I had trouble choosing, but I went with one where Laertes ends up getting second thoughts about killing Hamlet and ultimately becomes king bc I honestly feel like Hamlet’s ideal life involves him being as far from the crown as possible.

Laertes is the kind of man whois far quicker to forgive than to actually admit he’s forgiven. All thingsconsidered, in Horatio’s mind, this isn’t the best of the new king’s qualities,but, in light of his other virtues, can be overlooked easily enough. Because whileLaertes might not be able to match wits with Hamlet, he’s certainly not stupidenough to think banishment is actually an undesirable punishment for the formerheir. If anything, though he’d never admit it, he’s done him a favor.

The coach is far from fit for aking, but it’s small enough that it’s only natural for its inhabitants to betouching, a fact that Hamlet has thoroughly taken advantage of. He lies withhis head against Horatio’s chest and Horatio’s hands combing through his hairas Horatio murmurs his way through an account of Nero’s early reign. He putdown the book he’d been reading from about an hour ago when his arm started tocramp. Hamlet seems to like his version better anyway.

It’s only when Horatio pausesfor a long moment, stumbling over some half-forgotten detail, that Hamlet openshis mouth.

“You’re a born scholar,” hesays reverently. Then his brow creases. “Of course, you’re going to stay atWittenberg. It’s as good as made for you.”

His intonation doesn’t suggesta question, but Horatio knows him well enough to understand that it is one. Hetries to phrase his answer carefully.

“I didn’t have other plans,” hesays mildly. “And my scholarship still applies as far as I know. It’s probablythe most obvious place.”

“Probably,” Hamlet echoes. “Andthat’s not to say that – I’ll be wherever you are, I mean, if you’ll have me.”

“Of course, my lord—”

“Not your lord,” Hamletinterrupts, a little too sharply. He raises his head and looks Horatio straightin the eyes. “Not anymore.”

Horatio cringes inwardly.

“Right. Yes. I’m sorry. I’msorry, Hamlet.” He can feel color rising to his cheeks. It’s ridiculous that he’sspent more hours naked with Hamlet than he can count, and yet using his realname still feels intimate enough to make him blush. “Force of habit.”

“I know.”

Hamlet smiles, relaxing alittle, but doesn’t lay his head back down.

“That’s the problem with Wittenberg,”he says after a brief silence. “Everyone there only knows me as the prince. Evenyou. Well, no, not you. But you’re the only one who doesn’t.”

“That’s true,” Horatio agreesevenly. He’s been trying not to think about it, waiting for Hamlet to bring itup first. Throwing away that kind of money feels beyond irresponsible, but evenso, it’s complicated.

“And it would be odd, too,without...” Hamlet trails off.

Without Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Horatio mentally finishes thesentence for him. And it’s true. It’s hard enough to imagine returning withoutthem at all, but considering the fact that Hamlet was the one to have themkilled, he can’t imagine looking their mutual friends in the face. Too manyghosts there now, just like Elsinore.

“Let’s not go then,” Horatiosuggests, and he can tell it was the right thing to say by the way Hamlet’sbrow instantly unknits. “I mean, I’ll need to get my things. And we need toleave the country somehow anyway. But after that, we’ll go somewhere else.”

“Alright,” Hamlet agrees, barelypausing for breath. “We will.”

Horatio presses a kiss intoHamlet’s hair and lets out his own silent sigh of relief. It’s all so differentfrom how he imagined things ending. Hamlet isn’t happy, exactly, but then,after losing both his mother and Ophelia within the week, he can’t imagineanyone would be. But he doesn’t seem to be breaking either, no more than he hasbeen for the past few months. He’s startling...okay.

“Do you mind this?” Horatioasks. “Really?”

“I...” Hamlet pauses,thoughtful, but still steady. “I wish someone would visit my mother’s grave.”

Of everything that’s happened,Horatio knows, the queen’s death hit him the hardest. Of course, if she hadn’tdrank from the poisoned goblet, god knows Hamlet might have been the one tofall for it, and Laertes might not have been moved to expose the king and put astop to his revenge. She as good as died for him. That’s probably why it upsetsHamlet so much, because he didn’t know she loved him enough to do it until shewas already gone.

“She’s with my father nowthough,” Hamlet continues. “That’s...how it always should have been, I think. Notthat I wanted her dead, but they should have been together. And I know Laerteswill look after Ophelia. And I think...I think I’ve honestly had my fair shareof ghosts for a lifetime.”

“Definitely.”

“And I finally have an excuseto force you to use my real name,” Hamlet laughs, and Horatio can see most ofthe clouds over his expression clearing away. “So it could be worse, don’t youthink?”

“I’m just glad you’re alive,”Horatio says softly.

“I am too,” Hamlet agrees. He laughsa little. “Imagine that.”

Yes, Horatio thinks. It’sastonishing how okay they really are after all this.

Hamlet’s eyes light upsuddenly. “Horatio, what do you say we buy a boat?”

“A boat? Do you...know how tosail?”

“Well enough. Pirates aresurprisingly good teachers. You’d pick it up faster than I did, I bet.”

“I suppose if we have the moneyfor it.”

“Perfect. We’re buying a boat.We can take it somewhere warm.” He grins. “We could go to Rome. You’d likethat, Horatio, wouldn’t you?”

“I’d love it, my—Hamlet.”

Hamlet reaches a hand aroundHoratio’s neck and smashes their lips together with a vigor that speaks of bothpain yet to fade and joy yet to come. In a second he’s trailing kisses downHoratio’s jawline, running his hands all over his chest, and by the timeHoratio can make himself pull away he’s already dizzy.

“The driver,” he manages to getout. “It’s not exactly private—”

“So?” Hamlet counters. “We’rejust two common men. Why would he care about us?”

[lizardrosen]

Hamlet at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater

This was a really good production, that I’ve been looking forward to for six months, and it really lived up to the wait! I took two and a half pages of notes of things I remembered or loved, which I’ll try to condense, but regardless, some of this is ending up under a cut.

Characters

Maurice Jones was an incredible Hamlet, really broken up about his father, but so overcome with grief that he had to push that aside for rage at his mother’s infidelity because it was an easier emotion to handle. He was very physically aggressive to other characters, and this performance really illustrated that Hamlet isn’t indecisive because he can’t decide to do anything; he’s indecisive because he acts on each decision right away but doesn’t commit to any of them.

Horatio was a pillar of stability that everyone turned to for a sense of normalcy. Soft-spoken but with his trademark wry humor, he seemed to position himself as a quiet observer from the very beginning, almost like he’d come right from Hamlet’s directive at the end and had to see how things fell out. But he and Hamlet really didn’t seem to be dating, it’s more that Horatio is there for everyone.

Ophelia and Laertes had a really good sibling dynamic, and made fun of their father wonderfully! They physically deflated when he started giving advice, and then imitated his motions exactly when he got to “This above all...” because they’d heard it so often.

Ophelia was a lot of fun, and felt like someone growing out of girlhood into adulthood -- in her first scene she’s playing with a toy boat, and by the end she’s sharp and jaded, (almost the opposite of Hamlet, in that she’s incredibly angry at her circumstances, but that keeps being overwhelmed by grief)

Laertes was really good! In the first act he really played up the “puffed and reckless libertine” aspect, doing anything that was fun for him. But when he got back he was furious of course, but also more thoughtful and willing to listen to reasoned arguments (even if they were given by a gross snake like Claudius, UGH). A very neat way to handle his sense of honor!

Polonius was sincere and a real character trying to help, not a cardboard cutout who says things that don’t make sense so we can laugh at him. And I mean, other characters were making fun of him, but because he felt so real you had to feel bad for him. Sometimes he was almost self aware but then shrugged it off and kept talking

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern had almost an opposite relationship dynamic from how it is in the Stoppard play, which made me laugh, but they were both very good. But Guildenstern seemed shy and unsure, and tried to fit in with the court customs, while Rosencrantz took charge like “don’t worry, baby chick, I’ll take you under my wing”  and then strode forward in the wrong direction. Someone help them, they’re Trying Their Best.

Gertrude and Claudius were really handsy with each other, always sneaking off to kiss, and it’s like they wanted Hamlet to get pissed and vengeful. Claudius stepped very easily into his new position and just acted like it wasn’t a big deal, which possibly dazzled his courtiers into agreeing. I don’t think Gertrude knew he’d murdered Papa Hamlet at first, but became suspicious and watchful after the closet scene. By the time she drank the poisoned goblet she absolutely knew it would kill her

The Players were a queer punk Scandinavian acting troupe, but I love and value all of them, especially the petite tumblr who shyly handed Hamlet a rose just before the Murder of Gonzago started

The Player King came back as the second gravedigger, so he didn’t get to banter with Hamlet. But the comedic timing was perfect in that scene!

Stage and Set

The lighting and music both worked very well, subtly tying into each scene.

The ghost was a black and white video projected onto the back wall, with a lot of smoke in between, so it was even more unsettling and disorienting, and the ghosts voice moved around the house to come from different speakers so you never knew where he was going to be next.

The thrust stage could have been used more effectively, but I’ve seen that kind of stage used really badly and it wasn’t that.

Cool wall hangings with fancy patterning - they were just white with embroidery or something, but with different colored lights shining on them from the top they’d change colors all the way down, and that worked with each scene. So Claudius’s pomp and circumstance was usually orange, Ophelia’s scenes usually got blue, and I didn’t pick up on all the color choices but I felt them

When Polonius dies he pulls one of the curtains down on top of him, and when Claudius dies all the rest fall at once, and the lighting changes from loud and dramatic to something plainer and free of artifice, until it condenses to a white (and very slightly blue) light centered on Hamlet and Horatio

Plot Etc.

Started with Hamlet at his father’s grave, singing until he was too overcome with weeping, and then Claudius and Gertrude ran onstage giggling and kissing, and Hamlet glared at them until he stormed off the stage.

Scene two was a coronation gala and Hamlet, in a black hoodie shouldered between Claudius and Gertrude’s linked hands and headed straight for the snacks table

The Ophelia + Laertes + Polonius scene opens with Ophelia running onstage holding a long blue cloth that trailed behind her like a river, which divided the stage diagonally through the whole scene - a visual marker of how far characters actually are from each other, and where they come together

After the nunnery scene Claudius and Polonius just ignore Ophelia when she’s sobbing on the ground! She was just a tool for them to use and then they stopped paying attention, no wonder she “went mad”! Polonius says “How now, Ophelia” and then doesn’t wait for an answer, just immediately says “You need not tell us what Hamlet said” and is already turning back to Claudius. That said, I think he really does care about his daughter, but tends to reflect the worst of the people around him.

Act One ended at “Bring me some light!” which I was not at all prepared for, but it worked really well because the play’s answer was a sudden blackout and then a slow return to house lights. And then Claudius repeats the line at the top of Act Two and the tableau jumps into startled action

Hamlet was very rough with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and it was just awful (but in a good way). He forces the recorder into Guildenstern’s mouth and sort of pushes him down so he has to bend his knees. It was a clear power play and made everyone Very Uncomfortable. Horatio and Rosencrantz finally pull them apart and Ros helps Guil collect himself, while Horatio sort of tries to comfort Hamlet while also clearly thinking that he’s gone Too Far.

Later when he calls Rosencrantz a sponge he squeezes him around the midsection from behind to hold him still before he suckerpunches him in the gut and it just looks very painful and bad. Besides the fact that he just killed a man, I think that’s what gets Rosencrantz running the fuck away.

The way Hamlet drags Gertrude around in the closet scene mirrors the way he drags Ophelia in the nunnery scene, owwww

The interview with the director in the playbill says that Polonius’s death is the moment the play becomes a tragedy, and you can feel everything draw in and get darker at that point, so good job from all the designers to make that happen!

Buuuut, she also said that “When the men in her life leave her, she implodes in on herself. There’s no other way for that story to end, not for someone as fragile as Ophelia, which I DON’T like. It really showed in how she was played, but the actress did a really good job in that Way Ophelia Is Usually Played. I just want to see a different kind of Ophelia once in a while!

They kept the scene where Hamlet talks with the Norwegian Captain about the territory in Poland!

When Hamlet is putting on an antic disposition he wears his mother’s dressing gown, and in Ophelia’s scenes she wears the shirt her dead father was stabbed in (who gave it to her tho?)

I found it VERY interesting who got which flowers, because it wasn’t at all what I usually see! Gertrude got rosemary, fennel and columbine; Laertes got pansies; Claudius got rue; and Horatio got a daisy.

When Ophelia breaks down about the withered violets she and Laertes end up full on SOBBING together for their father, which was heartrending and probably very good for both of them

Claudius and Laertes make their sinister plans in a sauna in the same trapdoor hole where Ophelia’s grave is in the next scene, and they’re still there when they hear of her death

The priest refused to sprinkle the holy water over the grave at the end of the service, and he just threw the container on the ground and strode away, so the gravediggers did that part instead, which was such a good moment!

Horatio was appropriately horrified at Hamlet switching the letters, and Hamlet was cavalier about it, but he showed enough emotional maturity in that scene overall that you could tell he wasn’t entirely unaffected either.

Definitely not my favorite Osric - for one thing, they left out the Hat bit. I usually read him as a very young man trying really hard to fit into the politicking of Elsinore and agreeing with Hamlet because he feels he has to, and to have him older and well established makes it harder for Hamlet and Horatio to mock, and you feel less bad for him in general. So I guess in that sense it's good that they left out the Hat scene.

When Hamlet is distracted by Gertrude collapsing, Laertes gets in a nasty little cut on the back of the leg, just a frustrated flick of his sword, and then Hamlet retaliates with the same kind of thing — surprising but effective!

Laertes got his full and proper death! YAY! It is so, so, important to me that his life doesn’t end on “The king, the king’s to blame” because he has never been about revenge as much as reparation. They have to forgive each other or the play doesn’t work right!

Horatio wasn’t so much mourning a boyfriend as he was mourning A Life because all lives are precious to him, and he was always there for everyone.

There was gorgeous almost choral music as he holds Hamlet, and a white (blue-ish) light centers on the two of them as Hamlet shakes from the poison.

And yet, even though the beats were clearly spelling out that they were setting up the final image of the play I was shocked that it ended with “flights of angels” and not the clamor of Fortinbras and court intrigue starting up all over again. I think the reason I was so surprised by what is actually a pretty typical ending point is that they did include the bit with the Norwegian captain, and the gravedigger talking about the day Papa Hamlet defeated Papa Fortinbras, so it seemed obvious to me that there would be a continuation of that.

Overall, I really loved this production, even if there were some things I would have done differently!

[lesmis-imagine]

Hamlet-esque Les Mis AU

Imagine, if you will, Hamlet but with Les Amis and co. Melodramatic prince Courfeyrac (Hamlet) and his smart, witty classmate (read: boyfriend) Combeferre (Horatio) come back from university to find that Courf’s father has been killed and his uncle has ascended to the throne. Courfeyrac’s uncle is a tyrant and a rogue who is leading the country to ruin, not to mention the fact that Courf suspects the man had a hand in killing his father. Although he was not close to his father, Courfeyrac takes it upon himself to avenge his death after he and ‘Ferre see his ghost. However, Courf’s uncle realizes something is up and enlists the help of Bossuet and Joly (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; I couldn’t find anyone bumbling enough to be the two courtiers so I just chose the two inseparable ones) to find out what. He also asks the lovely Jehan (Ophelia), Courfeyrac’s betrothed, to help find out what afflicts his nephew. They agree only because they are worried for Courf. The rest of the work follows the play very nearly, with Courfeyrac killing the wrong man, Jehan going mad and killing themself, Courf getting “abducted” by everyone’s favorite pirate captain Grantaire and his crew which includes Bahorel and Feuilly (really they know each other already and he’s hitching a ride). Courf returns with the pirates to discover Jehan is dead and not only that, Montparnasse (Laertes, though I am changing his relation to Ophelia), the ex-lover of Jean Prouvaire who still cared for them immensely even after they were betrothed to Courfeyrac, is back in town for the funeral. ‘Parnasse naturally blames Courfeyrac and challenges him to a duel. Combeferre begs him not to accept but Courf does anyway, the whole poison sword thing goes down and Courfeyrac dies in Combeferre’s arms. At the very end, Enjolras (Fortinbras), the good and just prince of the country to the north, enters. He had heard of the injustices the new king (Courf’s uncle) had been perpetrating and came to stop him. He is just in time to see the results of the carnage, not quick enough to save Courfeyrac...

[mysteriouslysillybitch-blog]

When was the last time I read something for the first time?

It wasn't a good day for me to do something doubt if I'll going to play video games or just going to sleep all day I remember something that William Shakespeare said " Hell is empty and all the devil are here" that's why I read some of his books like "Romeo and Juliet " "The tempest" "othello" but the most attractive book that I read is the book called " Hamlet " it been published since 1603 it was to old but it is a good story that every one will be understood easily " the main point of the story is revenge "Prince Hamlet devotes himself to avenging his father’s death, but, because he is contemplative and thoughtful by nature, he delays, entering into a deep melancholy and even apparent madness. Claudius and Gertrude worry about the prince’s erratic behavior and attempt to discover its cause. They employ a pair of Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to watch him. When Polonius, the pompous Lord Chamberlain, suggests that Hamlet may be mad with love for his daughter, Ophelia, Claudius agrees to spy on Hamlet in conversation with the girl. But though Hamlet certainly seems mad, he does not seem to love Ophelia: he orders her to enter a nunnery and declares that he wishes to ban marriages.

A group of traveling actors comes to Elsinore, and Hamlet seizes upon an idea to test his uncle’s guilt. He will have the players perform a scene closely resembling the sequence by which Hamlet imagines his uncle to have murdered his father, so that if Claudius is guilty, he will surely react. When the moment of the murder arrives in the theater, Claudius leaps up and leaves the room. Hamlet and Horatio agree that this proves his guilt. Hamlet goes to kill Claudius but finds him praying. Since he believes that killing Claudius while in prayer would send Claudius’s soul to heaven, Hamlet considers that it would be an inadequate revenge and decides to wait. Claudius, now frightened of Hamlet’s madness and fearing for his own safety, orders that Hamlet be sent to England at once.

Hamlet goes to confront his mother, in whose bedchamber Polonius has hidden behind a tapestry. Hearing a noise from behind the tapestry, Hamlet believes the king is hiding there. He draws his sword and stabs through the fabric, killing Polonius. For this crime, he is immediately dispatched to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. However, Claudius’s plan for Hamlet includes more than banishment, as he has given Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sealed orders for the King of England demanding that Hamlet be put to death.

In the aftermath of her father’s death, Ophelia goes mad with grief and drowns in the river. Polonius’s son, Laertes, who has been staying in France, returns to Denmark in a rage. Claudius convinces him that Hamlet is to blame for his father’s and sister’s deaths. When Horatio and the king receive letters from Hamlet indicating that the prince has returned to Denmark after pirates attacked his ship en route to England, Claudius concocts a plan to use Laertes’ desire for revenge to secure Hamlet’s death. Laertes will fence with Hamlet in innocent sport, but Claudius will poison Laertes’ blade so that if he draws blood, Hamlet will die. As a backup plan, the king decides to poison a goblet, which he will give Hamlet to drink should Hamlet score the first or second hits of the match. Hamlet returns to the vicinity of Elsinore just as Ophelia’s funeral is taking place. Stricken with grief, he attacks Laertes and declares that he had in fact always loved Ophelia. Back at the castle, he tells Horatio that he believes one must be prepared to die, since death can come at any moment. A foolish courtier named Osric arrives on Claudius’s orders to arrange the fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes.

The sword-fighting begins. Hamlet scores the first hit, but declines to drink from the king’s proffered goblet. Instead, Gertrude takes a drink from it and is swiftly killed by the poison. Laertes succeeds in wounding Hamlet, though Hamlet does not die of the poison immediately. First, Laertes is cut by his own sword’s blade, and, after revealing to Hamlet that Claudius is responsible for the queen’s death, he dies from the blade’s poison. Hamlet then stabs Claudius through with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink down the rest of the poisoned wine. Claudius dies, and Hamlet dies immediately after achieving his revenge.At this moment, a Norwegian prince named Fortinbras, who has led an army to Denmark and attacked Poland earlier in the play, enters with ambassadors from England, who report that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Fortinbras is stunned by the gruesome sight of the entire royal family lying sprawled on the floor dead. He moves to take power of the kingdom. Horatio, fulfilling Hamlet’s last request, tells him Hamlet’s tragic story. Fortinbras orders that Hamlet be carried away in a manner befitting a fallen soldier. It was a very interesting story I love this book I know that every single human lives in the present now a days didn't choose to read books because we have already in technology days but don't forget the books that gives us a moral lesson about our history that's why I choose to read books #read books before you forget does beautiful words"

[makerof150papermasks]

Hamlet Mariofied Act 3 Scene 2

Bolded names refer to the Mario characters playing the roles. The character role names remain the same in the context of the play and its dialogue.

Mario = Hamlet

Birdo = First Player

Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong = Other Players

Kamek = Polonius

Wario = Rosencrantz

Waluigi = Guildenstern

Luigi = Horatio

Bowser = Claudius

Peach = Gertrude

Wendy = Ophelia

Amazing Flyin’ Hammer Bro, Buster Beetle, Whimp = Lords Attendant

Terrapin, Hammer Bro, Fire Bro, Ice Bro, Boomerang Bro, Sledge Bro, Armored Koopa (Koopatrol), Terra Cotta = Guards

Mouser, Fryguy = Trumpeters

Clawgrip, Tryclyde = Drummers

Gooper Blooper, King Bob-omb, Eyerok, Boss Wiggler = Hautboys

Wart = Player King

Rosalina = Player Queen

Mallow = Lucianus Player

Morton, Roy, Ludwig, Booster = Mutes

Act III, Scene 2

Elsinore. Hall in the Castle.

Enter Mario and three of the Players [Birdo, Diddy Kong, and Dixie Kong]. Tune to Overworld Theme from Super Mario Bros 2

Mario. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you,

trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of our

players do, I had as live the town crier spoke my lines. Nor do

 not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all

gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say)

whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a

temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the

soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to

 tatters, to very rags, to split the cars of the groundlings, who

(for the most part) are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb

shows and noise. I would have such a fellow whipp'd for o'erdoing

Termagant. It out-herods Herod. Pray you avoid it.

Birdo. I warrant your honour.

 Mario. Be not too tame neither; but let your own discretion be your

tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with

this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of

nature: for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing,

whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as

 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show Virtue her own feature,

scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his

form and pressure. Now this overdone, or come tardy off, though

it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious

grieve; the censure of the which one must in your allowance

 o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be players that I

have seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly (not to

speak it profanely), that, neither having the accent of

Christians, nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so

strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of Nature's

 journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated

humanity so abominably.

Birdo. I hope we have reform'd that indifferently with us, sir.

Mario. O, reform it altogether! And let those that play your clowns

speak no more than is set down for them. For there be of them

 that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren

spectators to laugh too, though in the mean time some necessary

question of the play be then to be considered. That's villanous

and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. Go

make you ready.

 [Exeunt Players.]

Enter Kamek, Wario, and Waluigi. Music of Muda Kingdom from Super Mario Land.

How now, my lord? Will the King hear this piece of work?

Kamek. And the Queen too, and that presently.

Mario. Bid the players make haste, [Exit Kamek.] Will you two

 help to hasten them?

Wario. [with Waluigi] We will, my lord.

Exeunt they two.

Mario. What, ho, Horatio!

Enter Luigi.

Luigi. Here, sweet lord, at your service.

Mario. Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man

As e'er my conversation cop'd withal.

Luigi. O, my dear lord!

Mario. Nay, do not think I flatter;

 For what advancement may I hope from thee,

That no revenue hast but thy good spirits

To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flatter'd?

No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp,

And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee

 Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear?

Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice

And could of men distinguish, her election

Hath seal'd thee for herself. For thou hast been

As one, in suff'ring all, that suffers nothing;

 A man that Fortune's buffets and rewards

Hast ta'en with equal thanks; and blest are those

Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled

That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger

To sound what stop she please. Give me that man

 That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him

In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,

As I do thee. Something too much of this I

There is a play to-night before the King.

One scene of it comes near the circumstance,

 Which I have told thee, of my father's death.

I prithee, when thou seest that act afoot,

Even with the very comment of thy soul

Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt

Do not itself unkennel in one speech,

 It is a damned ghost that we have seen,

And my imaginations are as foul

As Vulcan's stithy. Give him heedful note;

For I mine eyes will rivet to his face,

And after we will both our judgments join

 In censure of his seeming.

Luigi. Well, my lord.

If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing,

And scape detecting, I will pay the theft.

Sound a flourish. Enter Trumpets and Kettledrums. Danish

 march. [nter Bowser, Peach, Wendy, Wario, Waluigi,

and other Lords attendant, with the Guard carrying torches. Commence character select screen from Super Mario Bros 2

Mario. They are coming to the play. I must be idle.

Get you a place.

Bowser. How fares our cousin Hamlet?

 Mario. Excellent, i' faith; of the chameleon's dish. I eat the air,

promise-cramm'd. You cannot feed capons so.

Bowser. I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet. These words are not

mine.

Mario. No, nor mine now. [To Kamek] My lord, you play'd once

 i' th' university, you say?

Kamek. That did I, my lord, and was accounted a good actor.

Mario. What did you enact?

Kamek. I did enact Julius Caesar; I was kill'd i' th' Capitol; Brutus

kill'd me.

 Mario. It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there. Be

the players ready.

Wario. Ay, my lord. They stay upon your patience.

Peach. Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me.

Mario. No, good mother. Here's metal more attractive.

Kamek. [to the King] O, ho! do you mark that?

Mario. Lady, shall I lie in your lap?

[Sits down at Wendy’s feet.]

Wendy. No, my lord.

Mario. I mean, my head upon your lap?

 Wendy. Ay, my lord.

Mario. Do you think I meant country matters?

Wendy. I think nothing, my lord.

Mario. That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs.

Wendy. What is, my lord?

 Mario. Nothing.

Wendy. You are merry, my lord.

Mario. Who, I?

Wendy. Ay, my lord.

Mario. O God, your only jig-maker! What should a man do but be merry?

 For look you how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died

within 's two hours.

Wendy. Nay 'tis twice two months, my lord.

Mario. So long? Nay then, let the devil wear black, for I'll have a

suit of sables. O heavens! die two months ago, and not forgotten

  yet? Then there's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life

half a year. But, by'r Lady, he must build churches then; or else

shall he suffer not thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whose

epitaph is 'For O, for O, the hobby-horse is forgot!'

[Hautboys play. The dumb show enters.]

 Enter Wart and Rosalina very lovingly; Rosalina embracing

him and he her. She kneels, and makes show of protestation

unto him. He takes her up, and declines his head upon her

neck. He lays him down upon a bank of flowers. She, seeing

him asleep, leaves him. Anon comes in a fellow, takes off his

 crown, kisses it, pours poison in the sleeper's ears, and

leaves him. Rosalina returns, finds Wart dead, and makes

passionate action. Mallow with some three or four Mutes,

comes in again, seem to condole with her. The dead body is

carried away. Mallow wooes the Queen with gifts; she

 seems harsh and unwilling awhile, but in the end accepts

his love.

Exeunt.

Wendy. What means this, my lord?

Mario. Marry, this is miching malhecho; it means mischief.

 Wendy. Belike this show imports the argument of the play.

Enter Prologue. Cue Delfino Airstrip.

Mario. We shall know by this fellow. The players cannot keep counsel;

they'll tell all.

Wendy. Will he tell us what this show meant?

 Mario. Ay, or any show that you'll show him. Be not you asham'd to

show, he'll not shame to tell you what it means.

Wendy. You are naught, you are naught! I'll mark the play.

Pro. For us, and for our tragedy,

Here stooping to your clemency,

 We beg your hearing patiently. [Exit.]

Mario. Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?

Wendy. 'Tis brief, my lord.

Mario. As woman's love.

Enter Wart and Rosalina

Wart. Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart gone round

Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbed ground,

And thirty dozen moons with borrowed sheen

About the world have times twelve thirties been,

Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands,

 Unite comutual in most sacred bands.

Rosalina. So many journeys may the sun and moon

Make us again count o'er ere love be done!

But woe is me! you are so sick of late,

So far from cheer and from your former state.

 That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,

Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must;

For women's fear and love holds quantity,

In neither aught, or in extremity.

Now what my love is, proof hath made you know;

  And as my love is siz'd, my fear is so.

Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear;

Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.

Wart. Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly too;

My operant powers their functions leave to do.

 And thou shalt live in this fair world behind,

Honour'd, belov'd, and haply one as kind

For husband shalt thou-

Rosalina. O, confound the rest!

Such love must needs be treason in my breast.

 When second husband let me be accurst!

None wed the second but who killed the first.

Mario. [aside] Wormwood, wormwood!

Peach. The instances that second marriage move

Are base respects of thrift, but none of love.

 A second time I kill my husband dead

When second husband kisses me in bed.

Wart. I do believe you think what now you speak;

But what we do determine oft we break.

Purpose is but the slave to memory,

 Of violent birth, but poor validity;

Which now, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree,

But fall unshaken when they mellow be.

Most necessary 'tis that we forget

To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt.

 What to ourselves in passion we propose,

The passion ending, doth the purpose lose.

The violence of either grief or joy

Their own enactures with themselves destroy.

Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament;

 Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident.

This world is not for aye, nor 'tis not strange

That even our loves should with our fortunes change;

For 'tis a question left us yet to prove,

Whether love lead fortune, or else fortune love.

 The great man down, you mark his favourite flies,

The poor advanc'd makes friends of enemies;

And hitherto doth love on fortune tend,

For who not needs shall never lack a friend,

And who in want a hollow friend doth try,

 Directly seasons him his enemy.

But, orderly to end where I begun,

Our wills and fates do so contrary run

That our devices still are overthrown;

Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own.

 So think thou wilt no second husband wed;

But die thy thoughts when thy first lord is dead.

Rosalina. Nor earth to me give food, nor heaven light,

Sport and repose lock from me day and night,

To desperation turn my trust and hope,

 An anchor's cheer in prison be my scope,

Each opposite that blanks the face of joy

Meet what I would have well, and it destroy,

Both here and hence pursue me lasting strife,

If, once a widow, ever I be wife!

 Mario. If she should break it now!

Wart. 'Tis deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here awhile.

My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile

The tedious day with sleep.

Rosalina. Sleep rock thy brain,

 [He sleeps.]

Rosalina. And never come mischance between us twain!

Exit.

Mario. Madam, how like you this play?

Peach. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

 Mario. O, but she'll keep her word.

Bowser. Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in't?

Mario. No, no! They do but jest, poison in jest; no offence i' th'

world.

Bowser. What do you call the play?

 Mario. 'The Mousetrap.' Marry, how? Tropically. This play is the

image of a murther done in Vienna. Gonzago is the duke's name;

his wife, Baptista. You shall see anon. 'Tis a knavish piece of

work; but what o' that? Your Majesty, and we that have free

souls, it touches us not. Let the gall'd jade winch; our withers

 are unwrung. Enter Mallow.

This is one Lucianus, nephew to the King.

Wendy. You are as good as a chorus, my lord.

Hamlet. I could interpret between you and your love, if I could see

the puppets dallying.

 Wendy. You are keen, my lord, you are keen.

Mario. It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge.

Wendy. Still better, and worse.

Mario. So you must take your husbands.- Begin, murtherer. Pox, leave

thy damnable faces, and begin! Come, the croaking raven doth

 bellow for revenge.

Mallow. Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing; Confederate season, else no creature seeing; Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected, With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected, Thy natural magic and dire property On wholesome life usurp immediately.

Pours the poison in his ears. Play The Sword Descends and The Stars Scatter from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Mario. He poisons him i' th' garden for's estate. His name's Gonzago.

The story is extant, and written in very choice Italian. You

 shall see anon how the murtherer gets the love of Gonzago's wife.

Peach. The King rises.

Mario. What, frighted with false fire?

Peach. How fares my lord?

Kamek. Give o'er the play.

 Bowser. Give me some light! Away!

All. Lights, lights, lights!

Exeunt all but Mario and Luigi. Cue underground music from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island.

Mario. Why, let the strucken deer go weep,

The hart ungalled play;

 For some must watch, while some must sleep:

Thus runs the world away.

Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers- if the rest of my

fortunes turn Turk with me-with two Provincial roses on my raz'd

shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players, sir?

 Luigi. Half a share.

Mario. A whole one I!

For thou dost know, O Damon dear,

This realm dismantled was

Of Jove himself; and now reigns here

 A very, very- pajock.

Luigi. You might have rhym'd.

Mario. O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a thousand

pound! Didst perceive?

Luigi. Very well, my lord.

 Mario. Upon the talk of the poisoning?

Luigi. I did very well note him.

Mario. Aha! Come, some music! Come, the recorders!

For if the King like not the comedy,

Why then, belike he likes it not, perdy.

 Come, some music!

Enter Wario and Waluigi.

Waluigi. Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with you.

Mario. Sir, a whole history.

Waluigi. The King, sir-

 Mario. Ay, sir, what of him?

Waluigi. Is in his retirement, marvellous distemper'd.

Mario. With drink, sir?

Waluigi. No, my lord; rather with choler.

Mario. Your wisdom should show itself more richer to signify this to

 the doctor; for me to put him to his purgation would perhaps

plunge him into far more choler.

Waluigi. Good my lord, put your discourse into some frame, and start

not so wildly from my affair.

Mario. I am tame, sir; pronounce.

 Waluigi. The Queen, your mother, in most great affliction of spirit

hath sent me to you.

Mario. You are welcome.

Waluigi. Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of the right breed.

If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer, I will do

 your mother's commandment; if not, your pardon and my return

shall be the end of my business.

Mario. Sir, I cannot.

Waluigi. What, my lord?

Mario. Make you a wholesome answer; my wit's diseas'd. But, sir, such

 answer as I can make, you shall command; or rather, as you say,

my mother. Therefore no more, but to the matter! My mother, you

say-

Wario. Then thus she says: your behaviour hath struck her into

amazement and admiration.

 Mario. O wonderful son, that can so stonish a mother! But is there no

sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration? Impart.

Wario. She desires to speak with you in her closet ere you go to bed.

Hamlet. We shall obey, were she ten times our mother. Have you any

further trade with us?

 Wario. My lord, you once did love me.

Mario. And do still, by these pickers and stealers!

Wario. Good my lord, what is your cause of distemper? You do surely

bar the door upon your own liberty, if you deny your griefs to

your friend.

 Mario. Sir, I lack advancement.

Wario. How can that be, when you have the voice of the King himself

for your succession in Denmark?

Mario. Ay, sir, but 'while the grass grows'- the proverb is something

musty.

 [Enter Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong with recorders. ]

O, the recorders! Let me see one. To withdraw with you- why do

you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you would drive me

into a toil?

Guildenstern. O my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly.

 Mario. I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe?

Waluigi. My lord, I cannot.

Mario. I pray you.

Waluigi. Believe me, I cannot.

Mario. I do beseech you.

 Waluigi. I know, no touch of it, my lord.

Mario. It is as easy as lying. Govern these ventages with your

fingers and thumbs, give it breath with your mouth, and it will

discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these are the stops.

Waluigi. But these cannot I command to any utt'rance of harmony. I

 have not the skill.

Mario. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You

would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would

pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my

lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music,

 excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it

speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be play'd on than a

pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me,

you cannot play upon me.

[Enter Kamek.]

God bless you, sir!

Kamek. My lord, the Queen would speak with you, and presently.

Mario. Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?

Kamek. By th' mass, and 'tis like a camel indeed.

Mario. Methinks it is like a weasel.

 Kamek. It is back'd like a weasel.

Mario. Or like a whale.

Kamek. Very like a whale.

Mario. Then will I come to my mother by-and-by.- They fool me to the

top of my bent.- I will come by-and-by.

 Kamek. I will say so. Exit.

Mario. 'By-and-by' is easily said.- Leave me, friends.

Exeunt all but Mario. Tune from Corona Mountain reverberates.

'Tis now the very witching time of night,

When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out

 Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood

And do such bitter business as the day

Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother!

O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever

The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom.

 Let me be cruel, not unnatural;

I will speak daggers to her, but use none.

My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites-

How in my words somever she be shent,

To give them seals never, my soul, consent! Exit.

[caelummy-blog]

TBH (thinking 'bout Hamlet) I've realized a thing Hamlet only truly cares and loves his father and Horatio

Let me explain

His primar motive is to avange his father. When he saw the ghost, he went after it without hesitation and with a lot of curiousity then he believed without any doubt everything the ghost has said to him. And beforehand his depression came from his father's death and he was furious at his mother for moving on so quickly and marrying someone else. To me that shows a great deal of love. King Hamlet was most likely a role model for Hamlet and that's also where his admiration could come from And about Horatio, they have a very strong emotional bond. It doesn't matter how people think of it (platonic or romantic), it's undeniably there. Horatio has a servant-like attitude towards Hamlet a lot, but that doesn't make their relationship feel like it's a master-servant kind of thing, it's obvious Hamlet adores Horatio. Pretty much all the time Hamlet and Horatio interacts with each other, Hamlet speaks so highly of him and treats him to be on the same level as he (Hamlet) is on. There is so much affection towards Horatio in Hamlet (take act 3 scene 2 for example) and it is returned, Horatio is very loyal to him and cares a lot about him (plus would have been willing to take his own life to go after him). Hamlet trusts Horatio with all of his plans and secrets from the first scene and continuously relies on him to help him with them (for example the "theater" scene). Even tho he grows so paranoid over Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he still chooses to trust Horatio And about his others, I don't question him not caring or loving them, but it's not the kind of "true love" kind of thing. For example Ophelia, even tho he claimed to love her, he hurt her a lot in the scene where he told her to go to a nunnery, he constantly played mad in front of her (not caring about if that had any bad affects on her) and after accidentally killing his father he hadn't speared a thought on her well being. Or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he got paranoid when they arrived that they might be spying on him for the king and immediately accused them of it then after learning how that was indeed true, he started treating them like they were his enemies and that they had completely backstabbed him, he even went as far that he got them killed by the English king. Or Gertrude, his own mother. He grew so disgusted by her actions (so marrying his uncle and what they did in bed), at times he completely turned on her and hurt her a lot with his words, not caring how much emotional damage he was doing plus he called her a slut and such

-

I have been a huge Shakespeare (mainly Hamlet) hoe in the past few days so yeah, expect that stuff from me

[serceleste]

my victory over hamlet

I expect everyone who follows me knows about my Hamlet saga because I won’t shut up about it (sorry not sorry) but I really wanted to write down my experience, mostly for me, but I’m sharing it because so many of you have been amazingly supportive all the way through my disastrous first attempt to my eventual victory. So here it is, and if you just want to hear about Oscar and the play you can skip a ways down, lol. 

I wanted to see this play from the moment it was announced. I mean, it’s obvious that I love Oscar’s beautiful face and he just appeals to me in general, but I absolutely love him as a performer. So the idea of seeing him live, in Shakespeare, was just… But I kind of pushed it off, because it would have been an enormous expense. The tickets weren’t cheap, I live halfway across the country so there would be airfare, hotels, Uber/taxi fare, food… I’m not where I thought I would be in life at this particular point so it just didn’t seem feasible.

And then.

The play began. I started hearing about it. And I thought… if I don’t at least try, I’m going to regret it forever. I have far too many regrets in my life for still being young, stemming from my natural introversion and anxiety and from the fact that I have always, always tried to be responsible and level-headed and do what’s expected of me. But I just thought… fuck it. I am going to do something ridiculous for once in my life just because I want to.

The tickets were sold out, obviously, so I started searching for inevitably over-priced secondhand ones. I found one that wasn’t too bad. I found a hostel a mile away from the theater, I booked a flight, I took off work. I went to NYC by myself to see Oscar Isaac play Hamlet.

And then it got cancelled. I was devastated, guys, I think you all know that. The theater employee told me Oscar was ill and I just thought… you know what? That figures. It figures that I would do this crazy thing and it would crash to hell.

So I went back home. I’d had a nice time beforehand exploring parts of the city on my own but the memory of standing there and hearing that lady tell me it was cancelled and going back outside and just… It soured the whole thing.

I called my mother. I told her I was so disappointed that all I could think about was trying to go back. She told me that I should take a few days and let it settle, think about it, but it was my money.

That was Thursday. On Friday I was checking StubHub again and figuring out what day I could make it work. August is our busiest month of the year and a blackout period where no one can take off. Because of my promotion last year I don’t work weekends anymore but in August I do. I thought, okay, I’m working weekends the second half of the month, but if I go just before then, on a Friday evening or Saturday morning, see the play Saturday, and come back on Sunday, that won’t affect anything. Saturday the 12th was squashed right in between undoable time periods and literally the only day all month I thought I could make work.

On Saturday I went back to looking for tickets and flights and the hostel. I found one ticket, more expensive than last time but not overly ridiculous (and I had had my first ticket refunded) for Saturday the 12th. I found plane tickets only slightly higher than before. The hostel was 20 bucks a night more than when I’d stayed during the week but still cheap. I dithered.

Then chelliaphra told me that was the day she and her friend were going, and then she offered to let me stay in their hotel room, and I went !!!!!

I dithered a bit more, the seller upped their ticket price (BASTARD), I bought it anyway. I was going to fucking see this fucking play if it killed me, which seemed better than stewing in regret and disappointment.

This time it was a physical ticket they mailed to me. It arrived and the seller had SCRATCHED THEIR NAME OUT SO IT LOOKED LIKE I FUCKING STOLE IT. I mean, the name on the ticket was bad last time, it gave me anxiety, but at least it was a woman’s name so unless they ID’ed me, which seemed unlikely, it would have been fine. But this was SCRATCHED OUT LIKE I STOLE IT OH MY GOD. I had to call StubHub because I was freaking out. StubHub, or at least the woman I spoke with, has excellent service and made me feel better. I was still going to freak out until my butt was actually in my seat in the theater, but I felt reassured.

My dad’s reaction was the greatest. I told him, hey, so you know how I went to New York to see a play and the play was cancelled? Well, I bought another ticket and I’m going back. My dad just went, ‘oh no’. LMAO. Then he said he hoped it was a hell of a play and I was too embarrassed to admit that I cared less about what the play was than who was in it. :D (I mean, Oscar could have been in the shittiest production of fuck knows what and I would have wanted to see it.)

So I went back to NYC! I was so anxious I was nauseous, I slept maybe 4 or 5 hours, I got up at 3:30 am Saturday morning to catch my flight. I wandered around midtown partly to pass the time, partly to do the tourist thing because it was a different part of the city from what I’d seen last time, and partly to distract myself from how badly I was freaking out, to minor success.

I met chelliaphra and brehaaorgana, who were totally lovely (and I know this wasn’t your intent but thanks for actually making me eat! I was in NYC roughly 48 hours last time and ate exactly one actual meal, and I know myself enough to know I would not have eaten at all this time if I hadn’t been with you so thank you, lol) and we went to our hotel, which was AMAZING, I will never stay anywhere that nice again for the rest of my life, I am sure. Yay accidental free upgrades! \o/ There was a pillow menu!!

I got my period in the hotel, of course, which helped contribute to my severe nausea, like, omg, I was dying. I was so anxious over everything, over my ticket, over the play actually happening, over every stupid thing I could be anxious about. No even the truly magnificent comic book store (next to door to the magnificent bookstore I explored last time) could do much for me.

Actually arriving at the Public made me feel worse, if that can be believed, I was having flashbacks of how utterly shitty I had felt, looking at the corner where I’d called my mom and cried, remembering how fucking horrible I had felt walking down the street and figuring out what the hell I was going to do now. Thankfully we didn’t pass the awful bench I’d sat on feeling miserable, lol, before I walked to the park and wrote fanfic.

We took obligatory pics next to the poster of Oscar. We went inside. I was dying. Chelliaphra went with me to the desk to see if they could reassure me about the ticket but mostly it was down to StubHub. The announcement that the doors had opened came over the speaker and we went up so at least if there was a problem I’d be at the front. I thought I might vomit.

When the woman scanned my barcode and the “good!” beep happened I almost cried I was so relieved, it was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard in my life.

And then my butt was in the seat!!!!! It was fine!!! I was going to see the play!!!!

Chelliaphra and brehaaorgana had seats in the front row and my jealousy was epic, tbh, but honestly I was so happy just to actually be there, after everything, that I would have stood in the doorway or something and thought that was good enough. The theater was very small, anyway, so all the seats felt pretty intimate. I was in the first row at the top of one of the aisles so it was actually rather nice, though I did end up having a bad angle for a little bit of it, Oscar had his back to me for one of the really key emotional scenes, which was a bummer, but whatever.

And the play! If you are looking for a critical evaluation of the play, this is not it. I had never seen Hamlet performed before and I read it once in school but that was a while ago. The closest I’ve come to seeing it was watching the movie version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, lol. I had zero expectations of how it should be.

I fucking loved it. It was wild. It clearly was a non-traditional staging and I dug every minute of it. Oscar was phenomenal. Just… OMG. He is such a brilliant performer and seeing him live was something else, I will never forget it. He has so much energy and intensity and he knew how to play to the entire room; he made you feel like he cared about every person in the audience and he made eye contact with EVERYONE, no matter how crappy your seat was.

He speaks Shakespeare as naturally as you or I would speak to each other, like it’s how he normally talks, so it feels conversational and everyday. You forgot he was actually speaking Shakespeare because it just rolled off his tongue as if that’s how he always speaks. His comedic timing is SO GOOD, I did not know Hamlet could be that funny. He pushed troll!Hamlet to a whole new level. His gestures, his body language, everything. A few favorite moments were when he makes this mocking kissing gesture to his mother, and when he was running around dragging Polonius’ body in a sheet before stowing it in the audience, and the ‘may I lay my head in your lap’ bit, when he’s joking about his, uh, parts, and he just like raises his leg up and gestures and I died for multiple reasons. I also loved the use of the comfy sweater, Ophelia wears it, and then throws it back at Hamlet when she’s returning his gifts, and then Hamlet wears it.

And he was so moving, dear lord. Watching him play Hamlet’s grief and loss was incredible. Knowing that he lost his mother this year really gave it an extra emotional impact, because you know that had to have informed his performance, I mean, the thrust of the play is the loss of Hamlet’s father. (Also I would just like to say that I was attacked by the playbill, like, it literally says the play is dedicated to Oscar’s mother, and in his little bio bit it says it again, ‘dedicated to my mother’, GOD I HATE FEELINGS.) When he cried it was impossible not to cry with him, he was so heartbreaking and moving. You could literally hear the sniffling across the audience. The scene where he sees his father’s ghost was amazing, and he was so good in Act Two in the big emotional part with Gertrude.

And, you know, Oscar with blood on his face is the most Extra.

Everyone knows about the lasagna but watching it was… I mean, he sat on a table and railed at a tray of lasagna with a knife and you could not look away, and when he says, ‘why what an ass am I,’ it was like you could finally breathe again.

(The lasagna was an A+ prop, btw, for the way Oscar murders it and for the way Ophelia just digs into it post-spurning Hamlet. And my friends informed me it smelled amazing, lol.)

And, yes, he spends a lot of time in his underwear (very small well-fitted underwear that sometimes rode up a bit one side and obviously I noticed, sorry not sorry). Um. He looked great in it. His ass is FINE, and I feel like this post would be lacking if I didn’t call attention to that. (He killed the lasagna in his underwear, for the record.) There was a bit in Act Two when he was watching the players where he was leaning over the back of a chair just in front of where I was sitting and that was indeed a perfect angle because DAMN. His shirt fell down to cover the front most of the time but yeah, that was not bad either, lol (and my friends confirm the answer to the question is cut, in case you were wondering). But all that being said, he was running around in his underwear and you couldn’t not look but he is also just such a fantastic performer that he was in his underwear and you were still mesmerized by the actual performance. Also I just liked it as a dramatic interpretation, I mean, he comes out when Hamlet’s meant to be a bit mad, no pants, a toilet seat protector around his neck, his hair sopping, reading the newspaper. It worked. Later on when he’s dressed again he whips the sweats back off to show his madness (or, as can be debated, his “madness”) again and I just really bought it.

Plus, he sang! Having never seen it, and only read it the once, I have no idea if that’s common practice or if it was just Oscar (I feel like it was just Oscar??), but I Approve. God his voice is lovely, I have witnessed Oscar singing in person, I can die happy.

Also I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about his hair because it’s me, hair is my thing, and Oscar’s hair… It was shorter but it was on point, and let me tell you, his hair just does that naturally. You know what I mean. It got wet a bunch of times and he would run his hands through it and it just curls like that, like, ridiculous, his hair is fucking amazing.

Of course I was there for Oscar but I greatly enjoyed the cast in general. I thought Gertrude and Claudius were amazing playing off each other and off Oscar, Ophelia was lovely (and what a beautiful voice!), Polonius was especially amusing in his ‘imparting wisdom’ bits (and looool at the bathroom as set piece), I really liked Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Laertes was from Preacher! The gravediggers were played by Ophelia and Polonius and they were very funny. Ophelia knocked me in the head with her potted plant when she came down the aisle to cover Polonius with dirt and flowers and I felt blessed, lol.

But Keegan-Michael Key, OMG. What a fabulous actor. I knew he would be hilarious but I wasn’t expecting to be moved quite so much by his drama, his closing lines were especially good. I loved how much they played up the Hamlet/Horatio relationship, all the face touching, dear lord, and Oscar kissed him on the mouth! I kinda ship it now, tbh. I know Hamlet/Horatio fic exists and I feel like this performance should inspire more, lol.

But, you know, I have to note the play within a play, the reenactment of the murder of the king to try to provoke Claudius, with Keegan as the king and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as the faux Gertrude and Claudius. It was EPIC. They were all great, with their large, overdrawn movements, but Keegan was… The audience was in hysterics watching his over-played parody of a death, and damn if he didn’t go Extra for us. Oscar was sitting there covering his face to try to hide that he was laughing (we all saw you Oscar) and you could just see his OH MY GOD. Keegan did a ‘thank you!!’ to us at the end.

Oh, and the cellist! There was a cellist playing background music and they used him quite amusingly at times, like when Claudius basically tells him to fuck off.

For the gravediggers scene, Oscar and Keegan came down the aisle to sit in the audience, and Oscar was perfectly diagonal to my seat and let me tell you, his eyelashes are INCREDIBLE. So fucking long. Ridiculous. How is he real, seriously. But that was an impressive bit, Oscar is stunning in the famous ‘Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him, Horatio’ monologue, and the actual funeral, fucking hell, he killed it and he killed me, and the way it cuts out after he and Laertes have just wrestled over the burial ground with Horatio trying to stop it and Hamlet is just lying there clutching Ophelia to himself killed me again.

And there was fencing, of course! I loved the fencing. Oscar put on the white shirt with the codpiece thing and I approved. Damn the fencing was excellent. And obviously then it was sad because it’s Hamlet and everyone dies. The finale was all rather gutting, good job all around.

So the play was wild and I loved it in a very non-judging way, I was just immensely entertained and I loved the cast and Oscar was fucking phenomenal. Obviously we gave them all a standing ovation.

I feel like I should mention now just how fucking tired I was. By this point I’d been awake about 20 hours on almost no sleep, and had spent the day an anxious, nauseous wreck. I was SO TIRED. OMG.

THEN. OSCAR. We asked an usher about seeing the actors and she told us that unfortunately, if we were hoping to see Mr. Isaac, he usually didn’t stay on Saturday nights. So we were bummed and went outside to find somewhere to get food. But I had to pee horribly so I went back inside and I won’t lie, I was totally taking my time because I was thinking maaaaaaybe, maybe if I stay long enough he actually will come out, or maybe the other actors will, and then I came out and thought damn, it’s louder than when I went in, and there was a crowd, and I looked, and THERE WAS OSCAR OH MY GOD OMG!!!!!!!!!

Chelliaphra and brehaaorgana had already come back in on account of the commotion so yay! We waited for Oscar! There were so many people! He looked fucking exhausted! I felt so bad, actually, at taking up his time when he probably wanted to go eat and be face first in his bed, but he was such a sweetheart and stayed and smiled for everyone, he was so lovely and gracious.

I tried taking some pics of him standing there but there were seriously so many people. But I got my moment! He was so nice!! He smiled at me and made eye contact and John Boyega is 10000000% correct, it is really hard to look away from his face, he is so damned handsome. Like, fuck. He is a beautiful man. No one should be that beautiful in real life, it is unreal, like, you look at celebrities and you know there’s make-up, there’s photoshop and airbrushing, but goddamn, he is so beautiful up close. SO BEAUTIFUL. Also he smells great. And he is so small! I did not expect him to be so small! Like, I knew he wasn’t actually very tall but it’s just startling in person how small he actually is, he’s just tiny and compact and cute, I love him.

So it is a miracle I actually formed words. I was so nervous my hand was shaking and my brain would not function properly, IDK, partly how tired I was, partly how shy I am, partly OSCAR ISAAC IS LOOKING RIGHT AT ME FUUUUUUUCK. I also was so anxious not to bother him any more than I already was, or take up more of his time, because I felt so bad, he looked so tired and he was being so sweet, I felt guilty at bothering him. So I really barely could make myself say anything beyond asking for what I wanted and thanking him five thousand times, I don’t even know if I ever told him how much I loved the play, like, damn, I hope I did.

He took a pic with me, I think you’ve already all seen it!! I stood right next to Oscar and he took a pic with his face next to my face!!! And he totally signed my Kylo Ren journal, that is full of fanfic, a good deal of which is Poe/everyone, I am deeply, deeply amused by this. I had originally wanted him to sign my playbill too but I felt guilty asking so I just got the journal. I’d thought about bringing a Poe comic for him to sign, maybe the #1 variant that has him on the cover, but it wouldn’t fit in my purse and I had like this tremendous embarrassment at the idea of having to carry it around and keep it on my lap during the play (I was already a bundle of anxious nerves so this probably sounds stupid to everyone else but I just did not need the added anxiety), so the journal worked because I always have it in my purse anyway, and it just really really amused me to have Oscar Isaac sign my Kylo Ren fanfic journal. I half want to never touch it again because I’m afraid of wrecking it but I also want to, like, write something particularly trashy in it now, haha. (Of course, a lot of what it currently contains is plenty trashy!!) Because I am an awkward dork when I went to the comic shop and was struggling to think of something to say to not-boyfriend beyond ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ I blurted out some nonsense about wondering if he knew how to take care of autographs, and I ended up showing him my Oscar Isaac signed Kylo Ren journal (WHY AM I LIKE THIS I HATE MYSELF), but I might take his suggestion and put it in one of my comic protector bags.

Oh, also! He was wearing that backpack he always has, that he clips in the front like a 5 yo whose mom made him do it except he’s a grown ass man and chooses to do it, he is so adorable and dorky, I love him.

As we were leaving we saw Gayle Rankin (Ophelia) by the door so we stopped and talked to her and she signed our playbills. I’m a bit bummed we didn’t see anyone else but tbh, Keegan-Michael Key could have been standing right next to me and I would not have noticed because OSCAR OH MY GOD.

We found out later that Lupita Nyong’o had been there too, and I’m so sad I didn’t see her, her bone structure is sooooo lovely, it would have been so cool to see her beautiful face in person, plus I think she and Oscar are so cute. But alas. I suppose at least I can say I was in the same room as Lupita!

So we went for pizza (again, thanks for making me eat guys, even if you didn’t know you were doing it!) and went back to the amazing fancy hotel and I sent my pic to like everyone I know, and I was just so blindingly happy, and I was fucking exhausted but I was so hyped I barely slept anyway, I would doze a little and go back on Tumblr and doze a little and text my mom, it was ridiculous, lol.

And that was my adventure with Hamlet and Oscar! It was so stressful and I was ridden with anxiety and I spent way too much money I shouldn’t have spent and at times it was crushingly disappointing, but in the end it all worked out and I had an amazing time, definitely one of my greatest experiences ever that I will cherish forever. I’m so glad I got to meet chelliaphra and brehaaorgana, as much of an introvert as I am and as much as I did like wandering around NYC on my own without any socialization pressure, it was so great getting to nerd out with them over Oscar and the play and they made it so much more fun. Plus, I appreciated the moral support when I was dying beforehand, lol. Thank you so much to everyone who put up with me through this whole thing, when I was freaking out and when I was miserable and when I was exploding with nerdy joy. <3 I’m sorry this is so long! I feel like I am leaving things out anyway!

Bottom line: OSCAR ISAAC IS BEAUTIFUL AND A FANTASTIC ACTOR AND A LOVELY HUMAN BEING AND HE HAS A GREAT ASS.

Sometimes being utterly ridiculous and just saying ‘fuck it’ totally works out, guys!

[wrathofashakespearelover-blog]

Shakespeare Tragedies: Deaths

Part 1 - Hamlet, Macbeth, Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet

HAMLET

King Hamlet (Hamlet's father) - dies before the play begins; poisoned by his brother, Hamlet's uncle, Claudius.

Polonius (Ophelia's father) - stabbed mistakenly by Hamlet when he made a noise in response to hearing Hamet and his mother, Gertrude, arguing bitterly; he was hiding behind an arras in the same room.

Ophelia - drowned, unclear whether it was suicide or an accident exacerbated by her madness caused by her father's death.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - beheaded by the King of England when Horatio changed the letter he found in their belongings; written by King Claudius, it requested that Hamlet should be executed immediately. This original plan failed when Hamlet returned to Denmark instead of meeting the English King.

Gertrude - poisoned by the goblet of wine Claudius had set aside for Hamlet.

Laertes (Ophelia's brother) - wounded with a poisoned sword whilst fencing with Hamlet that was supposed to "settle their differences" over Ophelia's death; King Claudius had given Laertes a poisoned-tipped foil, but in the fight, Hamlet and Laertes had swapped swords.

Claudius - killed by Hamlet, avenging his murdered king father.

Hamlet - dies of the wound the poisoned sword caused in Horatio's arms. He stops Horatio from drinking the dregs of Gertrude's poisoned wine by begging him to tell his story, then names Norwegian Prince Fortinbras his successor.

MACBETH

Macdonwald, the traitorous Thane of Cawdor - executed after his defeat against the Scottish; he had led the allied forces of Ireland and Norway.

King Duncan of Scotland - stabbed in his sleep by Macbeth, despite his doubts and a number of supernatural portents, including a hallucination of a bloody dagger.

The two guards of Duncan's chamber - murdered by Macbeth to stop them from professing their innocence, as they had been blamed for Duncan's death.

Banquo - his murder was arranged by Macbeth by hiring two men to kill him and his son Fleance, since part of the three witches' prophecy stated that Banquo's heirs would be kings, therefore he feels uneasy as King.

Everyone in Macduff's castle, including his wife and children - slaughtered by murderers sent by Macbeth since Macduff has fled to England to join Prince Malcolm, Duncan's son.

Lady Macbeth - suicide, caused by her madness, which was caused by grief over the murders of Duncan and Banquo.

Young Seyward - killed by Macbeth in combat.

Macbeth - killed in combat and beheaded by Macduff.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Alarbus (first-born son of Tamora, Queen of the Goths) - sacrificed to avenge the deaths of Titus Andronicus' sons during the ten-year war against the Goths.

Mutius (a son of Titus Andronicus) - killed by his own father during a scuffle caused by his sons' "betrayal", where they reminded Titus Andronicus that his daughter, Lavinia, could not be married to Saturninus (the new emperor), since she was already betrothed to his brother, Bassianus.

Bassianus - killed by Demetrius and Chiron, who were convinced by Aaron, so that they may rape Lavinia. They do so, throwing Bassianus' body into a pit and violently raping Lavinia deep in a forest. To keep her from revealing what has happened, they cut out her tongue and cut off her hands.

Martius and Quintus (sons of Titus Andronicus) - executed by Saturninus as they were framed for the murder of Bassianus.

Nurse - killed by Aaron to keep the illegitimate half-race child he had with Tamora and Aaron flees with the child to keep it safe from Saturninus' wrath.

Chiron and Demetrius - after they dressed up as the spirits of Rape and Murder, accompanied by their mother Tamora, who was dressed as Revenge, and tried to fool Titus, whose behaviour suggests he had gone insane, their throats were slit by Titus over a sink held by his mutilated daughter. Titus morbidly tells Lavinia that he intends to "play the cook", grind the bones of Tamora's two sons into powder and bake their heads.

Lavinia - killed by her father when Titus asked Saturninus "if a father should kill his daughter when she has been raped" and the emperor said he should.

Tamora - killed by Titus after he told Saturninus of Lavinia's rape at the hands of Chiron and Demetrius, who he then informed were in the pie Tamora had just been eating when Saturninus called for them.

Titus Andronicus - killed by Saturninus.

Saturninus - killed by Lucius, Titus' son.

Aaron - buried chest-deep, dies of thirst and starvation.

ROMEO AND JULIET

Mercutio - killed by Tybalt in a duel, after taking Romeo's place.

Tybalt - slain by Romeo, who was wracked with guilt over Mercutio's death.

Paris - after he went to mourn Juliet, thinking Romeo was a vandal, he was killed in the ensuing battle.

Romeo - kills himself by drinking poison out of grief over Juliet.

Juliet - stabs herself with Romeo's dagger after waking to find him dead.

Lady Montague - dies from a broken heart.

[thedreamingdinosaur]

Directed By: Robert Icke

Cast:

Francisco, Gravedigger – Barry Aird. Horatio – Elliot Barnes- Worrell. Ophelia – Jessica Brown Findlay. Player Queen – Marty Cruickshank. Rosencrantz – Calum Finlay. Marcellus – Joshua Higgott. Guildenstern – Amaka Okafor. Reynaldo – Daniel Rabin. Ghost, Player King – David Rintoul. Hamlet – Andrew Scott. Gertrude – Juliet Stevenson. Laertes – Luke Thompson. Polonius – Peter Wight. Claudius – Angus Wright. Bernardo, Player 3, Priest – Matthew Wynn Fortinbras – John MacMillan Voltimand – Lorna Brown Newscaster – Sule Rimi Young Hamlet – Samuel Smith Priest – Father Roy Pearson Reporters – Skye Bennett, Tommy Burgess, Andrew Lewis, David Tarkenter, Pippa Winslow

To be, or not to be, that is the question.

It’s time for me to delve into the world of A-Level Drama review/ University level BA (Hons) English Literature critical analysis. Although my work load is excessive, I feel that it was necessary to share my experiences of another fantastic show with you all.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most reenacted plays of all time. With hundreds of renditions being performed all around the UK, each one brings elements of the classical Shakespearean theatre along with new and refreshing ideas.

Robert Icke is the latest member to jump on the band wagon and delve into the world of the Prince of Denmark along with a fabulous cast! With a 8 week run at The Almeida Theatre, Islington, and a newly announced West End transfer from June to September 2017, Icke used the small space of the theatre’s auditorium to his full advantage, adding a 21st century twist to the play.

For those who do not know the story, Hamlet explores the themes of madness, depression, misogyny and death… lots and lots of death. All the death. So. Much. Death.

Synopsis Hamlet is distraught after the death of his father. Two watchmen, and Horatio, witness the ghost of the late king walking through the castle late one night. When Hamlet is informed of this he see’s the apparition for himself and is informed by the spirit that it is indeed his deceased father and that his Uncle Claudius was the one who murdered him. Hamlet is ordered by his father to avenge him and is set on doing so until the very end. Along the way this drives him into deep madness. His mother, Gertrude, and Uncle see this and become increasingly worried about him and consult in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to watch him. All the while Polonius believes that Hamlet is mad in love with his daughter Ophelia hence his sudden outbursts but this is not the case and is clear when he orders Ophelia to go to a nunnery (dick move Hamlet… dick move…). He soon learns of a group of Actors in town and orders them to perform a scene which closely resembles his image of his fathers death, to draw out a reaction from his uncle. When Claudius runs from the room, Hamlet, along with Horatio, is convinced that he is truly and utterly guilty. Hamlet confronts his mother about this in privacy, or so he thinks. While hearing a noise from behind a curtain he jumps to conclusions and stabs poor Polonius, and instantly setting his own destiny in the form of his dispersal from Denmark to England where Claudius has plans for him to be killed. And so begins the spiral of death…  After Polonius, it is Ophelia who is next to die from grief and drowns in a river. Laertes (her brother) returns from France in pure rage at the death of his father and sister. Claudius convinces Laertes that this is all Hamlet’s doing. Later he soon receives a letter from Hamlet telling him of his immediate return to Denmark due to an incident on his journey to England. Claudius comes up with a plan to put everyones mind at ease and a fencing match out of revenge is arranged between Hamlet and Laertes. The king poisons Laertes blade so when it strikes Hamlet, he will be killed. As a back up plan he also puts poison into his goblet. Hamlet returns at the time of Ophelia’s death and is stuck with even more grief and reveals that he had loved Ophelia all along (awwww) When the match begins between Laertes and Hamlet, the latter scores the first point but refuses to sip from the goblet. Instead his mother does and is quickly dies from the poison. Laertes manages to cut Hamlet with the blade, but he does not die. Laertes is then cut by his own blade (idiot) and while dying, he tells Hamlet that Claudius is responsible for the queens death as well. Hamlet stabs Claudius and then makes him drink the rest of the poison from the goblet (ultimate death!!) and everyone who’s dying finally dies. 

The setting itself was kept very minimalistic with just a ‘L’ shaped sofa, chair, lamp, small coffee table being used as the main set. A set of sliding doors were placed at the back of the stage which allowed us to envisage the layout of the palace. The 4th wall is broken several times throughout the play, with characters using the audience’s seating area for stage entries and also as their own audience when it came to the player’s play. It allowed you to be drawn in and fully included within the play, making you feel as if you were apart of the tragedy. Live action cameras where used to show recordings of certain events including the fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes at the end of the play as well as pre-recording of newscasts to show the events in the world at that time. The recordings bought the 21st century through in the classical play.

Leading the show this time, Hamlet was played by the wonderful Andrew Scott, known most famously for his role as Jim Moriarty in BBC Sherlock. He bought to the stage a fresh rendition of the Prince of Denmark and truly channeled the madness that was meant to be. The elements of humour that he incorporated into the scenes broke away from the underlying seriousness that the play gives. Mocking and teasing characters also allowed us to see that Hamlets outlook on life had completely been effected by the death of his father. Andrew was able to incorporate the near psychopathic elements that he portrays in his role as Moriarty to a controlled yet still effective limit and also where needed, as well as showing a character who his grieving and hurting still.

The most famous speech in any Shakespearean play opens with the line ‘To be or not to be’. It has been recited by thousands over the years, including Benedict Cumberbatch in his rendition of Hamlet back in 2015. This time Andrew Scott took a very simplistic and minimalistic approach on the speech. An empty stage, with just him stood downstage, centre. All lights dimmed except the one spot line, illuminating the actor. Silence filled the entire theatre as the speech began. It wasn’t at all how I imagined. I expected something big and grand, overdramatic and nearly insane, similar to that of Benedict’s. But with this simpler tone, I was pleasantly surprised.

It’s not only Scott who embraces the madness and true identity of their character. Jessica Brown Findlay was able to give us a version of Ophelia which was truly something that I had not seen before. At first we see her lovestruck and smitten by Hamlet’s charming nature. But later we are introduced to her fiery ways. After the death of her father, see seems to sink into herself. Depression overtakes the poor girl and sends her into pure madness. We see her weakened physically with the use of a wheelchair showing us that she in need of support. But also her mental state is shown. While Claudius tries to get through to her she sings ‘Saint Valentine’s Day’ possibly with references to her beloved Hamlet. This contradicts the purity of the outfit chosen as a line reads ‘And opened the door to his room. He let in the girl, and when she left, She wasn’t a virgin anymore.’ We see Ophelia dressed in a simple white dress. The use of white here signifies the purity of the young girl although her mind has been tainted.  Eventually her madness drives her to death as she drowns in the river. An important thing to note with Ophelia’s character is the way that flowers are used with her. Violets are common with the character. When she dies, Gertrude wears a Violet, a symbol of faithfulness and modesty. These are also present at the scene of her death too. Jessica managed to not over work Ophelia’s insanity all the while including enough to show her decline.

One person who we see go through very little emotional change is Claudius, played by Angus Wright. The only time we seem some emotion from him is at the end during his poisoning and death, when we see fear strike the king. Throughout the play, he remains neutral to any form of reaction while the rest of the cast show their grief, sadness, love and joy. This is pivotal for Claudius character. Angus managed to show us someone who is suspicious and suspected throughout the entire play, yet ignore the accusations by others, including the ghost of his late brother.

To contrast we the conflicting emotions that Gertrude, Juliet Stevenson, is force to go through. While wanting to protect her son from the conflicts that he battling with, she is also not wanting to disappoint her new husband and king. Eventually it clearly gets too much for the poor queen as she drinks the poison set for her son. While in versions of the play this may seem harder to pick up on, Juliet was able to give a clear perception on where she stood

Each element and scene of the play was bought to life with some truly amazing talent. The connection between all characters and their relationships with each other was entirely believable and mesmerising. The cast fully immersed themselves into the world of Shakespeare, yet at the same time, keeping us still updated in the modern world by the use of their costumes, sets and technology. The fear with a modern adaptation of a classical piece of art, is that of losing the original effect. This, however, was not to case in Ickes representation.

The final scenes of the play left me on the edge of my seat. A live fencing competition will always be tense despite the knowledge of the excessive safety elements that all actors and crew members go through, and that they have rehearsed and performed the scene more times than you know, does not push the fear away from your mind. Ending the play, Icke chose a beautiful send off for all characters who met an untimely death. As each character heads towards the bright light at the end of the tunnel, we end with Horatio cradling a lifeless Hamlet in his arms.

Robert Icke has truly honoured Shakespeare’s name by directing an outstanding piece of dramatical art. It is clear he has thought long and hard, along with his creative team, about what he wanted to achieve and has done so with great success. It has earned it’s 3 month west end transfer allowing more people to witness this iconic play.

To top the night off however, I was able to meet Andrew Scott himself outside the theatre’s main entrance. The poor man was extremely tired but still put on a huge smile for all of his fans that greeted him with so much pride, praise and excitement. Well done Andrew, you deserve it.

But the big question is; is Andrew’s version better than Benedict’s? While I loved both plays, and regard them as some of the best pieces of theatre that I have ever had the pleasure of watching in my life, I find myself at a place where I am unable to answer that question. Truthfully, both plays had elements in which captured the audience in aww and some which might have lacked ever so slightly. But at the end of the day, all plays have their faults and all have their shining moments.

So is this a play in which I would see again? Absolutely! I am planning on, getting more another ticket to see it in the new theatre. To anyone looking for a night out in London during the summer holidays, I would 100% recommend seeing the show.

★★★★★

By Natalie Midwinter.

Review Time!: Hamlet – 06.04.2017 (WARNING CONTAINS ‘SPOILERS’) Directed By: Robert Icke Cast: Francisco, Gravedigger - Barry Aird. Horatio - Elliot Barnes- Worrell. Ophelia - Jessica Brown Findlay.