We had our last three shows this weekend — Friday and Saturday nights, and a well-attended Sunday matinee. Yesterday (Monday) was strike day, although I got to weasel out of the heavy lifting because I had to teach classes. So much real-world stuff to get back to… Now another series of snowstorms are rippling across…
Yesterday, Sheila (my beloved wife and stage manager) explained to her class that a show needs three things to succeed: talent, a unifying concept, and a gimmick. This was a formula I’d never heard before, and naturally I asked her if Hamlet had all three of those things. She said yes (what else could she…
After yesterday’s school matinee (the only one we had, and with a disappointingly small contingent of high school students), we’re officially halfway through our run. Here are some more lovely moments in a play chock full of Hamlet-y goodness: Urgent Soliloquies: Even by Shakespearean standards, Hamlet has a lot of soliloquies. So it was a…
Thursday night’s premiere of Hamlet went very well, give or take a tech glitch or two. Friday night’s sophomore show was cancelled because of a big blizzard. So that brings us to tonight: Show Two, which was supposed to have been Show Three. I’m optimistic; I know lots of great folks who are planning to…
Tonight the cast and crew catch their collective breath; tomorrow we plunge into the deep, stormy waters of Hamlet for realsies. Well, last night’s run-through was an “invited dress,” which means half a dozen of our most supportive friends and family members were there to clap in spite of the manifold technical glitches. But tomorrow,…
Wesley, Good work today. I get that you’re scared. It’s totally understandable that our time constraints have fallen most heavily upon your shoulders. Sheila and I will do everything we can to ensure that you encounter your first audience feeling practiced and prepared — especially whenever safety is a concern. But that may mean devoting…
Just over a week to go before we open. We lost a rehearsal to stormy weather last weekend, but we’ve mostly managed to catch up. Set, costumes, props, and video materials are all 90% done, audio cues are halfway set, and the last major component (lighting) will start falling into place tomorrow — well, not…
Even if I weren’t already a sporadic blogger, this is the point where things would get dicey. Less than two weeks till opening night, and lots of production elements are coming together quickly, sometimes interlocking comfortably, and sometimes crashing together like drunken waterfowl. The costumes are nearing completion, although I’ve decided that Sunday’s dress rehearsal…
Although rehearsals don’t resume for another six days, the Hamletmachine switched into high gear today. It feels like the team accomplished more in 12 hours today than we did in a whole week’s worth of pre-January Hamlet-time. If that’s the case, we are on a good path to make some momentous strides between now and…
