H2016: The Grim, Bleak Hypocrite of Denmark

Today was a big, big day in #cbuhamlet history: the first table read. Nearly all of our Danes were in attendance — only a handful who had other commitments couldn’t make the read-through. It was a bit intimidating to see the long line of tables pushed together, and the towering stack of scripts waiting for…

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H2016: And Lose the Name of Inaction

Had another quick rehearsal with WJC two days ago. We looked briefly at the scansion for Hamlet’s second, oft-overlooked soliloquy, “O, all you host of heaven,” which occurs in 1.5 immediately after the Ghost’s exit, but before Horatio and Marcellus find the Prince. It’s a nice moment to demonstrate the “relief” that WJC believes exemplifies…

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That’s the Question: Hamlet, Our Hero

A summary of my last post, before we move along: Why do we read/watch/produce/talk about Hamlet? Mostly because of the titular character’s heroic attempts, not to exact revenge for his father’s death, but to stabilize and heal a wounded world. Hamlet is crafty, witty, insightful, poetic, and sensitive, all of which helps us to sympathize…

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That’s the Question: Why Do We Hamlet?

Two posts ago, I explored the implication that a successful Shakespeare production (especially one that advertises itself as an “adaptation”) had damn well better have a firm grip on “the truth” of the text. Absolute truth is a heresy in postmodernism, and while it’s fine and dandy to assert, like Hamlet, that “I’ll have grounds…

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Lessons from Ultimate Spider-Man

Sometimes, truth comes at you from the most unexpected direction. I spend a lot of time reading about Shakespeare (are you shocked?), but once in a while, I will steer my browser to some unrelated obsession — indie electronica, Community, Dungeons & Dragons, or in this case, comics. In my adolescence, I was a big…

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