H2016: Favourite Moments

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…

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Letter From a Director to His (Soon-To-Be) Hamlet

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…

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Line by Line: Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 50-51

HORATIO: Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak! Exit Ghost. MARCELLUS: ‘Tis gone, and will not answer. With this post, I have managed to make my way through 50 lines of Hamlet. But this is not an occasion for celebrating; I just need to tuck my head down and keep analyzing, if I’m ever going…

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H2016: Waiting for Auditions

“Round One” of Hamlet auditions have been announced: April 11-12, I’ll be auditioning actors for the roles of Hamlet and Ophelia. This is a nerve-wracking process, and not just for the actors. What if nobody shows up? Cape Breton’s theatre scene has recently experienced an impressive growth spurt, with the addition of several new theatre…

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Line by Line: Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 14-16

FRANCISCO: Give you good night. MARCELLUS:O, farewell, honest soldier; who hath relieved you? FRANCISCO: Bernardo has my place. Give you good night.  Exit. Nothing very spectacular here. Shakespeare is revving up his Revolving Door, the staging technique that kept his big, bare stage feeling busy and populated. Two characters just entered, so it’s time for…

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Line by Line: Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 1-2

BERNARDO: Who’s there? FRANCISCO: Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself. While nowhere near as famous as the first lines of Romeo & Juliet (“Two houses, both alike in dignity…”), Henry V (“O for a muse of fire”), or Richard III (“Now is the winter of our discontent”), the first line of Hamlet has a…

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Line by Line: My Life for the Next 4,042 Days

As I’m refining details around the edges of this blog, new ideas occur to me. This one is a doozy, with the potential to hijack the whole project, but it occurred to me as an exciting and possibly even original approach to Hamlet studies — something that would not have been possible prior to the…

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