I have a bad habit of postponing gratification. After deciding a year or two ago that the David Tennant HAMLET was by far the best I had ever seen, I stopped watching until a better time, when I was more attentive, when I was worthier, whatever. Then looking at my 80th birthday coming up, I decided I had better act faster than Hamlet, and started watching a bit at a time. I was astounded to find the first Fortinbras passage kept in the play and the next Fortinbras passage kept in the play, and the third, and the fourth, and by then was sure the director was going to be the first in my memory to do justice to Fortinbras as foil for Hamlet. I got right up to the last Fortinbras scene, the one that rounds it all off, with Fortinbras saying it was likely if Hamlet had been put on that he would have proved most royality, and I was all set for it. Credits began rolling. The whole scene was cut. Is there a special place in hell for directors of Shakespeare?
"That truth should be silent I had almost forgot"--Enobarbus in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, back in Rome after having been too long in Egypt.--------- Melville's PIERRE, Book 4, chapter 5: "Something ever comes of all persistent inquiry; we are not so continually curious for nothing."
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Gregory Doran Shows How to Ruin the Best HAMLET I Almost Got to See All Of
I have a bad habit of postponing gratification. After deciding a year or two ago that the David Tennant HAMLET was by far the best I had ever seen, I stopped watching until a better time, when I was more attentive, when I was worthier, whatever. Then looking at my 80th birthday coming up, I decided I had better act faster than Hamlet, and started watching a bit at a time. I was astounded to find the first Fortinbras passage kept in the play and the next Fortinbras passage kept in the play, and the third, and the fourth, and by then was sure the director was going to be the first in my memory to do justice to Fortinbras as foil for Hamlet. I got right up to the last Fortinbras scene, the one that rounds it all off, with Fortinbras saying it was likely if Hamlet had been put on that he would have proved most royality, and I was all set for it. Credits began rolling. The whole scene was cut. Is there a special place in hell for directors of Shakespeare?
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