I feel like at some point somebody should do an adaptation of Hamlet involving a zombie outbreak as a major part of the plot, if only because "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" as the tagline is too good an opportunity to pass up.

i mean it's already got ghosts, what's so crazy about zombies

Oh yeah, Hamlet's father is a zombie in this version, no question.

It's been forever since I read Hamlet but something something his thirst for vengeance leading Hamlet down a road of destruction in the original paralleled and magnified by his thirst for vengeance leading to an out of control zombie outbreak in Denmark in this version? Something something the contagious nature of zombies used to draw attention to the cycle of careless violence that ends up destroying everyone involved? Is that anything?

Chat, what do we think about existence? In general, and Specifically, is it better to just keep to yourself and suffer All This Shit? Or to like. Set boundaries and fight and make a huge stink about everything, with the chance of it getting better?

Tbh. I just want a break. It'd be so nice to just nope out of everything. A little nope. Maybe even a big one.

Except that's the whole problem?? Taking an irrevocable action on the chance of it getting better?? But worse, because we have no data AT ALL about the afterlife.

We know THIS life, with body pains and brain pains, systemic oppression, racism, classism, trying to navigate the healthcare & legal systems, breakups, etc etc. But, on the other side? No idea. Nobody's come back to report on the state of things over there. And, tbh, it's easier to deal with all the shit we KNOW than chance it on the shit we DON'T. That's literally my whole life.

Maybe i'm a coward. Maybe it's RSD.

But the thought of taking a risk - ANY action - to change my situation, and then having to deal with Consequences?? That i can't predict??? And that are also my fault????? Hard pass fr.

Soft you now! The fair Ophelia

love shakespeare. did a hamlet run tonight, looked someone dead in the eye to say “am i a coward?” during a speech and the fucker shrugged and nodded

we literally ruined society when we invented the fourth wall. let’s bring back call and response. heckling, even. fuck you hamlet you dumb piece of shit kill your uncle or shut up

"When we took Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” into a maximum security woman’s prison on the West Side… there’s a scene there where a young woman is told by a very powerful official that “If you sleep with me, I will pardon your brother. And if you don’t sleep with me, I’ll execute him.” And he leaves the stage. And this character, Isabel, turned out to the audience and said: “To whom should I complain?” And a woman in the audience shouted: “The Police!” And then she looked right at that woman and said: “If I did relate this, who would believe me?” And the woman answered back, “No one, girl.”

And it was astonishing because not only was it an amazing sense of connection between the audience and the actress, but you also realized that this was a kind of an historical lesson in theater reception. That’s what must have happened at The Globe. These soliloquies were not simply monologues that people spoke, they were call and response to the audience. And you realized that vibrancy, that that sense of connectedness is not only what makes theater great in prisons, it’s what makes theater great, period."

Oskar Eustis on ArtBeat Nation

I was in the front row of a Hamlet performance where the "Am I a coward?" was directed at me and I, being a no-impulse-control gremlin, hollered back "Yes!!" (they'd primed us ahead of time that audience interaction was encouraged). Hamlet got right up in my face as he kept talking and just kept going until I gently pushed him back; I forget what line it was on when it happened but he took the direction of the push and reeled away across the stage.

This meant that I had marked myself as someone willing to be fucked with, and so during the graveyard scene later he approached me again. "Here hung those lips that I have kissed--" he booped my mouth with the skull's "-- I know not how oft."

I have stories related to me from those at Blackfriars, the American Shakespeare Center (they play in a replica of the original Blackfriars, with modern safety conventions like lightbulbs in the chandeliers, but a great dedication to the way structure shaped the original work in the original Blackfriars. Their house is only about 45 ft deep (roughly 15 m I think), which is about the max distance two sighted people can be from each other and still make eye contact. They play with the stage and house equally lit, they talk to the audience, they enter from the audience, they whip up crowds from within the audience. It’s fantastic. But anyway, on to the stories.)

Hamlet adaptation where Hamlet is a vlogger and all his soliloquies are breakdowns he uploads to YouTube

… I am unironically here for this

this is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life

This is - legitimately - my favourite delivery of Shakespeare I have EVER seen (and I have seen some good-ass productions yo, in the Globe Theatre itself even). Like seriously, even though the words are unchanged, he’s stripped away ALL of the archaic pretense and assumed grandeur of ~presenting the bard~ that makes even the most wildly talented of actors and innovative of productions inherently inaccessible to a modern audience. Like, they’re still great, they can still communicate the message and (some) of the nuance, but they’re still always a step removed from being identifiable to any viewer’s lived experience. They’re still always reciting 15th century poetry. But this guy? This guy is like, screw iambic pentameter, to hell with being precious about the material, HOW WOULD AN ACTUAL PERSON SAY THIS SHIT?

Like this. And it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful to hear a soliloquy I loved so much already, and have it come to life in a way it never, ever, did before. I feel like I grasp his motivations, his twists and turns, no longer on an academic level but on a visceral, instinctive one. Because he’s presenting his mental and emotional journey in a way that speaks honestly, like a real person.

So yeah, this shit post? I love it. Deeply and sincerely.

benedick & beatrice. their disdain for the institution of marriage is met with disapproval they do not conform to gender roles the idea of a romantic relationship between them is initially comedic they fail at expressing attraction in every socially expected way they are hesitant to love in public for fear of being mocked & THAT is why they resonate with the queer audience!

their community is like "you will love just like the rest of us" ("in time the savage bull doth bear the yoke" "i hope to see you one day fitted with a husband") & they either won't do it ("i will live a bachelor" "adam's sons are my brethren, and truly i hold it a sin to match in my kindred") or can't do it the way everyone else does ("i cannot woo in festival terms" "i will depart unkissed") & then when they DO court & marry they are not ceding their selves they are expressing a love that is unlike anyone else's & that is fulfilling enough to be worth it!

“This is what Shakespeare would have wanted.”

“Shakespeare wouldn’t have wanted this.”

No! You’re both wrong! Shakespeare wanted one thing and one thing only. To sell tickets.

If people spend money at the Globe theatre and don’t steal his bones then his ghost is happy

“Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones.”

Shakespeare’s actual grave. He put a curse on anyone that tries to touch his bones. That’s what Shakespeare wants. Buy tickets and don’t touch his bones.

[image description: a photo of shakespeare’s grave with the plaque transcribed above]

“Buy my stuff and leave me alone” - every writer’s creed

my uncle killed my father and married with my mother and now i must *remembers that suicide jokes do nothing for my mental health and wellbeing* put on a play

The children's show villain is a figure who sadly is not seen outside the children's show. There are few stock characters who as succinctly declare, from sheer stage presence, "the world is unloveable and it is painful to live here; that which delights mankind is like ash on my tongue" without being too fucking whiny about it.

maladaptive suicidal ideation: "i'm going to kill myself"

productive, growth mindset: "i'm going to steal all the instruments from Musictown!"

the notes are, as you expect, mostly dedicated to Robbie Rotten. a few odd ones pop along as well, declarations of love for the character archetype, but the real winner is the one who names Richard III as a children's villain for grown ups. As the big man puts it himself:

And in Act 3, Scene 1 describes himself as a "formal Vice," that is to say a stock villain in a morality play. Ricki-oh 3 there is as close as you get in a serious context.

I think Satan in Paradise Lost is also a pretty good candidate, for villainy done sincerely.

Don John from Much Ado has a pretty good go at it, although he is a leeeetle whiny.

From, “There is no measure in the occasion that breeds, therefore the sadness is without limit.”

To “I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace, and it better fits my blood to be disdained of all than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any: in this, though I cannot be said to be a flattering honest man, it must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain.”

Aaron from Titus, however, brings the sheer, cackling, unhinged joy of being evil which children’s villains sometimes have. When asked if he isn’t sorry for his “heinous deeds” answers:

“Ay, that I had not done a thousand more!” and then proceeds to list the most awful shit you’ve ever heard.

He also gets the final speech of, “O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?/I am no baby, I, that with base prayers/ I should repent the evils I have done:/ Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did/ Would I perform, if I might have my will;/ If one good deed in all my life I did,/ I do repent it from my very soul.”

Unfortunately, Aaron goes so far in to that vibe that, depending on how he’s played he can be a biiiitttt funny? But he can also be terrifying.

there’s gotta be an audience for m*cbeth fanart on here

Say what you want about the 2023 Shakespeare in The Park production of Hamlet, but the choices made in that play WORKED. Having Hamlet wear a black hoodie and camo pants and him dramatically putting his hood up when he was pissed off was inspired. Having Horatio video tape Claudius on an iPhone camera from the side of the stage during the play within the play was hilarious. Having the play within the play be a hip hop dance number that represented the murder!?! Fantastic. Having Ophelia be a singer before she went mad and having a beautiful voice that everyone loved to listen to and then seeing her singing get worse and worse as she got nearer to death?!?! Hamlet pulling out his iphone after killing Polonius to show his mom a picture of his dad compared to a picture of Claudius and angrily swiping back and forth between the two as he said “What judgement would step from this… to this?” The crowd fucking lost it every time. Horatio singing to Hamlet as he died made me fully sob every time. The way they did the ghost on stage was so chilling and I can’t even accurately describe it, you just had to be there. Hamlet being deeply exasperated the entire time was just perfect. Hamlet and Horatio had a secret handshake. Laertes inexplicably carried an acoustic guitar case for much of the play which was very funny but also hit you with the heartbreaking implication that he had used to play while Ophelia sang and he stopped carrying it after she died. It was peak teenage-angst-hamlet and it was so dear to me. PLEASE if anyone has a recording, send it to me.

OMG EVERYBODY LISTEN UP!!!

THEY'RE GOING TO BROADCAST THIS PRODUCTION ON PBC FOR FREE!! YOU CAN WATCH IT!! PLEASE DO!!!

Going to try to tag everybody who said they wanted to watch it in the notes:

Broadcast date: May 10th, 2024!!

The full thing is playing for me at my PBS website right now:

i like the idea of doing shakespeare adaptations set in high school a la 10 things i hate about you or she's the man but i feel like we're missing some opportunities by only doing the comedies. i wanna see macbeth but it's about a really high stakes student council election

Julius Caesar but they're going after the head of the PTA

Not really high school, but there *was* a Macbeth adaptation called Soctland, PA (2001) about a young couple (the McBeths) who worked at a fast-food establishment called Duncan's. It was a dark comedy, as opposed to a rom-com. Lots of murder. And French fries. (This movie was later adapted into a 2019 Off-Broadway musical which I thought was rather entertaining. Very violent, bloody, and funny.)

I saw the Player Kings earlier and had a fun conversation about the ways Shakespeare would break your heart as a maddeningly talented smug centrist if he was alive today. I think he'd be staunchly anti-terf, (too bi, too obsessed with gender fuckery) but then at the worst possible moment he'd write some godawful piece on the evils of cancel culture for the Times.

He'd sign open letters calling for civility in public life.

— Tom Stoppard, University of Pennsylvania, 1996 (via flameintobeing)

Plain

Details from Arthur Rackham’s illustration “And now they never meet in grove or green,” (1908) from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

Production of Hamlet where during the play scene Hamlet sets up a projector and puts on the Lion King