Hamlet

[beowabbit]

Lovely evening last night with cathijosephine and C. watching Hamlet for free on the Boston Common. It was, um, a somewhat nontraditional production.

POLONIUS: What do you read, my lord?
HAMLET: Words, words, words.
POLONIUS: What is the matter, my lord?
HAMLET: Between who?
POLONIUS: I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.
HAMLET [reading]: Warning: Not a lifesaving device. Do not leave children unattended.

But I enjoyed it. I really liked the spare, geometric set. (cathijosephine didn’t.) Basically, they used lighting instead of paint, which worked for me. Anyway, a lovely time, with good company.

Then at cathijosephine’s last night, I had a political dream. It was about the epic struggle of Civilization against the Republicans, but I sort of got cheated out of a real dream. This is a dream; it’s supposed to be grandiose, with interned progressive dissidents breaking out of the Republican gulags, and villagers with torches and pitchforks swarming the National Mall, and tearful televised confessions of treason and deceit by the President and his advisers.

But no, in this dream I was in a rented room somewhere with a bunch of other people, sitting on folding chairs under fluorescent lights, listening to a tall man with thinning hair and a rumpled shirt talk about how important it was to stand up to Republican control of government by donating money to various Democratic and progressive campaigns, and going on about the various candidates we could contribute to and why each race was important and what the chances were, and what would happen if so-and-so won the Republican primary in that district instead of thus-and-such, and how this bill might look when it got out of conference committee, and so on, and so forth. Mind you, in the dream, I was happy to be there, happy to be able to contribute and maybe do some good, but where were the gigantic space battles?

Comments

[omly.livejournal.com]

This past weekend on NPR there was this really interesting article about what do people dream about based on their political affiliation, economic status and gender. I believe they said women and liberals (but particularly liberal women) dream about politics the most. Apparently conservatives tend to dream... well conservatively... about day to day stuff that they really do alot, like going to work or eating dinner.

[beowabbit]

Interesting! And confirms my prejudices. :-)

By the way, I can't place you from your bio or userpics. Have I met you in person? If so, wanna drop me email (js at aq dot org, or my LJ address) and let me know who you are? (Not necessary, I'm just curious.) And if not, feel free to say hi next time we're at the Diesel at the same time!

[omly.livejournal.com]

very brief email sent

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Sounds like a fun rendition of Hamlet!

Maybe your subconscious needed a restful break from titanic, epic struggles.

[heinleinfan.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed the production, I appreciate a good modernization or a good "new" use of a phrase in Shakespeare.

I found the set jarring myself. I really, really liked it, but I thought it was a little too stark and modern for an outdoor production, that's what bugged me about it.

[motive-nuance.livejournal.com]

I'm not a Shakespeare purist by any means, but when productions get too strange I do feel kind of bad for people who are seeing the play for the first time. (This is probably less likely for Hamlet than almost any of the others though.)

[mrpet.livejournal.com]

I remember a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor...Canada ;) It was set in a tiki bar with some of the cast in Red Wings jerseys and they interjected 'You Hoser' and 'eh?' all over the place. The best part was the duel, it was recast as a golfing match *hee hee* I seem to remember them eventually going after each other with clubs and golf umbrellas!

[magid.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a fun production! I wonder how they'll play it this fall at Theatre@First...

[mrpet.livejournal.com]

It was really fun. I saw it when I was an Usher for the Hillbery (graduate theater, Wayne State University) I'm pretty sure it was a combined troupe with the undergrads.

[bitty.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'd been hoping to get out and see this Hamlet, but trip-planning has dominated my brain for so long now. Thanks for the reminder :)

[beowabbit]

Schedule permitting, I might be interested in seeing it again.

*Looks at userpic.* Eew!

[bitty.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure we'll have the time to get to see it at all. *sigh*

Oh, and the userpic was Just For You :)

[moechus.livejournal.com]

I'm planning on seeing it tomorrow (Friday) night. I posted it on my LJ (I'm pretty sure I'm on [Unknown site tag]'s friend's list but not sure about you. Anyway, if you're interested leave a comment there or email me at moechus /at/ yahoo /dot/ com. Otherwise, Gute Reise (enjoy your trip)!