Thursday, March 6, 2014

Is there a unique way I could enact Hamlet's to be or not to be?

I am one of those who avoids, in matters Shakespearean, the unique or gimmicky presentation. I find all such efforts distracting because Shakespeare's plays are so very familiar that any tinkering becomes misleading. That is not to say that every actor that has played a leading role, such as that of Hamlet, has not tried to put his own personal stamp on the character and a soliloquy, especially this one.


Lawrence Olivier, in the movie version, did the speech on a high precipice overlooking an angry sea while holding a dagger; Ethan Hawke did it in a kind of stupor while walking the aisles of a video store; Kenneth Baragh did it very dramatically while facing a mirror; Richard Buton presented it as a well-rehearsed speech as if Hamlet knew he was being overheard; Mel Gibsom over-dramatized it while walking in echoing catacombs. All too precious for my tastes.


What I would suggest is honesty to the words and the man. Treat it as a serious dialectical argument by a person who loves to think things out and to hear himself talk. It is a riff, an improvisation by a man who intends to do nothing but contemplate life and death for the sake of contemplating.


Take your time; weigh each argument as if it were a fresh and original idea... one thought arising oranically from the other. "To be, or not to be to be, that IS the question." Like that, as if you really meant to think it through. Take your time. Make a statement and answer it... let the thoughts unfold naturally.


Given all the "unique" ways this monumentally famous soliloquy has been presented over the centuries, present it quietly and honestly, as if it these were your thoughts and you were thinking them for the very first time. That may be the most unique presentation of all.


Listen to, but don't look at (for it's just too creepy), the YouTube link below, for it is something very close to what I am suggesting.

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