German Theatre and Lear

I am certainly not the first, nor will I be the last, to admit that German theatre is strange.  I am a big fan of all things German and all things theatre, but German theatre??  Even I don't understand all of that.

As I was cruising YouTube looking for German versions of King Lear (I just did a search for "König Lear" and found 46 results), I found a few trailers for theatre productions done in various cities in Germany, like Köln, Cottbus, and Hamburg.

From these trailers we get a feel into the staging, costuming, and direction and I repeat : The Germans are Weird.

In two of these productions that I found, Lear was a woman, one had her with three sons, completely reversing the traditional gender roles. An interesting directorial choice, I wonder how that would change the meaning or effect of the play?

Two productions had an Oriental feel to them, with actors running around with wooden kendo swords. ???  Though I was impressed with the rotating, slanted stage that they had, that would certainly be fun to play around with!

Shakeseparean YouTube video of the day

I found this and just had to share.  If Abbott and Costello were Shakespearean actors, this is what it would sound like.

And because I am currently reading King Lear and watching Slings & Arrows season 3:

"When all has been said and all have been slain
It’s good to take a walk in the rain
For several hours
Helps to have a howl in the rain
Without your clothes on
Nice to take a walk in the rain"

A few final words to Hamlet: Staging

I have some experience with theatre, being the technical director for New Play Project and a producer for Zion Theatre Company.  When I think about staging hypothetical productions I generally think of one of two theatres where I have worked: my high school auditorium, a really nice space that was built for us while I was in high school, a large space with really nice lights and sound system; and the Provo Theatre space, this is a tiny theatre, fitting only 125 people, with a stage I can cross in three large steps, and an even smaller backstage.

Thinking about these two very different spaces gives a very different production, for I am very much of the opinion that productions need to be altered to fit the space.  You cannot do the same thing in two different theatres.

As I read Hamlet, I thought about how I would stage it at the Provo Theatre.  I am a fan of very simplistic sets, letting the audience help you build the scenery, getting them involved with the production.  If your actors and your script are god enough to get your audience involved, you don't need distracting elaborate sets and costumes, especially when this causes scene changes to be extremely long.

If I were to stage Hamlet at Provo Theatre, I would have to do some script edits.  I would probably edit out a few of the extraneous characters, since there is not a whole lot of space on stage for some of those court scenes where everybody's on stage.   I would probably either cut Rosencrantz and Guildenstern completely, or combine them into just one character (Rosenstern?  Guildencrantz?).  I don't really see these characters as very necessary to the overall plot of the play.  
I might also combine the two clowns into one, and have their dialog spoken between the one clown and Hamlet or Horatio.  That might change some of the meaning of the lines, that would be interesting to see.

Hamlet, Acts 2 and 3

These two acts have some more impressive speeches, including my absolute favorite - "What a piece of work is a man."   What I found very interesting with this reading is the word "a".  I have always thought the speech was "What a piece of work is man" when it really says "What a piece of work is a man." That single word "a" makes a huge difference.  Without it Hamlet seems to be speaking about mankind in general, all of us at once, collectively.  But he is really speaking about a man, an individual.  Each of us individually are "noble in reason", "infinite in faculties", "In action how like an angel", "in apprehension how like a god."  Each of us have within ourselves this immense power of potentiality.  Not just as a whole.  Sometimes I am a little cynical and find it hard to see the "Götterfunken" - spark of God, as Schiller writes it - in individuals, when it is easier to see this power collectively.  


Of course, at this point Hamlet is very much in his melancholy moment, despairing, having "lost all [his] mirth."  He speaks these wonderful words about the grandeur of humanity, only to follow them with, "to me what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me -no, nor woman either." He is fed up with the world and the injustices he sees in it. 


And then of course there is Act 3, scene 1, "To be, or not to be."  Such a famous speech, everybody and their dog knows it, it must be hard for an actor to step into the role of Hamlet knowing that he will have to perform this speech.  As Jack says in Slings and Arrows:

Cheer up, Hamlet

This little gem comes from a Canadian television show Slings and Arrows, this is their theme song from season 1.

"So your uncle is a cad who murdered dad and married mum, that's really no excuse to be as glum as you've become."

Hamlet, Act 1

Hamlet is the first play we are reading as a class. This is a big one, everyone has heard of Hamlet, everyone knows "To be or not to be..." and the general plot, but who knows much more than that?

I have read Hamlet before, but it's been a while. I remember basically who the characters are, what's going on and why, but it is nice to reread this play and pay attention to the language. Particularly the amazing soliloquies. My favorite, even more so than the famous "To be or not to be", and coming in just ahead of "What a piece of work is man", is the soliloquy of Hamlet's in Act One, Scene Two.

What I find very interesting is what this speech tells us about Hamlet.  At the beginning he is wishing that he could die, that his flesh would melt, or that God had not commanded against suicide so that he could kill himself without guilt.  And all because of the sorrow he feels at his father's death, and what he perceives as his mother's betrayal.