Thursday 7 April 2011

The play's the Thing- Hamlet II

A great series of articles on the current state of the Drama, and what the difficulties of time have on the stage. 
http://theplay.blogspot.com/2005/06/how-long-should-play-be.html

These articles made me think of what the purpose of comedy plays are then. Are they filled with lofty ambition or just for some very sly humour? A bridge to this is the satire- biting in moments but funny and insightful the next line. Our company, Gas & Light Productions, is putting on Hamlet II- Better than the Original. It's a satire or spoof of Hamlet, which is so much fun to lambaste. It's short, 1 1/2 hrs, fast and funny. It is not long, has no preteniouns about making the audience think of societal ills, of lost love, and the future of humanity. Hamlet II is fun and fresh, and I wonder if the Drama community as a whole started to look at those qualities over being ART, then maybe they'd have less concern over length and more on content.

No- this was not a history blip- no time to research this week I'm afraid- but I'll find something good on olde Hamlet for next time.