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Clubbing: Pointless Bickering with Dr Who fans? (45)

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23 Feb 10, 1:16 AM
houseproudest
UK(SE), 4 yrs

hamlet's mother, who was still queen, re-married..preventing hamlet from taking the throne

Pavement? Wowee Zowee!

23 Feb 10, 1:34 AM
missuslovett
UK(TN), 5 yrs

A fabulous accompaniment to Hamlet is John Updike's 'Claudius and Gertrude'. As with all Updike's work it is a treat to read and gives a great literary 'insight' into the characters.

23 Feb 10, 6:05 AM
theDukeofMilan

UK(DA), 6 yrs

Sorceror wrote:
I enjoyed the David Tennant "Hamlet" but I didn't like the conceit of having Patrick Stewart play both Hamlet's father and Claudius. One of the main driving forces of the play is that Claudius is very different from his brother.

There's something strange about Hamlet, the play. It's almost as if 400 years on we still haven't caught up with Shakespeare. One of the main queries being why the clearly adult Hamlet (working from Yorik's death he's either late 20s or early 30s) hasn't become king himself on his father's death.

Hamlet is arguably the most flawed of Shakespeare's tragic "heroes" - weak willed and vacillating for a man who should be king (compare him to Shakespeare's Prince Hal or Henry V [I know they're the same]), narcisstic over Ophelia's death for which he is morally responsible, mocking over the death of Polonius who whilst "prattling" is clearly a loving and devoted father, who sends his friends Rosencrantz and Guildernstern to their deaths with no regret. There is "something rotten" in the state of Denmark indeed...

My favourite of the Philip K Dick film adaptations currently is "A scanner darkly" - excellent performances by Keenau Reeves (yes, I did just say that), Robert Downey Junior and Woody Harrelson and probably a better take on the drug world than Traffic.

Doctor Who was probably my first love as a television show. Many times it can be little more than horror flicks for the under 11's but some stories - particularly the Tom Baker classic "Genesis of the Daleks" - do achieve a transcendental magnificence.

S.x.

Excellent post. Some other experts have said that if only Hamlet had kept his trap shut everyone would be alive at the end of the play. Bloody students! Jude Law's Hamlet was good btw but the brown smart casual clothing for everyone not terribly regal...

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23 Feb 10, 6:08 AM
theDukeofMilan

UK(DA), 6 yrs

missuslovett wrote:
A fabulous accompaniment to Hamlet is John Updike's 'Claudius and Gertrude'. As with all Updike's work it is a treat to read and gives a great literary 'insight' into the characters.

Hello, darling. Didn't a certain senile delinquent give you that as a present?

And let's not forget Branagh's movie which is often truly majestic (probably needs two sittings though as it's bum-numbing otherwise. Not in a good way.)

MARKRAMSDEN.CO.UK

Edited 23 Feb 10, 6:09 AM by theDukeofMilan

23 Feb 10, 4:35 PM
missuslovett
UK(TN), 5 yrs

theDukeofMilan wrote:
Hello, darling. Didn't a certain senile delinquent give you that as a present?

Yes indeed! You gave me the opportunity to appear better read than I actually am.

The Ethan Hawke Hamlet is worth having a look at. An extremely stylish modern take set in The Denmark Corporation. Hawke's performance is only so-so but the concept is great and it's lovely to look at.