Michael Dobson Interviews Greg Doran (Artistic Director of the RSC)

Professor Michael Dobson interviews Greg Doran, Artistic Director of the RSC and Honorary Research Fellow, at Birmingham University's Shakespeare Institute. So proud of my alma mater!

Shakespeare Uncovered Premiere!

Calling out the Shakespeare Lovers everywhere! Don't forget to watch or set your DVR: The PBS series Shakespeare Uncovered premieres Friday, January 25, 9PM ET! Check your local listings.

This 6 episode series will begin with 2 back-to-back episodes. The series will discuss the history of the play in performance and new analysis with celebrated actors and celebrity guests. I can hardly wait!



January 25, 2013
Macbeth with Ethan Hawke
The Comedies with Joely Richardson

February 1, 2013
Richard II with Derek Jacobi
Henry IV & Henry V with Jeremy Irons

February 8, 2103
Hamlet with David Tennant
The Tempest with Trevor Nunn

Go see [title of show]!

Theatre Out opens their 2013 season with the Orange County premiere of [title of show]. This charming musical, written by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell, follows the semi-fictional characters of Jeff and Hunter as they write a musical about two guys writing a musical in three weeks! The show is filled with plenty of hilarious musical theatre references for the theatre geek inside us all.

Theatre Out’s production, directed by Tito Ortiz and featuring the talents of Spencer D. Blair, Jaycob Hunter, Laura De Lano, Amanda Raquel Knigh, with Stephen Hulsey on piano, is sure to make you smile from ear to ear.

Theatre Out. Empire Theatre located at 202 N. Broadway in Santa Ana’s Artist Village. Performances January 11, 2013 through February 23, 2013 (Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm with select Thursdays at 8:00pm). Tickets $20-25. www.theatreout.com.

Gertrude Questions Answered

Did Claudius and Gertrude have an affair before the death of Old Hamlet?

The ghost refers to Gertrude as an “incestuous and adulterate beast". In Elizabethan England, and according to the Old Testament book of Leviticus 20:21, marrying your late husband’s brother would be considered an incestuous act (“If a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing.”). Thus, when Gertrude remarries Claudius she effectively is guilty of incest. The word “adultery” may refer either to a marital affair (in the modern sense) or any sexual sin (in the Elizabethan sense), including incest. For certain, Gertrude is guilty of incest. Whether or not they had an affair is ambiguous, but Shakespeare certainly spares no expense in describing their heated sexuality. Claudius and Gertrude obviously have chemistry.

Does Gertrude know Claudius killed Hamlet, Sr.?

I have been thinking about this question a lot lately. I do not believe this one to be as enigmatic as some may believe. In my mind, the answer is ‘no’. There is no textual evidence to support the affirmative response to this question. First, she marries her husband’s killer—and act that seems unfathomable if she knows of foul play. She either doesn’t know, or she was 100% complicit. But if she were a true accomplice, there would be no reason for the ghost to instruct Hamlet to leave her sins alone (“Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive / Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven”). Her sins, while still vile, are not as great as murder and will “prick and sting” her as she lives. Let’s face it, no one knows of King Hamlet’s murder. It takes a ghost to make this fact known. Therefore Gertrude’s only deadly sin is her “o'erhasty marriage” as a crime of incest/adultery. Likewise, she shows no signs of guilt, counter to Claudius’ guilt which “smells to heaven”. Second, she shows surprise at Hamlet’s suggestion that his father was murdered. I believe her line "As kill a king?" in the closet scene is not so much an ‘Oh crap, Hamlet knows!’ as it is a realization of the possibility that Hamlet’s seemingly mad reality might be true. Perhaps she is naïve, or perhaps in that moment she is forced to consider a possibility she has formerly repressed. Whether she is ignorant or mentally inhibited, her innocence creates a further complication which stifles Hamlet’s ability to carry out revenge.  The ghost must reappear to remind Hamlet to help his mother, not hurt her. Still, Gertrude does not see the ghost. Assuming she now knows in her heart and mind that Claudius is a murderer, her attitude remains strikingly unaffected on the surface. This is partly because Hamlet instructs her to keep her distance from Claudius and be complicate in his feigned madness, and partly her own uncertainty. She lies to Claudius to protect Hamlet, telling Claudius that Hamlet "weeps for what is done" when clearly he does not.  She feels guilty for the actions that lead to Polonius’ death (“so full of jealously is guilt / it spills itself in fearing to be spilt”) and the subsequent madness of Ophelia, yet still does not outwardly take sides. Unless she knows the cup is poisoned…

Does Gertrude know the cup is poisoned?

Since the text is ambiguous it is difficult to tell. Perhaps Gertrude drinks knowingly, trading her son’s life for her own. Perhaps she is suspicious, but ultimately unsure if the cup is poisoned, risking her life to save Hamlet from certain death. Perhaps she is unaware, oblivious to the danger that awaits her, only recognizing the truth when she is faced with death. All seem a fitting end to a Shakespearean tragedy. Most Oedipal interpretations agree that Gertrude knowingly drinks the poison, bringing her relationship with Hamlet full circle – she then becomes the nurturing mother Hamlet desires.

Why does Ophelia give Gertrude rue?

It is interesting that the only herb Ophelia intends for herself is rue: "...there's rue for you, and here's some for me; we may call it herb of grace o'Sundays; O, you must wear your rue with a difference." Scholars commonly agree that the rue is also meant for Gertrude. The symbolic meaning of rue is regret, but the practical application of rue is as a powerful abortifacient which can be lethally toxic. Does this explain why Gertrude married Claudius so quickly after her husband’s death? Or is the rue simply in reference to the regret and repentance? Being the Shakespeare purest that I am, I tend to lean toward the latter.

To discover how I deal with these questions you must come see the play!
 

Where? The La Habra Depot Theatre
When? January 25th - Febuary 9th (Thurs/Fri/Sat @8pm, Sun @ 2:30pm)
Tickets? Visit http://lhdthamlet-esli.eventbrite.com or Goldstar.com

Approaching Gertrude

Last night we began blocking "the closet scene"/my favorite scene in Hamlet. After spending a minimal amount of time walking through it, I came home slightly disappointed and confused. Mostly, I felt dissatisfied with the mundaneness that overwhelmed me after working on what should be one of the most exciting scenes in the play. Perhaps I was just having an off-night, but I can't stop thinking about it. It is clear to me that I still have a plethora of unanswered questions in my head.

When I read Hamlet, I often ask myself ‘Why?’. There is the big why: Why does Hamlet remain in inaction for so long? And the whys that defy reason: Why does Hamlet hesitate to kill Claudius? Why does Hamlet so easily slay Polonius? Why is Hamlet so cruel to Ophelia? Etc.

This time, as I read the play, I have a whole new collection of whys: Why does Gertrude marry Claudius, and why so soon after the death of King Hamlet? Why does Gertrude reject her motherly identity? Why does Gertrude agree to banish her own son? In short, why is Gertrude so confusing?

In The Spiritual Shakespeare, “Spectres of Hamlet,” Richard Kearney describes Hamlet as “a story about the simultaneous necessity and impossibility of stories. Ophelia cannot tell her story until she goes mad (when she tells everything but is no longer herself: ‘Here’s rosemary for remembrance’); Claudius cannot tell his story, even in the confessional, until it is forced from him by the play within the play; Gertrude cannot tell her story because she is ignorant of it (she does not know that Claudius killed the King); Polonius and his fellow courtiers, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Osric, cannot tell their stories since they say only what pleases or deceives. Even Prince Hamlet cannot tell his story for as long as conscience makes a coward of him: not until, dying of a fatal wound, he begs his friend Horatio: ‘absent thee from felicity awhile to tell my story’.Which means that this is a play where no one actually tells their story, no one truly remembers, until Prince Fortinbras arrives too late on the scene, and announces: ‘I have some rights of memoryin this kingdom / Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me’” (Kearney 159-60).

Now, as an actor, the most important question I ask myself is ‘How do I tell the story?’ – A question negated by the inability of Gertrude to remember the past and plan for the future. Perhaps this explains my frustrations from last night.

If I consider the closet scene, Act III, scene iv, I am filled with more and more uncertainty. This pivotal scene presents a great deal of action and insight into the characters of Hamlet and Gertrude, but it also begs the answers to additional questions: Does Gertrude know of Claudius’ involvement in King Hamlet’s murder? Is Gertrude guilty of infidelity prior to the death of Hamlet, Sr.? Does Hamlet truly win Gertrude over to his side? These are questions that must be answered by me, the actor – It is clear I have a lot of work to do…

Hamlet Tickets Now on Sale!

The La Habra Depot Theatre Presents HAMLET

Featuring Jamie Sowers as Gertrude!

Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Kaitlyn Tice

 

About:
Join us for a telling of William Shakespeare's most famous tragedy Hamlet, Steampunk style! Watch as Hamlet's determination to avenge the murder of his father and remarriage of his mother builds to a complex mechanism of intrigue and introspection.

When:
January 25 - February 9, 2013
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays @ 8PM
Sundays @ 2:30PM

Where:

La Habra Depot Theatre

311 South Euclid Street
La Habra, CA 90631

Tickets:
General Admission: $15

Call the ticket line at (562) 905-9625 or visit http://lhdthamlet-esli.eventbrite.com
Limited discount tickets available at Goldstar.

Tickets are also available at the box office 2 hours before showtime unless the show has sold out.