This week we begin our reading of Hamlet. I think we will read two Acts this weeks, two Acts next week, and then we'll do Act V on the final week. You're more than welcome to read ahead, but do record your thoughts as you go to share. I don't think it should take anyone three weeks to read Hamlet but there are two reasons why we're doing it this way. First is that we don't want to leave anyone behind, but also because I expect there will be a lot to be said about each portion we're reading.
I've been looking forward to this one since we began this group. I think you will all enjoy it as much as I will.
So, this week, everyone read Acts I and II. Next week we'll post our comments.
As usual, I like to post something relating to the piece we're reading and Hamlet is another one with, frankly, too much material available. There are many parodies, raps, puppet shows, straight performances, cartoons, MST3K, also a video of Charles Nelson Reilly doing the "Oh that this too too solid flesh"soliloquy which I was so close to posting from Youtube, not to mention all the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead material, and, believe me, you should be thanking me for wading through them so you don't have to. I actually didn't have to either because I finally decided that I should set the bar of the magnificent work of art we are about to delve into with another magnificent work of art. So I chose to post Natalie Dessay's simply marvelous performance of Ophelia's mad scene aria "Pâle et blonde" from the opera Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas. I thought this was staggeringly beautiful. The response of the audience is, in my opinion, entirely called for.
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