Remembering the walks in Fall 2022, I remembered the drive to Stratford to see Hamlet.
UNDERSTANDING SHAKESPEARE
In the morning, we had briefly gone through the great lectures on Hamlet and revised the tools of Drama of Ideas, Arch of development of characters, Stage craft which Professor Marc O Connor has illustrated through indepth studies of the historical plays, the tragedies and comedies of Shakespeare.
PREVIOUS TIMES
We remembered watching a modern adaptation of Othello at Riverwood in 2017. There was not much stage craft there and the characters made a lot of effort, but the modern day adaptation was forced. The character Iago ,adapted for the play reminded me of what an English teacher once told me, sitting in Khadra area of Tripoli “There is no character as diabolical as Iago in all of Shakespeare”.
Sahil had gone to Stratford in 2016 on the four centuries of Shakespeare and watched Macbeth.
On the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare we had gone through the characters of Prince Hal and Shylock and seen the range of human experiences conveyed through them.
HAMLET AT STRATFORD
The energy of the production was very intense, the lighting, stage craft, and spirited performance of the actors gave a different life to the play.
IDENTITY AND HAMLET
Dr.Connor writes in his guide book
“The first scene of Hamlet is one of the great scenes in world drama, and we won’t even meet Hamlet until the second scene. The very first words of the play—“Who’s there?”—introduce the great question of the play, the great question of Western literature, the question of identity: Who am I? Who are you? The response only deepens the mystery: “Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.” To the question of identity, the answer is refused, and then the question is posed again, but in a fascinating way: “unfold yourself.””
DISCUSSIONS OVER YESTER-YEARS
We have discussed some characters of Shakespeare, during our walks in Port Credit some like Falstaff and Shylock have broken beyond the confines of the play and talk to us across the centuries.
FALSTAFF
SHYLOCK
LESSONS THROUGH HAMLET
Identity through the specific play Hamlet and how a live performance, the energy makes us view our own humanity beyond the routine day-to-day life are some things which stayed with us through that visit to Stratford.
Meditating in an Apple Farm in Southern Tier New York-near Binghamton, I remembered some of museum tours, some plays, the joint energy of these trips.
OTHER PERSPECTIVES
Musings in Toronto Zoo-2016-july -six years ago
Prashant Bhatt's notes 