I was cruising YouTube looking for video this evening, and I ran across this clip that shows two different interpretations of the first Miranda/Prospero scene from The Tempest. What caught my attention is that the second clip is Patrick Stewart as Prospero.  

http://www.themovieblog.com/2008/07/hamlet-2-rock-me-sexy-jesus You guys know where I’ll be August 22! 🙂  Rock me rock me, rock me sexy Jesus,
We’re really amazed, you gotta believe us… Of course, it does not go unnoticed that a trailer for Hamlet 2 does not have any reference to Hamlet or any other Shakespearean topic. Don’t forget to check out the “enlightened” comments, too.  Those are always good for a hoot: “Its sad!  No wonder this nation is falling!”
     “The nation is falling due to Rock me sexy Jesus?”

http://emsworth.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/what-harry-potter-could-have-learned-from-hamlet/ I like this comparison of Harry Potter and Hamlet, which basically comes down to “JK Rowling had one of the grandest tragedies ever written shaping up, until she lost her nerve.”

After ripping it to my ipod for train watching, I have finally finished Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard.  Starring Gary Oldman as Rosencrantz, or possibly Guildenstern, and Tim Roth as Guildenstern, or possibly Rosencrantz. First and foremost, the acting from the two leads is just off the charts amazing.  The whole essence of the role is that these two characters are just literally dropped into a play in progress, and have no idea where they came from or why they are there (other than “We were sent for” which they cling to for dear life).  The nature of the pair, so similar that they’re not even quite sure who is who, is fascinating, even in the little details like watching them walk down stairs in a sort of unintended synchronous march. There are moments of laugh out loud humor (mostly from poor Rosencrantz, who at times seems an Elizabethan Einstein, when no one is looking), and moments of quiet existential philosophy that would make Hamlet himself say “Huh, never thought of that.” Most of all it is the acting that carries the day.  Richard Dreyfuss wanders through the play as leader of the Players, trying to point out the nature of “tragedy” to ill-fated R & G, who never quite seem to get what he’s telling them….not that it would matter if they did, which is sort of the whole point. I thought it was great.  Glad I finally watched it.  Highly recommended.

From my soon-to-be 4yr old daughter this morning, re: The Tempest… “Who was the tall girl with the white hair?”
    “That was Ariel, remember?”
“No. No, no, Daddy.  Ariel had the big wings, and she was all in black.”
   “Well, yes, that was Ariel too.  That was Ariel when he was mad.  Ariel’s a boy in this one.”
“And then those people tied him up so he wouldn’t get away!” That last one sounds like a non-sequitur for those that didn’t see the show.  When Ariel exits, it’s almost impossible for him not to get caught in his own wings :).  It looks, to a 4yr old, like he’s been captured by the people who were hiding behind him holding a net.   My 6yr old, on the other hand, was disappointed that there were in fact no big dogs to chase Stefano, Trinculo and Caliban from Prospero’s cave.  “I don’t think they had any real dogs to work with!” I said. “Daddy,” she said in that patient voice of children speaking to adults, “Not real dogs.  But maybe they could have had dog *costumes*, and somebody could have dressed up like a dog.”   The 2yr old summed up his experience more succinctly:  “Caliban monster?”  I think he was confused after the show when the actor playing Caliban had come over to talk to us, and the let the kids play with the noise makers.  We had to explain that he wasn’t a monster, just somebody pretending to be a monster.   If this were a movie, they would watch it a few dozen times until every detail was memorized (just like with any given episode of Sesame Street). That’s the sad part about live theatre, at that age.  If they’re at all confused, they have no time to fully process what they’re seeing before it is gone.  I guess I’ll just have to make sure they see lots of theatre! 🙂