I have seen Commonwealth Shakespeare in Park on Boston Common for many years now. I have seen their Midsummer, As You Like It, Comedy of Errors, Much Ado, Macbeth, Shrew, and Othello. I want to say I may have even seen them do a Tempest, a long time ago. But there’s one that I missed.

It’s 2005. They’re doing Hamlet. To the best of my knowledge they’ve not done Lear, so I try to explain to those close to me that this is, like, *it*. The big one. The must see. My wife and I have arranged to meet up with friends for dinner at a nice nearby restaurant (Number 9 Park, if you know the area) for the last weekend of the performance. When the day arrives? Torrential rains are in the forecast. I am not missing Hamlet. We head into town, and the rain begins. We’re not even sure our friends will make it in. It is a few hours before showtime, and I am using my phone (which, 6 years ago, was no iPhone let me tell you!) to keep trying the CommShakes homepage to see whether the show has been cancelled, and I see no notice. I call the number, but only ever get an answering machine. It is *nasty* outside. Raining cats and dogs. There is no way there is a show tonight.

But…15 minutes before showtime? The rain stops. Sun comes out. Hurray! I rush over to where the show is to be – empty, of course, except for some stage hands tending to the flooded sets. “I’m here!” I say, “Start the show! The rain’s stopped!”

They looked at me like I was insane. Perhaps, at that moment, I was. My wife (our friends had bailed) led me away as carefully as she might have led a mental patient while I just repeated “But….it stopped raining. Hamlet. It’s not raining anymore…..”

Thus did I miss my chance to see Hamlet in the park. But hey, I’m not bitter! I’ve seen their Comedy of Errors, and that’s just as good, right? Right?? 🙂 I have never again waited until the last weekend to see a show. I’ve even gone so far (the Midsummer year) to see the show once myself first, and then see it again with friends.

My point in rehashing that story is to link to what’s become of their Hamlet, Jeffrey Donovan. He’s now the star of the television series “Burn Notice”, and is coming back into town for a staged reading of a play called “Burn This”, something I don’t really know anything about.

Check out these quotes from the article, which I’m sure was written just to taunt me…

“That was, to this day, one of the greatest experiences of my life,’’ Donovan says. “To not only be given one of the most cherished and difficult roles in Shakespeare’s canon, but to do it in front of my hometown, basically. . . . It gives me chills even now.’’

Maler says the production was one of the highlights of the company’s history: “Seeing the way the audiences of Boston, and particularly young audiences, would gravitate toward his performance was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.’’

Argh. Why can’t I get *that* on DVD? I get enough David Tennant. Where’s the CommShakes petition?

Enter a Messenger

How now! what news?

Messenger

Letters, my lord, from Hamlet:
This to your majesty; this to the queen.

KING CLAUDIUS

From Hamlet! who brought them?

Messenger

Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not:
They were given me by Claudio; he received them
Of him that brought them.

KING CLAUDIUS

Laertes, you shall hear them. Leave us.

Exit Messenger

Reads

So I was reading Hamlet Act 4 today and noticed something. The messenger brings letters, clearly stated one for the king and one for Gertrude. Claudius then reads about Hamlet’s return, he discusses the plan with Laertes, and then Gertrude arrrives to tell of Ophelia’s death.

Does Gertrude ever get her letter? What’s in it, do you think? Is any mention made of it again?

Next Installment from Big Think includes a boatload of questions including:
* Which Shakespeare play would you save from a fire? [ Lear for me ]
* Which play would you let burn? (Maybe it’s not worded exactly that way, but that’s what I’m taking from it). Shrew gets no love here.
* “Are you a Hamlet or a Lear guy?” and is the difference between those two really “a young play” and “an old play”?

This sounds entertaining. Imagine telling Hamlet from the perspective of the players. As a comedy.

The focus is on a ragtag band of actors from Devon, England, playing the hinterlands. They’re far afield in Denmark, where they happen upon Hamlet, brooding over the murder of his father. Hamlet hires the troupe to stage a play for the king depicting a similar situation, hoping to catch the king’s reaction as proof that he’s the culprit.

But this is not Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Here, the title character is a vain wimp who complains about being cold and berates his bumbling guards. Other characters are hilariously altered as well: King Claudius is an imperious twit with a speech impediment. Queen Gertrude is a martini-swilling “cougar.” And Ophelia is birdbrained klutz. In this version, the players overhear that Claudius plans to kill Hamlet. They scramble to thwart the plot and to save their own skins.

The article doesn’t say whether they keep the bloodbath at the end, or if they change it for the sake of comedy. I’d be curious.