Richard III as Hamlet?

In a writers workshop…
Gerard: I want to write a story, about vengeance, using the Hamlet premise, you know, a character who has to take revenge on his uncle for killing his father and marrying his mother.

Instructor: A lot of people died in that play.
Gerard: Exactly. Too many deaths. Too melodramatic. All caused by Hamlet being too indecisive.
Instructor: You want to make him more decisive?
Gerard: Yeah. Have him get in there. Take out Claudius without all the fussing about.
Instructor: Like Richard III? A killer from the get-go?
Gerard: That’s it.
Instructor: No “To be, or not to be”? The play would be finished in five minutes. No Hamlet.
________

Voice-over
Over in five minutes. What would happen if you replaced Hamlet with Richard III? Vengeance is Hamlet’s superwant. But the story is also driven by his internal conflict of thinking deeply, seen by some as indecisiveness. Richard III? A decisive psychopath. Without Hamlet, there is no inner conflict, no character-driven plot, no universal themes, no story. Hamlet: therein lies the genius of Shakespeare, lasting so far 400 years.

Juliet Departs from Romeo by Elevator

One kiss and I'll descend

On a balcony…

Juliet:

My lord, by yonder blessed moon I swear,

That trips with silver all these fruit tree-tops –

Romeo:

O swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,

That monthly changes in her circled orb

Lest that thy love prove otherwise variable.

Juliet:

What shall I swear by?

Romeo:

Do not swear at all

Or if thou wilt,

Swear by thy gracious self,

Which is the goddess of my idolatry

And I’ll believe thee.

I must hear from thee

Every i’ the hour

For in a minute, there are many days

O by this count I shall be much in years

‘Ere I behold my Juliet.

Juliet:

Farewell.

I will miss no opportunity

That may convey my greetings love to thee.

One kiss and I’ll descend. [She climbs down from the balcony via the tree]

Romeo:

Art thou gone so?

My lady, my lover, my friend.

_______________

Voice-over

A modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet which reverses gender roles.

And changes the order of lines slightly.

I would add that the director could have Juliet departing by ELEVATOR or perhaps by BUS in an aggressively contemporary version.

Suggested by the 1996 remake by Baz Luhrman, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
...

Othello and Desdemona Reversed

"I prithee name the time;
But let it not exceed three days."

Could it be done?

Oprah: Having a white Othello and a black Desdemona? Course it can. Anything’s possible.

Desmond: It’s stageable, granted, but wouldn’t Othello’s jealousy be diminshed?

Oprah: How about we rewrite the parts so the black Desdemona is betrayed by Emilia and becomes jealous and kills the white Othello? Double reverse punch.

Desmond: Now you’re viewing Shakespeare through a glass darkly.

Oprah: But it’d be a major rewrite to beef up the servant Emilia into the evil ensign Iago.

Desmond: Just occurred to me. Did the dark lady of the sonnets appear around the time he wrote Othello?
Oprah: Later. Othello 1604, Sonnets 1609.

________________

Voice-over

This has been done before.

“In 1997, the Washington Shakespeare Theatre staged a ‘photonegative’ production of Othello, with an almost black cast. Othello was white, as were all the servants in Brabantio’s house and the prostitute Bianca. What do you think the director was trying to achieve? Note: the majority of the population of Washington is black.” (Barnsley, 2007)

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Fearless Mouse

William S. and Christopher M. discuss science at the Globe.

...

William: Forsooth, did you mark where the Royal Physician disabled fear in a mouse?

Christopher: I did, though methinks it was not too taxing though, was not all he did was to stuff the mouse’s snout with balm?

William: Simple words make ornamental sentences. Simple science can spark an invention. What if we were able to modify human behavior through the sweets that grocers sell?

Christopher: William, you lag. They do it already. My humours stay balanced by imbibing nightshade, and my doctor, his name is Faust, believe you not, he stopped his age at three score by taking dried toad, sage and vinegar. Old Nick is unsatisfied yet.

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