tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post4734049058777423324..comments2024-02-18T19:36:43.844+11:00Comments on theatre notes: Review: HamletAlison Croggonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-14831667121796483122008-07-29T16:27:00.000+10:002008-07-29T16:27:00.000+10:00It think it is important to remember what Bell Sha...It think it is important to remember what Bell Shakespeares company is all about; showing these classic plays in a way that relates to today, to connect with a new generation, and rejuvinate and shed new light on the themes and characters that have been potrayed in a similar way time and again. <BR/>In my eyes, Brendan Cowell nailed his performance and achieved all of the above. He showed me a Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-35484012298016497032008-07-29T13:29:00.000+10:002008-07-29T13:29:00.000+10:00Sorry for the typo. You probably realise I meant h...Sorry for the typo. You probably realise I meant harbingers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-8596953444037503352008-07-29T12:33:00.000+10:002008-07-29T12:33:00.000+10:00What's an 'arbinger'?What's an 'arbinger'?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-33653266477720334742008-07-29T12:19:00.000+10:002008-07-29T12:19:00.000+10:00HI Alison, from a first-time poster to your blog. ...HI Alison, from a first-time poster to your blog. My appreciation for the fairness and lucidity of your comments and commentary in the face of some vitriol that is hard not to denounce as bitterness. We all know the canon and we all know the 'right', tried elocutary ways to perform shakespeare, so why do we have to keep reproducing them without variation? Why not try new people, new approaches? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-41514331353975575922008-07-29T11:57:00.000+10:002008-07-29T11:57:00.000+10:00Fair question. I'm obviously not privy to the cast...Fair question. I'm obviously not privy to the casting decisions. When watching the play, I thought the intentions of the casting were very clear (which is why I said I didn't think it was cynical) even if the execution fell lamentably short. And the reasons seemed of a piece with the rest of the production - getting Sarah Blasko to do the music, for instance, which you could say was equally Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-36991179741196191722008-07-29T11:13:00.000+10:002008-07-29T11:13:00.000+10:00Hi Alison, I'm interested to know how this casting...Hi Alison, <BR/><BR/>I'm interested to know how this casting choice can be interpreted as anything <I>but</I> cynical?<BR/>Even offensively cynical.<BR/><BR/>Given that Cowell had done zero Shakespeare, he had no business headlining a national Shakespeare company production. <BR/><BR/>Trained or not, to reach 32 without touching on Shakespeare disqualifies you from playing Hamlet. In my humble Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-20163433939695793242008-07-29T00:52:00.000+10:002008-07-29T00:52:00.000+10:00I'm afraid I won't be going to see this production...I'm afraid I won't be going to see this production because I don't want to ... but anxious as I am to contribute something to conversation, I have just finished a dinner party with two friends who DID go and left well before it had finished because, in their words: "Life is too short for a bad Hamlet".<BR/><BR/>The work of Shakespeare is far less forgiving than almost any other playwright. That'sGeoffreyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05409350618909242278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-82917030524676571832008-07-28T20:05:00.000+10:002008-07-28T20:05:00.000+10:00i STILL say "Down with Squishy!"So there.i STILL say "Down with Squishy!"<BR/><BR/>So there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-19043267497244838222008-07-28T13:20:00.000+10:002008-07-28T13:20:00.000+10:00Thanks Ahoy - I'm glad you defended Cowell here. I...Thanks Ahoy - I'm glad you defended Cowell here. I could see exactly why he was cast, and don't believe at all, for all I am critical of his performance, that it was a cynical decision. The production certainly held my younger companions enthralled, and as you say, and as you say, to grab the absorbed attention of an audience is no mean feat.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-85612674503722276222008-07-28T12:11:00.000+10:002008-07-28T12:11:00.000+10:00Ahoy -I can understand the criticism surrounding C...Ahoy -<BR/><BR/>I can understand the criticism surrounding Cowell’s performance and to an extent I agree. There was quite a lot of flailing about and I longed for him to just stand still a moment. It was as if he needed a gesture or movement to illustrate each line. But I would put this on the director for not reigning it in a bit. <BR/><BR/>I saw this Hamlet as almost a bull in a china shop – Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-26627358651342229982008-07-24T13:20:00.000+10:002008-07-24T13:20:00.000+10:00I couldn't agree more Anonymous. Appalling and bla...I couldn't agree more Anonymous. Appalling and blatant marketing that does nothing but give theatre a bad name.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-9180665284688241482008-07-24T11:28:00.000+10:002008-07-24T11:28:00.000+10:00Who cares if Shakespeare was a Moorish wench with ...Who cares if Shakespeare was a Moorish wench with two heads? The play's the thing - and if you don't like the play then forget about it.<BR/><BR/>Not only is Brendan Cowell a poor casting choice - he is a DEEPLY depressing indication of what's wrong with this place - so uninspired, so lacking in rigour, so mediocre. And getting away with it.<BR/><BR/>Did Marion Potts have a synapse incident? <BR/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-66528035866667847222008-07-24T09:09:00.000+10:002008-07-24T09:09:00.000+10:00Noam, you big tease... what are those three or fou...Noam, you big tease... what are those three or four "landmark events in my life"? Do tell! (And when are you gonna start blogging instead of this brilliant guerilla commenting you do?)<BR/><BR/>[The comment "word verfication" is OZWOG!!!]Chris Boydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18215203610745043810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-15386177147890382212008-07-24T06:46:00.000+10:002008-07-24T06:46:00.000+10:00to be or not to be, that is the question...whether...to be or not to be, that is the question...whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them.<BR/><BR/>that is pretty damn special tho isn't it?<BR/><BR/>"as a decrepit father takes delight, to see his active child do deeds of youth, so I, made lame by fortunes dearest spite, take all my comfortAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-84766423844511163512008-07-23T12:11:00.000+10:002008-07-23T12:11:00.000+10:00Poor Theatre's film was quite something. It was a ...Poor Theatre's film was quite something. It was a fascinationg contrast to the Cowell performance. Petulance, passion and intellect.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-48924196251673647612008-07-23T12:00:00.000+10:002008-07-23T12:00:00.000+10:00Hello Big Man, hope you are still Smiling.I’m sure...Hello Big Man, hope you are still Smiling.<BR/><BR/>I’m sure you’re not alone in having reservations about Shakespeare but for me he’s pretty bloody good. <BR/><BR/>Very rarely do I see a production of his plays that totally fires but the three or four I’ve seen in the last 20 years have been landmark events in my life. So I would argue that mostly we fail to do his work justice. I find it can beAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-41884685557458383822008-07-23T11:47:00.000+10:002008-07-23T11:47:00.000+10:00I didn't know it had a Sydney showing - so glad yo...I didn't know it had a Sydney showing - so glad you had a chance to see it! I <I>loved</I> the ending - dawn rising over Bourke St, the camera sweeping around and returning to that empty bench. It's had me in tears each time I've seen it! (Three viewings, for the record). Pyros's rendition of that speech "What a piece of work is man" is, I think, burned into my brain.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-21662152085306784662008-07-23T11:34:00.000+10:002008-07-23T11:34:00.000+10:00That Poor Theatre film was really quite wonderful....That Poor Theatre film was really quite wonderful.<BR/><BR/>Bell Shakespeare and the STC showed it in Sydney and it was a breath of fresh air. <BR/><BR/>Although I found the ending quite weak, Pyros' portrayal as Hamlet was fantastic, fascinating and had that oomph missing from Cowell's version. And I'll never forget that Horatio either.Nicholas Pickardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06765213293334506905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-8695798186640331262008-07-23T11:07:00.000+10:002008-07-23T11:07:00.000+10:00You weren't alone, Nicholas. Chris Boyd, Camer...You weren't alone, Nicholas. Chris Boyd, Cameron Woodhead on the Age and I were pretty much on the same page on this one. Hard to get past us steely-eyed Melburnians...<BR/><BR/>Hi there smiling man... I'll defend Shakespeare any day. Of course he can be used in the cause of English imperialism (Olivier's Henry V being the classic example). And of course he can just be a vehicle for Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-37960154863176882562008-07-23T10:23:00.000+10:002008-07-23T10:23:00.000+10:00Thank you Alison. And here I was, thinking that I ...Thank you Alison. And here I was, thinking that <A HREF="http://artsjournalist.blogspot.com/2008/06/review-hamlet.html" REL="nofollow">I was all alone</A> with Sydney's rave reviews.<BR/><BR/>And anonymous, spot on ... read Jan Kott instead.Nicholas Pickardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06765213293334506905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-87845940604753748412008-07-23T10:10:00.000+10:002008-07-23T10:10:00.000+10:00Blah blah blah...I think, I am intertested, I for ...Blah blah blah...<BR/>I think, I am intertested, I for one, I wonder... who cares?<BR/>Read a book.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-87453938808204780782008-07-23T09:48:00.000+10:002008-07-23T09:48:00.000+10:00Thanks for your review Alison. It was very intere...Thanks for your review Alison. It was very interesting to read about Brendan Cowell. I was commenting to a friend on the Friday before we were to see the show that after seeing his second poster on the outside of the Arts Centre that he looked a bit more annoying than the first one (and I LOVED him in Noise) and made the comment that this production (and his performance) would have to be prettyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-88577004233502833112008-07-22T18:25:00.000+10:002008-07-22T18:25:00.000+10:00Hi TE - I'd love to, only I'm in Melbourne! (This ...Hi TE - I'd love to, only I'm in Melbourne! (This was the touring season...)Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7202906.post-77718812346004791072008-07-22T16:39:00.000+10:002008-07-22T16:39:00.000+10:00Welcome to Sydney Alison. Try to see "Don't Say th...Welcome to Sydney Alison. Try to see "Don't Say the Words' before it closes. Very good, fascinating deconstruction of a myth--think you'd like it. Anna Lise Phillips excellent.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com