Hamlet, Scene by Scene

I’ve waited far too long to write about Hyperion to a Satyr, where the author appears to be going through Hamlet scene by scene. Big deal, you say?  Let me clarify.  The author is locating every version of Hamlet he can get his hands on, from film to graphic novel, and is doing a post per scene per version.  How did Mel Gibson handle the ghost in Act 1 scene 5? What about Tennant, what did he do different? And so on.  It’s really quite intriguing, and makes for an amazing amount of content. Once upon a time we did a similar, though much smaller experiment where I tracked down as many film versions of the scene where Ophelia returns the gifts to Hamlet.  I loved that post, it remains one of my favorites. How did Kevin Kline perform the scene at that moment? What about Jacobi, or Burton, or Brannagh or Olivier? Now imagine doing that, one post per version per scene, for the entire play.  It is a crazy huge undertaking.

2 thoughts on “Hamlet, Scene by Scene

  1. Huh – that's a bit what I've been doing with Twelfth Night (on paper – just starting the posting) – comparing some scenes (the shipwreck, the mad scene,the ending) in all of the productions available. Sheesh – I'm not even an original geek.

  2. Thanks for the link back, I'll be checking your take on that Ophelia scene as well as the rest of your blog.

    Finally getting into Act II now, more than a year after I started, but I still feel passionate about the project.

    Well, it IS Hamlet.

    Agoldoffish, you'll be getting a visit from me too. I'm definitely a Twelfth Night fan.

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