We discuss the film version (dir. Margaret Williams) of the Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre’s 2014/2015 HAMLET (dir. Sarah Frankcom) starring Maxine Peake as the Danish Prince. The production features several gender-swapped characters, including Polonia and Marcella, and features a stage completely surrounded by the audience. Find the complete list of production credits here.
Find a screening near you here. Maxine Peake will be attending the screenings at the Laemmle in LA for a post-show Q&A on April 28: details here.
Part 1
0:00–2:36: Intro, Addenda to Ep. 5 on Coriolanus, Shakespeare 400 announcements
2:36–3:13: How to see the Maxine Peake production
3:14–10:30: Guest introductions and first impressions of the production
10:30–17:00: Innovations in line readings, including pacing
17:00–19:42: Hamlet’s madness and his dumb plans
19:42–28:00: Where does “To be or not to be” belong anyway?
28:00–32:00: Making Act IV work and Hamlet’s trip to England
32:00–41:30: Staging Act I Scene 2 around the dinner table
41:30–53:30: Polonia, the gender-swapped Polonius
53:30–55:00: Claudius, the wet noodle, and his relationship with Polonia and Gertrude
55:00–1:02:34: Costumes! And clothing! And virginity! Oh my!
1:02:34–1:06:20: Why did they rip the mat up off the stage?
1:06:20–1:10:20: Bird’s eye views of the stage and actors
1:10:20–1:11:04: Outro
Part 2
00:00–0:50: Intro
0:50–8:12: Hamlet Sr. The Ghost
8:12–12:28: The fishmonger scene
12:28–30:00: Gender-swapping in the production
30:00–41:27: Using accents as a shorthand in Shakespeare productions
41:27–50:30: The Hamlet/Ophelia relationship
50:30-58:50: The theatre in the round and how it works
58:50–1:10:48: Filming the production for the screen
Contributors
Host: Alex Heeney (@bwestcineaste)
Guests: Laura Anne Harris (http://lauraanneharris.com), Caitlin Merriman (@CaitlinSnark), and Lesley Peterson
Editor and Sound Recordist: Cam White (@JediDusk)
Follow us on Twitter @21stFolio.
Resources and notes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-sZW-2V_yY
Watch Maxine Peake deliver “To be or not to be”
Purchase the DVD of the production from Amazon UK here.
We discussed Lindsay Turner’s production of Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which was the production we talked about in Episode 1 here.
We also mention the RSC film of Hamlet directed by Greg Doran and starring David Tennant. This production will be the focus of a future episode. You can watch Greg Doran’s Hamlet online for free on PBS here.
We recommended the Ontario Stratford Festival’s cinema screenings of their 2015 productions of Hamlet (details here) and Pericles (details here).