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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 19.0161  Tuesday, 11 March 2008

[1] 	From:	Joanne Dalton <laurelin@bigpond.net.au>
	Date:	Saturday, 8 Mar 2008 11:12:26 +1100
	Subj:	Re: SHK 19.0150 The Best Hamlest

[2] 	From:	Jeffrey Myers <jmyers@goucher.edu>
	Date:	Saturday, 8 Mar 2008 06:52:20 -0500
	Subj:	Re: SHK 19.0150 The Best Hamlet


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:		Joanne Dalton <laurelin@bigpond.net.au>
Date:		Saturday, 8 Mar 2008 11:12:26 +1100
Subject: 19.0150 The Best Hamlet
Comment:	Re: SHK 19.0150 The Best Hamlet

Mario Ghezzi <mghezzi@optusnet.com.au>

 >The best Hamlet I ever experienced was Richard Roxburgh's
 >Hamlet for Company B's production in 1999 in Sydney Australia.
 >Here was the mercurial minded and 'lethal' youth so often
 >missing from productions with older players. This Hamlet indeed
 >suffered because he knew too much about this 'sullied flesh' we
 >all inhabit and that he had been born to 'set it right' in the 'prison'
 >of Denmark. It was directed by Neil Armfield, a gifted talent if
 >there ever was one. By the way, Geoffrey Rush played Horatio
 >and was the best I have ever seen in the role. Let me put in a
 >word for the quality of Aussie Shakespeare productions.

Just a small correction - this production was actually in 1994, not 1999.

This was also the best Hamlet I have ever seen as well (and of the 
productions in the Guardian's list, I've seen Simon Russell-Beale, Sam 
West and Alex Jennings).  Along with Richard Roxburgh and Geoffrey Rush, 
the Company B production also had David Wenham as Laertes.

And when it transferred to Melbourne for a short season in 1995, 
Jacqueline McKenzie who was Ophelia in Sydney was replaced by Cate 
Blanchett.

Joanne Dalton

[2]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:		Jeffrey Myers <jmyers@goucher.edu>
Date:		Saturday, 8 Mar 2008 06:52:20 -0500
Subject: 19.0150 The Best Hamlet
Comment:	Re: SHK 19.0150 The Best Hamlet

David Rintoul with four other actors, all in black jeans and t-shirts, 
on a bare stage (but for 4 folding chairs) at Goucher College in 1986 (I 
believe). Not only was Rintoul brilliant as Hamlet, but there was no 
extraneous distraction between audience and actors. The necessary 
doubling was handled without confusion. The actors never leaving the 
stage allowed a brisk pace that, in turn, made cutting the play seem 
less necessary (never seems necessary to me). I still remember it as the 
best Shakespeare performance I ever saw.

Jeff Myers

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