Who in the News, and Sheakespeare and Me

DAVID; "Hey guys, look! I had my teeth cleaned yesterday!"

Word is that Doctor Who star David Tennant has been approached to play and direct the RSC's production of Hamlet, next summer.

I think he'd be crazy to pass that up, but then, I'm not him. I am guessing he's maybe leaving after Series 4, if he's even considering this, as he certainly wouldn't be able to do both Who and Hamlet at the same time...but that's putting the cart before the horse.

I first read--or, more accurately, tried to read Hamlet in my late teens. Having never studied the bard, and being American, and a not particularly bright student (graduated high school in the bottom 75 of a class of more than 500) and totally unfamiliar with the Elisabethan lingo, I was rather unsuccessful. My only contact with anything Shakespearian in high school, was a trip to the movies to see Romeo and Juilet--without any instruction from the teacher as to what we were going to see--we just were told to get on a bus one day, and go see this movie--didn't like it, bored me to death. I was 15 at the time.

But, at 19, In the summer of '80, I decided to give Hamlet a go. No idea why, other than I'd always heard about it. As I recall I got about halfway through and gave up the ghost. I brought it with me to Yellowstone Park--a wilderness area, no tele or much radio, even---to occupy me during my summer work holiday at Old Faithful, but it was a poor choice, I guess, for me back then. I think, until my forties, the only Shakespeare story I ever managed to slog through was Richard II, back when I was in my mid-thirties. I Liked that.

At our small, local two-year college, I still didn't formally study any Shakespeare, but...In 2002, I got to play a part in a comedic 15 minute Hamlet play (have a dorky pic of me in rehersal) that we did as an in-class workshop. And that was quite fun--and, I learned a bit more about the real play, in the process, which was pretty neat. It was a fun little workshop. There weren't enough guys, so, because of my build, I got a guy's part, which was very interesting, trying to play a guy. I like doing different stuff. I wasn't any good mind, but I liked it anyway. Also for that class, we had the great treat of getting to go to the Shakespearean Theater in Lenox, Massachusetts to see MacBeth. Oh, that was fantastic! I loved every second of it! I think that was my very first live theatrical performance of a Shakespeare play. It was a genuine joy, let me tell you.

But, it wasn't until the summer of 2004, that I FINALLY got to actually study Hamlet, in depth. To make up some credits I'd lost, I enrolled in summer study at my 4 year college in Vermont. The class was world lit, and it was fantastic--we had class every day for three hours, which would have been a drag, between the hot 50 mile drive (no air cond. in my car) to and from school down the two lane roads (I think you folks in the UK refer to them as "A" roads?), having to get up early during summer holidays (was also caring for my mum) and all that heavy duty studying. But we had a great prof, who loved this stuff and taught it in such a way as to make it completely contemporary for our understanding...we did the Oedipus Cycle (funny how human nature never changes, ey?), and Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Terese Raquin, and...Hamlet! We read it, discussed it, and later, watched a film of it, and discussed it some more...it was really great--tough for me to get through, but I really enjoyed it--well, mostly I enjoyed it.

Our tests in this class were mostly to be hand-written answers, sort of mini-essays, no easy tests with this prof--we had to prove that we were paying attention and knew our stuff. I got an A- in this class, and only then, by the skin of my teeth. Like I said, I really am not overly bright, I mean that truthfully. I really have to work my arse off to "get" stuff--'tho writing has always come pretty easy, everything else comes very hard--everything. Shakespeare doesn't come easy to me--sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around it--but gosh, don't I just love how he used his words...such majesty and beauty has never been used by anyone else in history to such effect. I just wish I could have taken more classes like this. Too bad it was the only one. I am dull, I suppose. Studying Shakespeare was something I'd always wanted to do, tho' I knew it would be a tough row to hoe, for me. Still, I at least got my wish, albeit, in a very small way...but, if I could only study one of his plays, I reckon I couldn't do any better than with Hamlet, ey?