Construction/Deconstruction

[Richard Hurst]

Regarding Richard Sutherland's post concerning Macbeth ...
 
        I have had two relatively recent experiences regarding "adaptations"
or cuttings of two Shakespeare plays, one being a recent ROMEO AND JULIET
(in which I played Friar Lawrence), the other, the Keanu Reeves HAMLET (in
which I had a variety of small roles).
        The R & J was done mainly for High School audiences (although a
number of evening performances were also done). Getting this one down to two
hours is a relatively easy task. The director, however, had agreed, as part
of the contract with the Theatre, that she would come in under two hours! We
certainly felt the pressure of that requirement the closer we got to
opening, discovering that we were "overtime". It got rather tense as large
sections of speeches were slashed and characters were cut two days before
opening. The rationale at that point was time. Prior to that, a
"serviceability" was the excuse ... the kids wouldn't sit still for longer
than two hours (which was really not the case at all) and "so much in the
script is repetiton anyway". Lord, the Bard certainly gets no respect, does
he? It came down to negotiating to get lines back that had been axed,
trading one for another. Sad and, to my mind, not justifiable!
        The Reeves HAMLET was somewhat of a different matter. As it was, the
production was three and a half hours long, but (depending on who you talk
to) the audience was rapt for the whole time. Having an involvement with
Keanu as I did (as his repititeur) I discovered his disappointment at the
cuts our director had made (again to get it in under a certain time frame -
IATSE house - a requirement that went by the boards after a huge blow-out
between the director and the AD) had brought the play back to the "revenge
tragedy" format, something that Keanu averred Shakespeare had departed from
with this particular play. The evolution of the character psychologically
was a new direction for a play in Shakespeare's time with the audience
watching (and listening) to the choices and ruminations, the insights as to
why specifically HAMLET does what he does and thinks what he thinks. A lot
was lost in this regard and Reeves took great exception to being forced to
"re-compute" his character as the rehearsal process went on (he had learned
the entire play prior to arrival). Some tough discussions were held
frequently in front of the entire cast with little being resolved. The
result of all the haranguing was a relatively smooth flow to the story, but
at the expense of the journey of the character. But how many audiences will
sit through the whole of HAMLET for five hours?
        Is it time? Is it the poetry? Is it the inability of actors to deal
with the text? Is it the inability of the director to deal with the actors
dealing with the text? Ponderous questions. Any more thoughts out there?
Richard Hurst