Word: rosencrantzes
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Shostakovich's score swells at all the wrong places. When Hamlet confronts Ophelia "mad," there is a chance for some very sinister stuff: a glaze-eyed Aryan appears, bearing down on her. But up jumps a nervous little Dragnet theme to turn it ludicrous. When Hamlet asks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, "Am I easier to fret than a pipe?" the scene is played in heavy silence that exaggerates its portent. But presumbaly that's the director's doing, as, unfortunately, is a lot else...
...Crimson hurlers have carried the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern routine to an extreme. In Harvard's 3-4 win over Penn last Saturday, McCandlish was hit hard in the first three innings. Scott came in, held the Quakers to one run for the rest of the game, and picked up the win. When Harvard battered Brown 16-3 on Wednesday, Scott pitched the first five innings. The McCandlish took over and limited the Bruins to a single hit over the last four innings...
Those who remember Earle Hyman's exemplary Horatio in the Festival's earlier production can only be disappointed by John Devlin's bland and colorless performance. Patrick Hines, who did Rosencrantz before, has moved up to Polonius. Given to excessive handclapping, he takes the easy way out and plays the role only for its comedy. Polonius is much more than the "foolish prating knave" Hamlet calls...
Clement Fowler and William Redfield made me understand for the first time how Hamlet can without any concern order Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed. They are ingratiating, flattering, effeminate, but vicious; when Hamlet kills Polonius and leaves himself exposed, they turn on him almost snarling as they order him before the king...
...same violent mood serves him well later when he emits a shriek of triumph after the play scene, when he offers more-than-filial embraces to his mother, and when he mimics the affected posturing of Rosencrantz in the recorder scene...