Hyperion to a Satyr - The Fire and Water Podcast Network's Hamlet Podcast - continues Siskoid's scene-by-scene deep dive into Shakespeare's masterwork, discussing the text, but also performance and staging through the lens of several films, television, comics and even a rock opera. In Act I, Scene 5, Part 2, a mad-seeming Hamlet forces his friends to swear an oath.
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Credits:
Theme: "Fanfare" from 1996 Hamlet, by Patrick Doyle, with clips from that film, starring Ray Fearon; the 1980 Hamlet, starring Derek Jacobi; and the 2009 Hamlet, starring David Tennant.
Bonus clips: Hamlet 2009 by Gregory Doran, starring David Tennant; Hamlet 1996 by Kenneth Branagh, starring Jack Lemmon; Hamlet 1948 by Laurence Olivier, starring Laurence Olivier; Hamlet 1980 by Rodney Bennett, starring Derek Jacobi; Hamlet 1990 by Franco Zeffirelli, starring Mel Gibson; Hamlet 2000 by Michael Almereyda, starring Ethan Hawke; Hamlet 2007 by Alexander Fodor, starring William Belchambers and Katie Reddin-Clancy; and "Je suis fou" and "On a peur pour lui" by Johnny Hallyday.
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As I mentioned before here, as a repeat reader/watcher, I bring my own formed conclusions to the productions. For example, as I said before, I think Polonius is a buffoon and a dullard. So even in scenes or in versions where his nefarious nature is played up, I tend to ignore or just keep my preconceived notion.
Here, my take is Hamlet is quite sane and starts out thinking he is going to feign madness only to then ACTUALLY descend into insanity.
So I loved the breakdown here of performances, pointing out subtleties which might hint that the madness is already there. In particular, learning that Olivier did the voice of the Ghost in the film is a nice deep cut, questioning the sanity of the prince. And the rock opera just saying outright he is mad at this point is a gutsy call.
Always a great show!