Star Trek: Deep Space Nine<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was shocked, incidentally, to see quite a few empty seats at this year\u2019s Utah Shakespeare Festival. \u00a0I don\u2019t know why that should be so; perhaps ticket prices have gone too high. \u00a0In any event, there were even empty seats for Hamlet<\/em>, which I found shocking. \u00a0This ought not to be so. \u00a0The Festival is one of the cultural treasures of Utah and the West.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll offer here just a few random observations about the play, in no particular order.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are innumerable great passages in Hamlet<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s one, indicating a remarkably high appreciation of \u201cMan\u201d at the same time that it expresses Prince Hamlet\u2019s disenchanted view of human frailty:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s another, expressive of how life looks to somebody \u2014 in this case, Hamlet himself \u2014 who is depressed and without hope:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable<\/span>
\nSeem to me all the uses of this world!<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
This passage, too, stands out, reflecting the sense that, even with our free choices, there is an overruling providence that guides what happens:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a divinity that shapes our ends,\u00a0<\/span>
\nRough-hew them how we will.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shakespeare\u2019s use of language is intoxicating and rich.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The audience laughed at that line. \u00a0However, it\u2019s not intended<\/em> to be funny and the audience\u2019s reaction was both predictable and inappropriate. \u00a0They laughed at it because it\u2019s become a clich\u00e9. \u00a0But it wasn\u2019t a clich\u00e9 when Shakespeare wrote it, and the fact that it has now become<\/em> a clich\u00e9 is, in a way, its own tribute to his greatness.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from St. George, Utah<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Many have already said so but, for me and my wife, the high point of this year\u2019s Utah Shakespeare Festival was its production of\u00a0Hamlet, which we saw on Friday afternoon.\u00a0 The direction was fresh, strong, and original, the cast was excellent, and Quinn Mattfeld was a powerful Prince of Denmark. \u00a0Polonius, by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"An](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/06\/640px-Shakespeare.jpg\")
<\/a>