THEATER. ETC.
397
the Beatles in America,
What's Happening,
than in all American story–
films made this year. You have to take life where you can find it.
Last, and I suppose least, a few words about two Shakespeare
productions.
From John Gielgud's excellent essay, "The Hamlet Tradition-Some
Notes on Costume, Scenery and Stage," published in 1937, one could
educe most of the particular mistakes in Gielgud's present production of
Hamlet
in New York. For instance, Gielgud cautions against playing
Act I, Scene 2-the scene in which Hamlet, Claudius, and Gertrude all
appear for the first time-as a family quarrel, rather than a formal
privy council meeting, the first (according to tradition) held after the
accession of Claudius to the throne. Yet this is just what Giel'gud has
allowed in the New York production, with Claudius and Gertrude look–
ing like a weary suburban couple having it out with a spoiled only son.
Another instance: in staging the Ghost, Gielgud in his essay argues
convincingly against increasing ghostliness by using a miked voice
coming from offstage, rather than the voice of the actor who is on
stage and being seen by the audience. Everything must work toward
making the Ghost as real as possible. But in the present production,
Gielgud has forfeited the entire physical presence of the Ghost. This time
the Ghost is really ghostly: a taped voice, Gielgud's own, resonating
hollowly through the theatre, and a giant silhouette thrown on the rear
wall of the stage.... But it is a waste of time to look for reasons for this
or that feature of the current production. The overall impression is of
complete indifference, as if the play hadn't really been directed at all–
except that one gathers that some of the dullness, at least the visual
dullness, is actually deliberate. There is the matter of the clothes: most
of the actors, whether courtiers or soldiers, wear old slacks and sweaters
and windbreakers, though Hamlet's pants and shirt match (they're black),
and Claudius and Polonius wear natty business suits, and Gertrude and
Ophelia have long skirts (Gertrude has a mink, too), and the Player
King and Queen have gorgeous costumes and gold masks. This silly
conceit appears to be the one idea in the present production, and is called
playing
Hamlet
in "rehearsal clothes."
The production affords exactly two pleasures. Hearing John Giel–
gud's voice on tape, even thus Cineramarized, reminded one of how
beautiful Shakespeare's verse sounds when it is spoken with grace and
intelligence. And the excellent George Rose, in the brief role of the
gravedigger, rendered all the delights of Shakespeare's prose. The rest
of the performances gave only various degrees of pain. Everyone spoke
