So in addition to reading King Lear (holy cow. Can anyone say brutal! Poor Gloucester...) I worked this weekend on a cut of Hamlet, Act V for an audio recording. I discussed in a previous post how an audio recording becomes effective, but reading through the act and deciding what to cut out made me think about it all over again.
How does an abridgement still manage to adequately get across the point of the story while still retaining its "integrity?" (Is that even the right word?)
I ended up cutting most of the first scene, only keeping the lines about Yorick, because they are so well known, and the funeral of Ophelia. I cut most of the scenes with the clowns (seriously. What is Shakespeare's thing with clowns? Maybe I just have the thing with clowns after It and The Dark Knight. But I digress), a lot of the dialogue between Horatio and Hamlet, and the discussion of Hamlet going to England. Hopefully this will be sufficient to get the point across...guess I'll have to see on Tuesday!
No comments:
Post a Comment