The Murder of Gonzago

When i was trying to explain to AD Chris why, even though all we  as writers & audience care about is that Keskarel is dramatically disturbed by the "dumb show" she watches from the single window in her apartment, i.e., what she believes is a man slowly beating his bride to death, i want him to write lively dialogue and provide the actors who we likely never hear except in an ironic anticlimactic moment at the end of the movie - i said, "you know, like in Hamlet, the Murder of Gonzago." While Chris, being a novelist himself, has read every novel on the planet, he has not had a lot of interest in Shakespeare and didn't get the reference. To an old thespian like myself, that's like not having underwear - sorry, i looked for another metaphor - but not having repeated exposure to Shakespeare in one form or another ever since i was a kid would be like an empty underwear drawer. No foundation. i give Chris an assignment per week, as his UCSF internship requires, and i assigned him to read Hamlet. He asked which was my favorite, and i told him Lear. i collect alternative film versions of Lear - my favorite being Richard Harris' My Kingdom - not available in America, but i was lucky to be able to record it off IFC a few years ago.

So, Chris checked out Lear and liked it a lot. Of course he did. i'm looking forward to Chris' moment of realization that Shakespeare is part of his foundation without his having known it.

We Players did Shakespeare on Alcatraz Island (yes, that Alcatraz, all over the island and it was the best alternative i've ever seen!), and since i have to ramp up to write an outline for the dumb show Keskarel watches from her solitary window, i think it's going to be based on scenes between Hamlet & Ophelia.

sylvia