A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater- Page 3
A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
#50A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 6/21/17 at 10:25am
AC126748 said: "Keep in mind that a completely uncut HAMLET would run around 6-7 hours. An adaptation of HAMLET can easily be "aggressively cut" (to use the language TFANA used) and still be quite lengthy."
From a technical standpoint, that's true, but nobody does the full version these days except for a gimmick, so TFANA would have to be out of their minds to call a 3.5 hour Hamlet "aggressively cut" when that's about a half hour longer than your average contemporary production of Hamlet. It may be aggressively cut compared to the full text, but not by general modern reckoning. That is, unless Gold has replaced large chunks of text with silent scenes, dance/movement sequences, dramatic pauses, songs, etc.
#51A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 6/21/17 at 10:42am
Also, cutting/editing doesn't necessarily mean chopping length--it could have been what Gold initially wanted to take out and/or restructure.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#52A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 6/21/17 at 11:16am
Btw, last night's first preview ended up running about 4 hrs (including the two 10-min intermissions). :) I loved it, though!!
#53A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 6/21/17 at 11:19am
And for the record, it was def not "aggressively cut," oddly enough; the only cut sections were the ones that tend to be cut in most prods of Hamlet these days (all the stuff w Fortinbras, etc.)...
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#54A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 6/21/17 at 11:35am
Any thoughts on the show?
#55A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 6/21/17 at 5:58pm
I enjoyed it very much! Oscar makes a wonderful Hamlet, as I expected he would, and Keegan-Michael Key added a surprising amount of hilarity to the proceedings...it also didn't hurt that Oscar spends a great deal of time in just a t-shirt and tight briefs, btw. 
mfaye9
Stand-by Joined: 7/19/10
#56A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 6/25/17 at 9:48am
Has anyone else seen this?
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#57A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 6/25/17 at 10:31am
Hamlet is 4,030 lines long. A production with no intermissions and performed on a blank set would run just over four hours. A full production would probably run about five.
TheaterGeek
Understudy Joined: 10/11/04
#58A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 6/26/17 at 8:45am
I saw it last Wednesday night (which was the first paying audience) and it got out right at 11. Oscar Issac was phenomenal in the role and really put everything he had into his Hamlet. Keegan-Michael Key was also quite good. I have to be honest, there were no weak links in the cast. Roberta Colindrez also was fantastic and quite funny. The show was quite good and it was the first time I had seen Shakespeare, which at 42 seems ridiculous. I was hoping to meet Oscar post-show at the stage door, but he "snuck" out another exit. The first night that it ran, people bombarded him with Star Wars shots to sign, so hopefully that didn't sour him on meeting the fans. But with the intensity of his performance, I am surprised he has the stamina to even walk out of the theater. If you can get past the length, definitely go see it.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#59A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 6/26/17 at 11:52am
How was Gold's take on it?
GeorgeandDot
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/16
#60A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 7/3/17 at 1:37am
Hello, everyone. I heard from someone that this production includes some nudity. I'm going with my mother and I thought that I should give her a heads up if there is some lack of clothing.
Also, I would love to hear some more about this production.
#61A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 7/3/17 at 10:03am
Going back to the length issue, NOBODY does all of Hamlet. Kenneth Branagh famously did in the 90's on stage and screen, and the film runs four hours, which I guess would be about how long an uncut stage version would run as well (not including intermissions) depending on how much the guy playing Hamlet likes to luxuriate in his melancholy.
I think it's pretty standard to cut it down to about three hours including one intermission.
#62A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 7/3/17 at 10:34am
TheaterGeek said: "I was hoping to meet Oscar post-show at the stage door, but he "snuck" out another exit."
The Public doesn't have a stage door.
bfreak
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/6/11
#63A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 7/3/17 at 12:51pm
Yeah you usually just wait in the lobby, and it appears on Instagram that he usually signs and takes pictures afterwards, which is very nice considering how long and intense the show must be on him.
TheaterGeek
Understudy Joined: 10/11/04
#64A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 7/3/17 at 2:43pm
Haterobics: They can actually exit out of the front lobby or the "stage doors" to the left and the right of the main entrance. So yes, there are in fact other ways for Oscar to exit. But, he does come out of the lobby entrance mostly. I also agree that I am surprised he even does because I was exhausted watching his performance, let alone actually performing it.
Updated On: 7/3/17 at 02:43 PM
sorano916
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/6/08
#65A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 7/4/17 at 2:03pm
GeorgeandDot said: "Hello, everyone. I heard from someone that this production includes some nudity. I'm going with my mother and I thought that I should give her a heads up if there is some lack of clothing."
No full nudity... Oscar goes about without pants (still wearing underwear) for a good amount of time.
BakerWilliams
Leading Actor Joined: 2/1/16
#66A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 7/4/17 at 2:43pm
Sam Gold understands what his audience really wants.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#67A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 7/4/17 at 4:55pm
Still no one has commented on the actual production?
VotePeron
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/2/13
#68A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 7/4/17 at 7:30pm
Caught this last week. It's a fascinating, very Sam Gold production, extremely reminiscent of his recent Glass Menagerie. The space has been designed to look not like a stage, but like part of the room the theater is in (carpet on the ground, folding table and chairs are the only set, and a faux wall seamlessly boxes in the space.) House lights are on for a good portion of the show, unlike Oscar Isaac's pants, and a musician playing the cello and some type of wood organ underscores the entire evening. It is quite an environment they build, while at the same time, feels aggressively anti-theatrical. It's extremely quiet, and the majority of the show is very monotone, save for Keegan Michael Keys unforgetable "Mousetrap" scene, and the finale, which packs quite a punch. Performances are uniformly excellent, with nearly every actor (except Isaac) playing handfuls of roles to complete the players. First act is about an hour and a half, then two other hour-long acts with intermissions in-between. If you can get a ticket, it's worth seeing.
sorano916
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/6/08
#69A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater
Posted: 7/7/17 at 1:02pm
They released some production photos.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Flash-First-Look-at-Oscar-Isaac-Keegan-Michael-Key-and-More-in-HAMLET-at-The-Public-Theater-20170707
And Show Score has some reviews if anyone is interested in looking there:
https://www.show-score.com/off-broadway-shows/hamlet-public-theater
