Hamlet by Joe Schmo

 

Hamlet is by Shakespeare, but it can be by anyone. The name isn’t copyrighted nor are the emotions. Gonsharov’s Oblamov is Hamlet as is obviously Heinrich Muller’s Hamletmachine. BTW Tolstoy once told Chekhov he was almost as bad as Shakespeare. To Be or Not To Be by Ernst Lubitsch (1942) is a madcap comedy with Carole Lombard and Jack Benny about a production of Hamlet going on in Nazi occupied Warsaw. In this version Hamlet is more about the actors than the play, an interesting take since the play within the play,The Murder of Gonzago is also essentially an in your face Hamlet. It wouldn’t be surprising if Hamlet didn’t raise his mug in the For Dummies series, but what would a Hamlet kit comprise? First of all you need a guy who's traumatized by some kind of knowledge of which he’s only partially aware. In the actual play Hamlet sees a ghost, but is also the ghost since his father’s name is Hamlet too. You need a love interest, one that can be created by a pre-Raphaelite artist like Millais. And you need a Fortinbras to arrive. With only these three characters you could have a nice chamber play or on the other hand if you were Cecille B. Demille you might imagine Hamlet with a cast of thousands, where Elsinore is like Times Square and 42^nd on New Year’s Eve as the ball is about to drop.

read "Hamlet of A Stop At Willoughby" by Francis Levy, HuffPost

and listen to "Barbara" (1960) by The Temptations

also listen to "What's Love Got to Do With It" by Tina Turner