To be (stupid), or not to be (stupid)

The original article is titled "101 ways to massacre Shakespeare".

The Edinburgh Fringe richly deserves its reputation for artistic anarchy and every year The Bard is the target of bizarre adaptations at the world's largest arts festival.

The festival director's all-time favorite? A Midsummer's Night Disco. The bard done on roller skates. Boy howdy.

As The Fringe celebrates its 60th birthday, the prize for zaniest 2006 production goes to Hamlet set in a bouncy castle.

To see the Prince of Denmark in laddered tights bounding around declaiming "To Be or Not To Be" is a truly surreal experience.

Surreal is one word to describe it, but not the first that comes to mind.

One never knows where inspiration will come:

Seward had his eureka moment when attending a children's birthday party in Argentina. "I saw the children playing on a bouncy castle and that is when the idea came to me.

One never knows when the meds wear off.

Other interpretations seen over the years include:

"Macbeth -- That Old Black Magic" boasts a Frank Sinatra soundtrack and you can see "The Tempest" with acrobats, puppets and circus tricks.

In "Corleone: The Godfather," the American High School Theater Festival troupe asks "What if Shakespeare had written the Godfather?"

Alas, poor yorick, I must go make sick. I'd still love to go.

Posted by Ted at August 11, 2006 11:27 AM | TrackBack
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