{"id":1454,"date":"2023-09-04T12:06:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T12:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imaginedtheatres.com\/?post_type=theatre&#038;p=1454"},"modified":"2023-09-14T19:38:30","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T19:38:30","slug":"nobody-sees-hamlet","status":"publish","type":"theatre","link":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/nobody-sees-hamlet\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobody Sees Hamlet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<style>\n.roboto-style {\n    font-family: 'Roboto Slab', serif;\n}\n<\/style>\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse roboto-style\"><i>The audience files into the theater.\nLights fade out, chatting subsides.\nLights up.\n\n<span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\"><span style=\"color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-color\">                                                             \n\n                                                  \n\n                                                                                                                               <\/span><\/span>\n<span style=\"color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-color\"><span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\">                                                                                      <\/span><\/span>\n<span style=\"color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-color\"><span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\">                                                                                                                                       <\/span><\/span>\n<span style=\"color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-color\"><span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\">                                                     <\/span><\/span>\n     \n\n<span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\">              <\/span><span style=\"color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-color\"> a figure enters from stage left. <\/span><span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\">                                                                 <\/span>\nThey are holding a skill. <span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\">                                                                                                                                                                            <\/span>\n<span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\">                                                                                                                                          <\/span>\n<span style=\"color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-color\"><span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\">                                                                                                                                        <\/span><\/span>\n\n\n<span style=\"color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-color\"><span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\">.                                                          <\/span><\/span>\n\n<span style=\"color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-color\"><span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\">                                                                                                                                          <\/span><\/span>\n<span style=\"color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-color\"><span style=\"background-color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-background-color\">                                                                               <\/span><\/span>\n\nLights fade out.\nApplause.<span style=\"color:#000000\" class=\"tadv-color\">\n<\/span>\n<\/pre>\n<\/i>\n\n\n\n\n<style> .roboto-style {     font-family: 'Roboto Slab', serif; } <\/style> <p id=\"block-a3db8475-1ab8-478e-adfb-30ac70763f47\" style=\"font-size:14px\">The audience files out. They loiter in the lobby, they go out for drinks, pizza, etc. Some of them talk about the performance (to each other, to friends they meet after the show) enthusiastically, some of them regret the two hours, most in-between. They go home, go to sleep, go on with their lives.<br><br>The point is: Nobody in the audience saw the skull as a Hamlet reference. It didn\u2019t even occur to them.<br><br>A woman sitting in the third row, dead center, saw a person carrying a skull: <br>\u201c<em>Oh I get it<\/em>,\u201d she thinks, \u201cit\u2019s like this is a murderer, they just killed someone\u2026!\u201d (as opposed to: \u201cthis is Hamlet\u201d)<br><br>\u201c<em>Oh I get it<\/em>,\u201d thinks her friend, \u201cit\u2019s like the skull represents the inner life, like we\u2019re all the same on the inside\u2026\u201d (again, not \u201cHamlet.\u201d)<br><br>\u201c<em>Oh I get it<\/em>,\u201d thinks another, further back to the right, \u201cthis is a doctor, some kind of anatomist&#8230;&#8221;<br> <br>More: \u201c\u2013an occultist?\u201d<br>\u201c\u2013an archaeologist!\u201d<br>\u201c\u2013is it a Halloween decoration?\u201d<br><br>(Nobody saw Hamlet)<br><br>\u201c\u2013perhaps this character is an artist, preparing a still life? Like a memento mori?\u201d<br>\u201c\u2013or the performance <em>itself<\/em> is the still life?\u201d<br>\u201c\u2013it must represent fear\u2026\u201d<br>\u201c\u2013y\u2019know maybe this person just <em>happens <\/em>to be carrying a skull?\u201d<br>\u201c\u2013this has got to be a Marina Abramovic reference\u201d<br>\u201c\u2013maybe a deconstructed Hirst\u2026?\u201d<br>\u201c\u2013The Punisher!\u201d<br><em>\u201cOh, I get it<\/em>\u2013\u201d thinks one, \u201c\u2013they\u2019re just trying to be <em>weird <\/em>or <em>random<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>A whole web of connotations crisscross the infinitude of the symbolic landscape, refusing to collapse to that particular reference.<br><br>Better still: A single audience member sees Hamlet. She brings this up in conversation afterwards. Her remark receives the same appreciative nods.<br><br>And someday: Every single audience member is distracted on the way to the theater: A helicopter catches their attention, or the spectacle of children at play, leaf-strained sunlight dappling the pavement, some kind of weird bug. A song blaring from a passing car reminds one of an old friend, to whom they write a letter. The feeling of bare feet on shag carpet, which must be investigated. A universe of dust floating through a sunbeam, the text of Hamlet discovered on a bookshelf. None of them make it to the performance.<br><br>Curtain call. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The audience files into the theater. Lights fade out, chatting subsides. Lights up. a figure enters from stage left. They are holding a skill. . Lights fade out. Applause. The audience files out. They loiter in the lobby, they go out for drinks, pizza, etc. Some of them talk about the performance (to each other, [&hellip;]","protected":false},"menu_order":0,"template":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/theatres\/1454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/theatres"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/theatre"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}