Man in Red

It's a shame this guy never got to play Hamlet, I think he might have wiped the floor with Lawrence Olivier (sorry, Brits). The film is still very moving, though plot holes aplenty. I believe I would like to pursue the paper characters thing and I'm thinking of scenes from "Rebel without a cause" and other classics (I'd definitely get Bogart in there). Anybody got any favorites? 

Look here

"Look here upon this picture, and on this,

The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.

See what a grace was seated on this brow...

Here is your husband like a mildewed ear..."

        - Hamlet, Act III, Scene IV

It has always seemed to me an awkward stage direction that Hamlet, having just slaughtered Polonius, pulls out two portraits, those of his uncle and father (Okay, so maybe he shoves Gertrude toward them and they are hanging on the wall) . He then proceeds to point out how much better-looking his Dad was than his uncle. So I think I have to do this. I have wired the 19th century photos to my Hamlet figure, then I will have to photograph it turned over to get two oval portrait areas and insert the above likenesses. Have made a lot of progress on the Hamlet, still hoping to find a store that still sells walnuts in the shell for THAT verse. Wish me luck!

Hamlet in China

Here are components of Hamlet's costume and the actor being fitted . I took some photos with a black ruff around the neck and he wasn't working as Hamlet, so I decided he needed a more complete (less lazy) costume to work in the part . I looked on the web for toy theatres today, and found some quite wonderful things:

A video from Naomi Guss in Melbourne on how to make a toy theatre (parents - something to do on Spring break in the event of rain!).

A post about a toy theatre from a theatre director at Enchanted Revelry (Piaf advisory). A very upbeat blog, with sensibility to spare.

This remarkable work at Mike Healey's Artstore and Gallery (he takes commissions)

It is my intention to make a small printable theatre to download to promote this venture, but for now, I'd better get stitching. 

Cat Hamlet

For another serious feline, see WAS at Spiritcloth.

Flawed/Hamlet/nutty goodness

I could be bounded in a nutshell, 

And count myself a king of infinite space,

Were it not that I have bad dreams

                        -Hamlet, William Shakespeare

Hamlet's tragic flaw was indecisiveness, AKA think-too-much-itis. We are all "bounded in a nutshell", our bony skulls, of course, within which our brains give us access to a hundred visions and revisions, in fact to infinite Heavens and Hells. The old wives said that walnuts were good for brain health - they had to be, because they looked so much like tiny brains. Scientists now tell us that walnuts have anitoxidants and omega 3 fatty acids, and are in fact good for your brain. 

         I recommend toasting them under a broiler at 400 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes. Don't walk away and burn them as I do...I have a touch of Hamlet's problem myself, and could be a bit more present.