{"id":2120,"date":"2025-03-25T10:52:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T14:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/?p=2120"},"modified":"2025-03-25T15:46:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T19:46:34","slug":"hamlet-spring-2025-tour-entry-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/hamlet-spring-2025-tour-entry-7\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHamlet\u201d Spring 2025 Tour: Entry #7"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Michael Wagg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The suitcase is dead. Long live the suitcase.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For fifty years, twice a year, intrepid bands of five have toured the States performing Shakespeare and teaching ways to explore the plays in action. There have always been five of us. There has always been Shakespeare\u2019s text and a list of places to play. And there has always been one other given: a suitcase. Or to be precise, the <em>show<\/em>case. The stuff of our show, like all of those before it, travels in one poor, put upon piece of plastic. And, sadly, the most recent Rocinante to the AFTLS entourage has given up the ghost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rocinante was Don Quixote\u2019s horse; as well as John Steinbeck\u2019s pickup truck. This particular Rocinante started life on the tour of <em>Macbeth<\/em> in 2022 that I was lucky enough to be on too (a much talked-of tour among green-eyed AFTLS alumni for taking the extra lucky five to Hawaii, Bermuda and all points in between \u2013 <em>did I ever tell you about the time I swam with turtles in Hawaii,<\/em> etc, etc). Our Rocinante has since completed a further three tours: <em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em>, <em>A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em> and <em>Twelfth Night<\/em>, before staggering to the halfway point of this stint on <em>Hamlet.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Loading the Showcase\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I-PEyAqS2Eg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The significant thing about the showcase is that it carries everything any given production needs. Apart from the actual five actors; though that wouldn\u2019t be a bad idea. Nothing else is required. Shakespeare\u2019s text comes too, of course, but that travels free assuming we\u2019ve learned and remember our lines. The showcase invariably carries things like hats (numerous), a foldable walking-stick, torches, random pieces of fabric, a Priest\u2019s stole, creamy paper (for letters), a thunder drum and a load of kazoos.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For our show it also carries three fantastic puppets, designed by the brilliant Vi &amp; Sly. But the other significant thing about the old case, and I\u2019m sure of its ancestors too, is what\u2019s on the outside of it. What\u2019s there tells a graphic story of our collective journeys. The showcase that died &#8211; <em>and all we mourn <\/em>for \u2013 was bedecked with stickers from ports at which this Shakespearean workhorse called. The latest incarnation included emblems of Kansas State, John Carroll, Rice, BYU, Wellesley, Oswego, Muscle Shoals studios, and a bespectacled Hugh-manatee from Grace College, Winona Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0000.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"2121\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0000-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2121\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0000-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0000-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0000-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0000-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0000-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0000.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0001.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"2122\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0001-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2122\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0001-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0001-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0001-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0001-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0001-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0001.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our UK Liaison Jen Higham \u2013 another AFTLS workhorse &#8211; will attest to the beauty of its stickered self. But the showcase was also a piece of plastic and fabric bought from a shop in Brixton, and it\u2019s never gonna last forever. So, as we dragged it to its final resting place in the dusty dock corner of a theatre in Indiana, I thought of you, Jen. Forgive me for equating you with a luggage solution, but you get the idea! And I know you loved this Rocinante as much as I did. <em>Lay her i\u2019 th\u2019 earth, And from her fair and unpolluted flesh, May violets spring!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s been replaced with a younger, smarter Rocinante, starting to earn its tour stickers and stripes. My only real sadness is that the old case didn\u2019t quite make it to this week just gone. I would have loved to see it here in Boston, floating on a sea of Shakespeareana. We\u2019ve spent the week surrounded, engulfed and uplifted (literally, in crowded elevators) by Shakespeareans from far and wide \u2013 at the Shakespeare Association of America annual academic conference.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0003.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"963\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"2123\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0003-963x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2123\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0003-963x1024.jpg 963w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0003-282x300.jpg 282w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0003-768x817.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0003-1444x1536.jpg 1444w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0003.jpg 1504w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 963px) 100vw, 963px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our show begins for the audience with the sight of a suitcase \u2013 the showcase \u2013 on a bare stage with Yorick\u2019s skull perched on it. Centre stage for the showcase, then, at this centrepiece celebration of Shakespeare academia. All five of us on this tour, as well as Jen and our Shakespeare at ND colleagues attending the conference, and our family and friends who joined us here in Boston, love Shakespeare. But this crowd we found ourselves part of \u2013 often in a lift with \u2013 were something else. They live and breathe it. There were seminars, for example, on The Early Modern Undead; on Re-weirding and\/as Re-wilding; and on vegetal presence in Shakespeare\u2019s texts. (Hence how I couldn\u2019t resist referring to a lecture on vegetables during the gravediggers\u2019 scene). It was a literal feast of Will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The session we five delivered on Shakespeare in Performance on Thursday morning was a lively success, complete with bean game, insults and a raucous reading of the Hamlet, Ophelia nunnery scene. It was also a great chance to show our prospective faculty colleagues just what this work can bring to their classrooms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0004.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"791\" data-id=\"2124\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0004-1024x791.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2124\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0004-1024x791.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0004-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0004-768x593.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0004-1536x1187.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0004-388x300.jpg 388w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0004.jpg 1543w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AFTLS at SAA 2025\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NWt-Ge3507U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then after the treat of seeing the exceptional Sonnet Man &#8211; who teaches Shakespeare though hip hop &#8211; our show on Saturday night was the conference closer and went with a bang and a genuinely joyful response from these Shakespeare aficionados. I\u2019m sure we felt extra pressure to deliver the goods, to prove it from the workhorse\u2019s mouth; and I think particularly so because of the heritage of the AFTLS project, and the timing of this gig during our 50th anniversary year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Shakespeare at ND Artistic Director Scott Jackson explained poignantly pre-show it was here at this very conference that Homer \u2018Murph\u2019 Swander pressed upon the gathered crowd of academics the need to teach Shakespeare as a live and living thing, as a proposal for an event, always lifting the words off the page and into lively action; always shared. What Murph started back then continues good and proper and 50 years later the crowd stood with us to celebrate it. What Murph started also continues in the focus on five actors, one text, and one suitcase. The showcase.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019d half a mind to rush back up in the elevator to grab it and give it a whirl round the dance floor. For we danced with the Shakespearoes too, as this whole Shakespearean shebang finished with a glorious disco in the ballroom. What was described rather erroneously as the Malone Society Dance had, in fact, <em>all <\/em>the tunes, and saw Shakespeare scholars and actors alike throwing shapes into the night. I didn\u2019t fetch the case, but we did hold a cardboard Bard aloft on the dance floor. As did many others. Proof \u2013 we know because we carry it with us through airport security &#8211; that Murph was right. Shakespeare\u2019s for all of us. Alive and kicking. I rest my case.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0006.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"2125\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0006-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0006-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0006-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0006-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0006-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0006.jpg 1166w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Party at the SAA Conference\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fUuG4y0ZU3U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0008.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"671\" data-id=\"2126\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0008-1024x671.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2126\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0008-1024x671.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0008-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0008-768x503.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0008-1536x1006.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0008-458x300.jpg 458w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG-20250325-WA0008.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Michael Wagg The suitcase is dead. Long live the suitcase.&nbsp; For fifty years, twice a year, intrepid bands of five have toured the States performing Shakespeare and teaching ways to explore the plays in action. There have always been &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/hamlet-spring-2025-tour-entry-7\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1086,"featured_media":2123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47489,514269],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actors-from-the-london-stage","category-hamlet-aftls-spring-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2130,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions\/2130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}