In My Mind's Eye - SL Hamlet
Monday 3 March 2008
It is not for me to offer a review of Hamlet, originally written in the early 1600s, people, far better equipped than I have written reviews on the Shakespeare play. I can however offer an insight into the SecondLife version.
The SL Shakespeare Company have been working on the production for a long time and opened just recently with Act 1 Scene 1 extended. The opening of this play sets the scene as Marcellus, Barnardo & Horatio stand watch hoping for a glimpse of the ghost they believe to be the late King Hamlet.
This is the first in hopefully a long run of Acts from the monumental play, the end resulting in a full production. The SecondLife version combines a great deal of behind the scenes work and this is obvious. The actors use voice to speak their lines; however they are backed up with the help of slbots, fabulous skins & outfits, not to mention the amazing set at the SL Globe.
A production on this scale has never been seen before in SecondLife and recognition should be extended to all the actors and set crew. SLbots provide automated announcements trying to help spectators to reduce lag along with some in-house announcements. Ina Centaur takes centre stage and introduces everyone to the production and calls up the curtain.
I contacted Ina and asked her to spare me a few moments for a statement about this achievement and any problems the company faced:
statement: " In Shakespeare's era, a group of thespians joined
together to break grounds in creating revolutionary theatres and
plays. Their work can be said to be the foundational basis for modern
theatre. The SL Shakespeare Company exists to relive that spirit --
by bringing to the metaverse the Bard's plays."
The idea is simply to start a new kind of theatre... in a brave new
world. Much of the performance hassles we dealt with has to do with
SL's quirks -- lag, voice cutting in and out, and we even had SL doing
a rollback on one of our sims during a rehearsal (although LL has been
notified that they would get AMPLE yelling if that happens again).
Nevertheless we are still intent on presenting a professional appeal
with the best of props and wardrobe. Please see some photos here:
http://flickr.com/photos/ic-beauties
One wonderful point I feel I must make, the character of Francisco is played by Prospero Linden. Francisco appears at the start of the Act and is relieved from his watchful duties by Marcellus, Barnardo & Horatio. To see a Linden take part in such a community event was for me, one of the highlights. We often hear of people (I include myself in this statement) complaining about the Linden family’s absence and non-committal nature but to see Prospero take centre stage and offer a performance is wonderful.
Everyone in this production should be highly commended, from the actors, set designers, clothing designers, skin creators and bot scripter’s; combining together to make an amazing performance and a wonderful achievement in SecondLife. I urge you to find time and go along to the SL Globe to see what is being attained here.
Show Times: Tuesday 4th March 6pm, Thursday 6th March 3pm, Friday 7th March 1pm, Saturday 8th March 6pm & Sunday 9th March 3pm.
Thank you to Ina Centaur for her statement and use of the pictures.
