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Show 6 The Si(?nnosf Wednesday, January 22, 1992 K M G4B presents: Gibson, Close carry 'Hamlet' to new heights of portrayal By JULIE K. CLEMONS Staff writer of The Signpost Contemporary play-goers can ponder along with actor Mel Gibson the same Shakespearean questionTo be or not to be?" that plagued Shakespeare's first audiences and actors. The modern version of Hamlet will play this week through Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Shepherd Union Building's Wildcat Theater at 8:00 p.m. The new, cimema version of the play stars Gibson as Hamlet and Glenn Close as his mother, Gertrude. The story's the same. Hamlet learns, from the ghost of his father (Paul Scofield), that his father was murdered by Claudius (Alen Bates), Hamlet's uncle, so he can marry Hamlet's mother and gain the throne. In order to gain proof of this crime, Hamlet lets everyone think that he has gone mad. Christopher & Co.'s Corner THE CRUSADE The Monarch holds His banner high above the bloody gore that issues forth from noblemen who fought His holy war. A war to save the heathen men From such ungodlike deed; to hear their cries, or shed their blood according to His need. He treads upon their broken bones across the battleground in fulfillment of His promise to claim the victor's crown. Tis here He'll find His penance true in Satan's toothless grin; who stands before the gates of hell to let this Christian in. Shaun D. Shelton This has convinced Claudius and Gertrude to have him either sent away, killed, or committed into a insane asylum. He escapes all three, and confounds the whole royal bunch to what are his real intentions. Because Hamlet the grim truth - he tries to warn his love, Ophelia of the conspiracy to no avail. Eventually Ophelia (Helena Carter) goes mad and throws herself into a river because she has become one of the victims in Hamlet's tragedy and Claudius' plan. Hamlet then takes circuitous revenge upon Claudius by presenting a play for the new king7 s honor before the whole royal court to see. As the playlet goes - a beloved king is poisoned by his evil brother so that he may sit upon the throne and take his brother's wife as his own. Hamlet arranged this play to see if it would arouse a specific feeling of horror in his uncle if he was guilty. When Claudius finds that he has been discovered he turns Laertes against Hamlet in what at first seems to be a friendly duel into a deadly fiasco. Before Hamlet is killed he exposes the true murderer of the King, and well as we all know in every Shakespeare tragedy, most of the main characters die. This new version of "Hamlet" by Franco Zeffirelli, who also directed film versions of "Romeo and Juliet," 'Taming of the Shrew" and "Othello," is as good as any I've ever seen. Although they cut some of the play out, the movie stayed true to its Shakespeare form and they left in the To be or not to be" soliloquy that people remember are so fond of. Mel Gibson is a fabulous Hamlet. He makes Hamlet seem tragic and witty at the same time. Gibson makes Hamlet more of an understanding character than others. Instead of hearing just a bunch of flowery words that make no sense, Gibson gives the character depth and substance. Along with Gibson, Glenn Close portrayed how vain and passionate Gertrude was. She didn't seem such a small and flighty character as she has been portrayed before. Gibson and Close were a great match in "Hamlet." What made this movie seem coherent is the scenery and the costume design. The people and the places were not out of sync at all with the 15th -16th century period. The power and glamor of the aristocracy as well as the coldness of the poor could be felt. The Zeffirelli version of "Hamlet" is a classic that ought to be seen by everyone. In this way, Shakepeare might be understood easier as one of the great playwright's of the 1500s. Only then can anyone truly understand the concept of those famous words "to thine own self be true." Orchestra sweeps audience with Vivaldi's four 'symphonic poems' By JOANNE SCHULTHIES Staff writer of The Signpost Thursday evening, the highly esteemed Utah Symphony Chamber Orchestra traveled from their Salt Lake City home to enchant classical music lovers in the Ogden area. Over 400 listeners attended the first of two concerts in the Ogden Chamber Series. There was standing room only in the Promontory Center of the Ogden Park Hotel. The internationally-acclaimed Maestro Joseph Silverstein eloquently conducted the Chamber Orchestra as the talented Principal Violist Roberta Zalkind first performed Alan Shulman's "Theme and Variation for Viola and Orchestra." She followed this by gracing the audience with Johann Hummel's "Fantasy for Viola." After the intermission, the evening climaxed with Antonin Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons," a difficult piece composed in the early 1700s. Silverstein skillfully played (See ORCHESTRA page 8) Weird scenes around the lost mine ,5; X t 4 it - : A ; SIR REAL YSM THE SIGNPOST A CART LOAD of work-weary miners slowly melt Into quasl-unrecognlzable mush as the unforgiving elements erase this temporary sculpted scene. |