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"In
April 2000 I adapted Henry the Fifth to explore the mythical
dynamics of a hockey arena, emblematic of the Canadian national
identity, and to present my adaptation of the play itself, in the
works for many years previously. The resulting epic on ice, The
King #5 Henry, sought to evoke the spirits of the play by overlapping
it in a charged environment. This palimpsest did not interpret Henry
V in light of any specific Canadian historical moment, but instead
strove to place both actors and audience into a vortex of meaning,
allowing each individual's experience of this spectacle to be differentiated
in its similarity. Of course, my own meanings were presented, and
my theatrical aims in merging these two forms were realized.
In Canada, hockey is Shakespeare. From the speed of the skaters
evoking horses, the use of the stick as a weapon, the hockey-helmeted
armor, and so forth, including the arena itself, which is our Canadian
"wooden O." In my adaptation, all of these tropes coincided
at once." Not the Globe Theater or anything which resembles
the ancient greek theater where our drama originatese. Would Will
have used a Hockey Arena if his Globe Theater was not available?
Doubtful, but that doe not mean we should not when making theater
performances around the globe in this wonderful world wide medium
of the internet.
Quoted
from Ken Hudson, Unpopular
Art: Local Stories and Spatial Narratives
Mr
Hudson's adaptation of Hamlet is being produced in Toronto and New
York June 2004. Visit the Android
Me and Me home page.
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