You are all invited to participate in our next play reading on November 8 at 1:30 pm Eastern Time on Zoom. We will be reading the play that features the famous speech that begins “To be or not to be; ay, there’s the point./ To die, to sleep: is that all? Ay, all.”
I am, of course, referring to The First Quarto (Q1) of Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Don’t know it? You should. It is different in many ways, including length, from the Second Quarto (Q2) and the Folio (F) versions. Q1 is far shorter, some scenes are rearranged, others are omitted, and one scene is unique to Q1. Some names are different, such as Corambis for Polonius.
The history of Q1 is a fascinating tale in its own right: It was not discovered until well after what is now the second quarto was believed to be the only quarto and only two copies of Q1 are in existence, one owned by the Huntington Library in LA, the site of our recent wildly-successful Mini-Reunion. There is dispute about the origins of Q2, but I believe that the MRA (Memorial Reconstruction by Actors) hypothesis is bunk. In this I am joined by Jim O’Connell, a Dartmouth grad and theater professor who is a member of our playreading group, as well as the work of the late independent scholar Eric Sams. Rather, this is Shakespeare’s work, probably written for a tour of the provinces during a period of plague in London when playhouses were closed.
Q1 is rarely performed, but it is performed. Q1 is also included in the Arden Hamlet along with the Folio and Q2, the last being Arden’s preferred text. Q2 is in one volume, and its companion volume prints Q1 and F1. One source I read stated that Q1 is regularly employed to structure the play for performance even when Q2 or F, or a combination of the two, is employed as the text.
We will be using Cambridge University Press’s edition of Q1, edited by Kathleen O. Irace.
When Western University (Canasa) our on Q1, the director stated:
“It’s been really fun to do. Most people like Hamlet. People learn it in school and will be drawn to it because it is familiar. They like all versions – I like all versions. I’ve seen a number of productions I thought were great. It’s a fun play because you can do it so many different ways,” Devereux said.
We need you as actors and spectators. Nanalee Raphael is casting (and AI nicely supplied a plat for doubling), but we need a CAST foir her to work with. Let Nanalee (at infinitynleerco@gmail.com ) and me (at arthur.fergenson@ansalaw.com ) know if you can make it.
Lead on Macduff! (oops, wrong play)
Arthur Fergenson