Waiting for Hamlet

[NnyTheV]

Hello!
So I was recently involved in a production of The hamletmachine by Heiner Müller. It is a postmodern drama loosely connected to Hamlet. The script is essentially blocks of text that are not assigned to anyone and the text is used as a jumping off point. I was inspired by that idea and decided to write a play of my own using a similar though not extremely similar style of writing.

I'm not so much interested in thoughts (although I will gladly accept criticism) as I am in learning if there are any other Theater Escapians out there. What's your favorite play, and have you written anything of your own?

Also for anyone interested here are two translations for the hamletmachine

http://members.efn.org/~dredmond/Hamletmachine.PDF
http://www.galerie-raskolnikow.de/paddavis/pages/Hamlet2.html

(UNTITLED)


(TWO MEN ARE SEATED ON THE GROUND. PAUSE)
Did you hear what did you hear what I said did you say something you should eat something this is what happens when you don?t eat are you hungry I could eat could you I could eat I have a carrot predictable I hate carrots you have a carrot how am I supposed to eat your carrot I don?t want it I do well its gone now where are we I woke up here Im wondering the same thing is that what you said before where are we yes are you lost yes do you hear that it sounds like running whos running at this hour what time is it late I imagine it?s gone or is it shut up its gone or is it its back running from what itself family responsibility family family cash money silence speech running from running comfort inhibitions

(A MAN FALLENTERS)

none of the above shut up the trees hello hello hello hello our lord hello and savior yes hello the savior is there a of course hello finally some intelligence is it the devil running I don?t think so who are you Im what are you a man I see I see good for you do you have any food I have a radish goddamnit no he didn?t mean that yes I did but did you mean it did I mean it I meant it he meant it do you think he heard you he must have ohhh is this hell depends who are you a man it might be are we dead I don?t think so how do you think we died maybe someone stuck an axe in our skulls collectively collectively that means we know each other I don?t know you I know you maybe someone poured poison in your ear poison Ive spent a lifetime building up an immunity to iocane what about hebenon no I have not well there we go what about me you what about me what about you hold on lets give it a shot Im sensing violence great you put up a struggle but he wait you are a man right sure you were o died peacefully in sleep but you just I was wrong we might be dead ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha where are we well we know where we are not where are we not hell how can you tell well look around does it seem like hell hell kind of how did you get here I woke up here not you I fell from where from there okay so if we go that way we should find a way out this isn?t heaven obviously it isn?t heaven Im going its quiet without yeah so who are you I am the the dane who are you I cant remember the dane you mean ogier havelok no I mean I don?t know the dane the dane the dane Im not the dane Im the dane theres nothing that way Im going to try the other nothing nothing let me look I just checked he just checked wait but then Im alone hello hello it doesn?t seem like heaven where are the ang-
where are the ang-
the ang-
hack hack quack wheeze is all I ever do study my surroundings and find nothing familiar not one trace of resemblance to a past life or a future punishment I feel the wound and I touch the wound and I feel my touch it pains me but this is all I have of my past all I have of myself this wound and the metal lodged within who am I the da
the da
the dairyman I am the dairyman I am the dairyman I am the d
I am the the the I am something I exist I must be I can see my hand in front of my face and oh I cease a state of undoing we are undone and alone this is not heaven but what proof of hell have I only hes right there was nothing nothing nothing theres nothing this way either well what do we do we could sleep I feel a doze I feel a doze coming on I am so

END

 

[Hero in a half shell]

DAMN YOU POSTMODERNITY! You're taking our words, and it's plus, plus, plus ungood!

Why is it that when something is labeled Postmodern it inevitably needs virtually no skill to create, arguably adds nothing to the art and is impossible to make any meaningful interpretation of without creating some sort of quasi-insane introspective nonsense that basically amounts to "It challenges your perspective."

Not to sound mean, but this is the first time I've encountered "Postmodern drama" and that just looks like unintelligible ass. (the Hamlet version you linked as well) I've actually only recently got to the stage where I can not inherently hate postmodern art, because a lot of it is self-referencing how crap it actually is, but this is just straight up rubbish. The idea of spilling some nonsense onto a page and getting actors to improvise with it may be art, but in my opinion it's skill-less, effortless, meaningless, remedial art.

Are the behemoths of similies and metaphors as dead as the dodo? Has the modern wordsmith unwittingly executed all imagery and exploration of themes in a bittersweet Oedipal episode? Where are the alliterations and assonance allowing a flowing, lyrical language to pour passionately from the pages, paragraphs and prose?

Don't you realise that something must be amiss when more literary work went into those three questions than can be seen in the whole of those postmodern dramas?

Ok, that was quite a heavy rant, so let's lighten the mood:
I actually wrote a play, it's about Procrastination. Well, I haven't written it yet, but I'll get round to it some day.

 

[Giest4life]

DAMN YOU POSTMODERNITY! You're taking our words, and it's plus, plus, plus ungood!

Why is it that when something is labeled Postmodern it inevitably needs virtually no skill to create, arguably adds nothing to the art and is impossible to make any meaningful interpretation of without creating some sort of quasi-insane introspective nonsense that basically amounts to "It challenges your perspective."

Not to sound mean, but this is the first time I've encountered "Postmodern drama" and that just looks like unintelligible ass. (the Hamlet version you linked as well) I've actually only recently got to the stage where I can not inherently hate postmodern art, because a lot of it is self-referencing how crap it actually is, but this is just straight up rubbish. The idea of spilling some nonsense onto a page and getting actors to improvise with it may be art, but in my opinion it's skill-less, effortless, meaningless, remedial art.

Are the behemoths of similies and metaphors as dead as the dodo? Has the modern wordsmith unwittingly executed all imagery and exploration of themes in a bittersweet Oedipal episode? Where are the alliterations and assonance allowing a flowing, lyrical language to pour passionately from the pages, paragraphs and prose?

Don't you realise that something must be amiss when more literary work went into those three questions than can be seen in the whole of those postmodern dramas?

Ok, that was quite a heavy rant, so let's lighten the mood:
I actually wrote a play, it's about Procrastination. Well, I haven't written it yet, but I'll get round to it some day.

I agree.

I've never been attracted to post-modern art because most of it is meaningless tripe. The practitioners of post-modern art, for the most part, have only a bastard's knowledge of actual post-modernist philosophy. Post-modern philosophy is one of the most engaging and prosaic form of philosophy. It's a pleasure to read and an absolute delight to mull over.

This...this is shit.