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Category: collaboration

What we mean when we dream about Hamlet

Published October 30, 2007 by cgerrish

Wooster Group’s Hamlet

Kills me I’m going to miss this. From what I hear, it’s sold out even though the run was extended two weeks. It’s the Wooster Group’s Hamlet at the Public Theater in New York. The piece was performed last year in Barcelona. Elizabeth LaCompte calls it an archeological excursion into the film version of Hamlet starring Richard Burton.

The Wooster Group’s Hamlet continues their experiment with what counts as a source text in the theater. They may have done this with other pieces, but the last performance I saw was “Poor Theater,” based on the work of Jerzy Grotowski. Generally plays are created based on scripts, the work of playwrights. The Wooster Group has created performance pieces based on movies, documentary film, a series of still photos or stories they’ve heard. This Hamlet is based on the film, not the playscript. To some extent performances are always based on previous performances, in addition to the script.

Hamlet holds a unique place in English language theater, it’s a difficult role, usually tackled by our finest actors. A constellation of images, sounds, faces, voices and souls orbit around the playscript. There’s no finer experience in the theater than watching the Wooster Group perform Hamlet, and showing us what we mean when we dream about Hamlet.

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WorldCat: The Way to Find that Book you were looking for

Published October 26, 2007 by cgerrish

Library Catalog

Listening to a Jon Udell podcast is a real pleasure. I usually listen while walking around downtown San Francisco on my lunch hour. Jon takes the most obscure corners of the technology world and makes them engaging. He’s very good at connecting things. His conversation with Stuart Weibel is a great example. He starts with metadata issues around catagorizing books and ends up with WorldCat, the best possible way to find a book in a library— and possibly my new favorite search engine.

Yes, I know. It’s easy to find any book on Amazon, but sometimes you don’t need to buy a book, you just need to read it. And with WorldCat you can find any book held in any participating library. And because we’re talking about libraries, most are participating. Unlike the world of commerce where incompatible proprietary standards are considered a competitive advantage, libraries just want to help people find books. It’s a beautiful thing.

As a side note, my favorite library doesn’t participate in WorldCat. It’s a membership library in Downtown San Francisco called The Mechanics’ Institute Library. It was established in 1854 and has one of the most beautiful chess rooms you’ll ever set eyes on.

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Pavarotti Remembered

Published September 21, 2007 by cgerrish

There was time when he was one of the greatest. A great voice and a great presence. In his later years, he was given to strange duets with pop stars. Some worked out better than others. Some time will have to pass before he’s properly remembered. The recent past puts a strange spin on his career. For those who don’t really know his accomplishments, they only remember their puzzlement at the opera singer trying his hand at popular music.

One of my favorite pop songs, although my preference is for the version by Chris Whitley on Perfect Day. What strange collaboration, in some ways it’s very New York: Pavarotti and Lou Reed.

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