Next film for Docents: Another serving of Macbeth, restrateur

We saw ``Scotland, Pa., in which Macbeth was a frustrated fast food fry cook. Next up, the BBC's Shakespeare Retold retelling in which our protagonist is the head chef in a swanky (just got its third Michelin star!) Soho restaurant, The Nose to Tail, specializing in entrails and organs. Lady M., in black leather, is the maitre d', Macduff is the head waiter and Duncan is the jovial restaurant owner who takes credit for the fuming Macbeth's ``signature creations'' -- for example ``Pork Assortments.'' James McAvoy is the protagonist, Keeley Hawkes the wife and Richard Armitage the crafty head waiter. The witches are wised up garbage men. Said to be gruesome humor familiar to those who admire ``Scottish cop movies.'' (??) Written by Peter Moffat, who did ``Cambridge Spies'' and ``Hawking'' dramas.

Running time is 90 minutes. Part of the same BBC series that gave us the dueling TV anchors version of ``Much Ado About Nothing.''

Come and see it Monday February 8, 1 p.m., board room. (Right, this is not the consecrated first Monday of the month, traditional docent movie time, but the room was already booked for 2/1.)

Also, let's forget about having a March movie. Early March is all about the Secondary School Festival.

Every good wish, Joe Adcock

Look what you just missed. Keep your eye on the film series schedule from Joe Adcock

Just presented in the films-for-docents series was ‘The Hobart Shakespeareans’, which is a documentary about extraordinary drama program at the Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in Los Angeles. Students, mostly children of Korean and Mexican immigrants, do a Shakespeare play each year (structure of movie resembles the ``Shakespeare Behind Bars'' format).The year this documentary was made, the play was ``Hamlet.'' This inner city public school program has become so celebrated that it attracted a visit by Royal Shakespeare Company troupers, including Ian McKellen and Michael York, who make cameo appearances in the movie. Running time is 55 minutes.

August Film Inservice: Was Hamlet Criminally Responsible? by Sarah Rosenbaum

Hamlet killed Polonius. Was it murder, self defense, manslaughter or something else? But before there can be a trial to resolve this question, there must first be a preliminary trial to determine whether Hamlet is sane (the legal term is criminally responsible) and able to stand trial or mad (so unfit to be tried.) In this first trial, Hamlet’s Attorney attempts to prove him mad and the Prosecutor attempts to prove him sane.

This is the set up for a mock trial held in the Supreme Court building in 1994 with Justice Anthony Kennedy presiding. The whole thing was part of a fund raiser for the Shakespeare Theatre; the participants and attendees were mostly lawyers. Most of the audience were not identified, but the docents enjoyed a game of "Spot the Celebrity." Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a member of the jury. Hamlet was present at the defense table, dressed in the traditional Elizabethan black suit; he stood and sat as requested, but never spoke.

The two lead attorneys were Abbe Lowell and Theodore Olson. They stuck close to the facts as given in the source document; i.e. Hamlet. A side shot showed that at least one of them was using the Folger edition. The key issue was whether Hamlet was feigning madness: it was pointed out that he acted mad only in the presence of people that he didn’t trust. A psychiatrist was called for each side. The one for the defense diagnosed Bipolar Disorder. Key symptoms in this diagnosis were hearing voices (no one else hears the ghost speak), a feeling of grandiosity and special mission (but as the opposition pointed out, he was in fact the prince.), mood changes and finally a habit of word play, puns, etc. In the "to be or not to be" soliloquy, was he contemplating suicide or meditating on the human condition? The parallel was drawn between him and Ophelia; both had a father murdered by someone too highly placed to bring to justice. She clearly went mad.

Was his response madness or cunning cloaked in madness?

The jury verdict was that Hamlet was sane; they also recommended that the prosecutor consider prosecuting him for the destruction of Ophelia. The judge remanded him to pages of our Literary Canon.