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| Thursday, 13 January 2005 |
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Ophelia The World of arts by Gwen Herat The obsession Hamlet held in mind to revenge his father's death, did not suit with the serious state of courtship or for that matter allowed society an idle passion of love. It hindered the soft thoughts of Ophelia and came between moments when he thought that he treated this gentle girl harshly.
He had written a letter full of passion in extravagant terms based on his supposed madness and she thought it to be a sign of rejection and failed to realise the deep love that lay at the bottom of his heart. Though he feigned madness to withdraw from her life, Hamlet's malady lay deeper than she imagined. His father's ghost haunted him and to deal with this was his priority. Ophelia had to wait but she did not. Perhaps the most misunderstood of all female characters in Shakespeare's plays but still managed to remain high profile and forceful wherever she appears. Ophelia is innocent, chaste, trusting and unspoilt but possesses a split-personality. She is also very demanding for her share of love from Hamlet whose rejection makes her desperate, unable to cope with the situation, drowns herself in a shallow pond. The dialogue between them are contrasting. While Hamlet implores upon her at one stage he accused her of being not worthy of his love. He hastens her to a nunnery even before she could recover from the shock of being refused. Hamlet - 'Ay', truly for the power of beauty will soon transform honesty from what it is to a bawd and the force of honesty can translate beauty of his likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once. Ophelia - 'Indeed my Lord, you made me believe me so. Hamlet - 'You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not. Ophelia - 'I was the most deceived. Hamlet - 'Get thee to a nunnery. Why should thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself is indifferent, honest but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not born me; I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious with more offences at my back than I have thoughts to put them on; What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves; believe none of us. Go thy way to a nunnery. Where's your father? Act III Scene 1 Opheila on her own had many questions for her Lord. Why had he to reject her and for her to a watery grave. She was an embodiment of virtue, youth and beauty but a complexed character caught up in a tangled web of circumstances and as Shakespeare 'staged' a story within Hamlet, Ophelia is mercifully left out. We all realise that when Shakespeare depended upon the incursion of the players, he extracted the last ounce of it from Hamlet. Ophelia was a passing phase in his tormented life and we see him loading his frustration upon her. But with Laertes, it was different. He leaps in to her grave, both proclaiming their untarnished love for her. Juliet (from Romeo and Juliet) share equal stature with Ophelia as both are projected as high profile characters on stage, ballet, drama, films, videos etc. Many great actresses have portrayed Ophelia while legendary dancers have danced in ballet, the foremost being Dame Margot Fonteyn. In ballet, Ophelia is very special because apart from brilliant dancing, she has to set out the emotions within her and reach the audience upon pathos. She has to dance with an unwilling Hamlet in the latter part of the ballet. Since dancing is very limited to convey the plot of the story, not very many ballets based on famous plays have been successful. 'For in that sleep of death That dreams may come'.... Most incidents of the play are danced but often muddled and distorted with one character merging on to another that could have left Shakespeare some what disappointed. Helpmann was the first to dance Hamlet with Margot Fonteyn as Ophelia and years later, it was revived with Rudolf Nureyev as Hamlet and Lynn Seymour as Ophelia. Helpmann's production was mounted on May 19, 1942 for the Sadler's Wells Ballet. It was a spectacular production to Tchaikovsky's music that blended very well towards the ballet. Reliving some of the climatic events from his life as last thoughts of Hamlet, were jolted into an epic ballet by the Nureyev-Seymour partnership when the Royal Ballet revived another version of this tragedy. Another great dancer who gave life to Ophelia was Russian, Elena Evteyena (Yalena Victoria Yevteyeva) at Leningrad on March 14, 1947. She studied at the Leningrad Choreographic School and graduated in 1966. Joined Kirov ballet and danced Odette/Odel in Kirov's version of Swan lake. That was before she danced in Hamlet. In this Sergeyev's interpretation of Shakespeare's masterpiece, it ranks greatest of all epic ballets. Konstantine Seryeyev declared that the most difficult thing in ballet is to find form of movement which would suit the interep spirit of the image. The dance material should find its development in accordance with the growth of dramatic image and in strict alliance with musical pattern. With his production of Hamlet, Seryeyev carried out his precepts in a brilliant masterly handling. And no wonder that every great ballerina around the world wanted to dance Ophelia. Srinath's "Muppet Zoo and Other Stories"
Popular Actor Srinath Maddumage who produced highly acclaimed Muppet programs like "Rusara Vindana", "Kele Kade", "Sudu Pencha", "Hichchi Pinchie" (Ran Pencha) and "Panchai Pinchie" through various TV channels will bring you a special Muppet program "Muppet Zoo and other stories" on January 27 at 8.30 and 11.00 a.m. at the Elphinstone theatre.
Some of the items in this Muppet collection have been awarded at the Asian Muppet Festival held at Seoul, Korea in 1998. This production is assisted by Wijesinghe Kankanamge and Premakumara Dassanayake. Music is from Tharupathi Munasinghe. |
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Produced by Lake House |
The stories in this Muppet collection centres on themes such as
"Protection of the Environment", "Unity and Harmony".
Srinath brings you Sri Lankan Muppet blended with new technology specially
focused on school children.
