no UR-Hamlet!

I just figured out how to get my laptop to charge in my room and I am unequivocally happy. :) 

So, let's talk for a moment about what time the sun rises here.   4:00 am.   How do I know this you might ask?  (For we all know that Molly is not an early riser)  I know this because for some unGodly reason every morning I've been waking up at this time, only to see the sunrise.  I'm not sure what it is that's waking me up, but its 11:00 am now and I've been up since 4:00.  Not helping me adapt to a normal schedule here... 

But I have discovered something in this early rising: Wroclaw should rightfully be called the city that never sleeps.  Everything in the market square closes at midnight or if its a pub much later.  I got done with the play I saw last night around 10:30 and since its a Wednesday night I figured my options might be limited in what I could find... I was so wrong!  Walking back nearly everything was open... People were out having fun and drinking and when I woke up this morning at 4, they were still out!  I could see people just leaving some of the nearby clubs from my window.  I'm not oblivious to partying, but I thought on a Wednesday night people might be done before four... 

As for the show last night, I had a ticket to see Eugenio Barba's UR-Hamlet.   I left my hostel about an hour before the show because google maps told me that it was 20 minutes walking distance or a 5 minute drive.  I was going to grab dinner and depending on time, take a cab or walk.  Well, unfortunately for my stomach I discovered that H&M is 20 yards from my hostel.  (I bought a purse to carry my stuff in because I was at the time just walking around with my wallet :)  So, I didn't eat and ran out of time, so I go to find a cab, (here you pick up cabs at special points kind of like a bus stop) and I walk up to one of the drivers and show him the address of the theatre and ask him if he speaks English (kind of) and if he can take me there (he laughs).  Apparently the place I want to go is 300 kilometers away.... he told me to take a train.  

I am a this point rather confused.  So, I walk further down the line of cabs and find another driver and ask if he speaks English (better than the first).  He looks at the address and confirms what the other man said.  So, I walk back up the street and find this annoying boy who kept trying to give me flyers for a pizza place.  He's younger so I assume (in Poland thus far in my experience its a safe assumption to assume if a person looks to be under thirty or works in a fast food establishment or anyplace dealing with tourism or travel they probably speak enough English to communicate) that he can probably give some guidance.  This time I pull out my ticket to the play and show him the ticket.  He nods and begins to ask a friend.  The friend wasn't sure so he asks one of the cab drivers who tells him where to go.  The boy then tries to explain to me how to get there, but I ended up just showing another driver the ticket and having him drive me there so that I wouldn't be late.  I'm pretty sure he over charged me for the cab, but at this point I was relieved to find my destination was close and not 300 km away.   

So, I get to this building with a crowd outside and assume its the right place. (Don't worry, it is)  A young woman comes up to me and hands me a brochure and I said 'Thank you" and she takes it back and gives me one in English.  Thank goodness.   So, I'm scouting things out, standing around and who do I see...  lo and behold its Sergio (my Italian Theatre History Professor who I often imitate lovingly/mockingly in walk, accent and gesture)'s wife, Faith.  I can't quite explain to you how excited I felt.  I mean I wasn't lost or confused at this point and getting there wasn't the greatest of tasks, but seeing a familiar face was inexplicably exciting.  I ran up and gave her a hug; she was probably taken aback because I don't know her that well, but oh well.   As it turns out she and Sergio were there to see UR-Hamlet also, so I got to sit with them which was nice.  

But let me explain why we got to sit together.  As you might question, weren't there assigned seats at this festival as there are in most theaters?  

No.  There weren't because it was outside.  Yup.  Outside.  

I guess I should also explain that it was 45 degrees last night.  Imagine my unhappiness to find this out because I only wore a light cardigan.   Fortunately the show lasted only an hour and a half and my large purse I just purchased also served as a place to curl up under.  

I'd like to explain the show, but I'm not really sure that I can... but I'll try.

It started off with something most who've read Hamlet are familiar with.  The bit put on by the players for the Court.  So, this is done in the Balinese style with masks and signs and singing/chanting.  It was extremely funny and the signs were in English and the wedding march and other things sung were in Western humor.  Then the actual play Hamlet begins... or so I think?  I can't be too sure at the events that followed.  And I will preface this by saying that I am pretty familiar with Hamlet having studied it at several different points in my education:

At certain points in the play I questioned who Hamlet was. 

 Yeah.  It was confusing first because only chapters or titles to the events were said in English and the play was based off Vita Amlethi by Saxo Grammaticusa, something I've never read nor am I familiar with.  Also, because of the many different styles fused together I became confused about the significance of things.  There were the Balinese dancers, the main characters who seemed to be dressed in styles reminiscent of the Victorian era, and then the chorus who entered at the beginning dressed some in modern clothing, some in Victorian and then some who later changed into wigs and were dressed to resemble prostitutes.  Plus the woman who played Saxo Grammaticusa, a male, who had a bald cap on because she's supposed to resemble a monk, instead looked like a Conehead.  Can you understand why I was confused?  

It probably would have been easier if I wasn't expecting the basic story of Hamlet, which this wasn't and I might try to see it again to gain a better understanding of things.  There were several really striking moments, however, involving the chorus.  At one point after the "plague" has hit the kingdom they begin dying in mass quantities and a man driving a fork lift comes out of the entry way and begins piling the bodies up and taking them out.  The chorus really did a lot for this production to allow for the audience to have a way to better understand the action of the play and to connect to the events (which is of course the purpose of the chorus). 

Tonight I'm seeing Cleansed by Sarah Kane, one of the plays I've studied over the past year in classes. I'm a little nervous because the content of the play is extremely graphic and sexual so hopefully its not too much.  

more later! more pictures too.  (the ones at the top are the view out my hostel window at 4:00 this morning. :)