dieastra: Strauss (Default)
[personal profile] dieastra
My friend [profile] aker_ldh has gone home again, after we made a lot of pictures with my customized "David Tennant as Hamlet" figures. I really love the set and throne room we created. We started with casting all the actors for the roles they should play. Matching each character/actor from the play with his miniature self was great fun!

If you want to see how I changed the Tenth Doctor into Hamlet, you can find all pictures and links in this post: http://dieastra.livejournal.com/27731.html

Also, at the end of the play (after everyone has died) you can also find pictures from behind the scenes, the prop department and even from the casting. Enjoy!

And now - on with the play! Shakespeare himself gave the introduction.



Hamlet in the far right corner watches the festivities with sadness.



Let me introduce all the people. On the left side we do have the two ambassadors:



In the middle Ophelia in the yellow dress, Hamlet's mother Gertrude in blue and his uncle Claudius at her side, behind him old Polonius and some servant girl in the background.



And on the right side Ophelia's brother Laertes, the Cardinal (or Bishop?) in Red robe and some nameless servant.



The next scene shows friend Horatio welcomed by Hamlet with a big hug:

 photo 08Horatio.jpg



Horatio and a soldier are with Hamlet when late at night the ghost of his father appears to him and tells him that he was murdered:

 photo 06Geist.jpg

So, Hamlet swears to revenge his father, and cuts his own hand with the knife. Due to the actionfigure's limited range of mobility, we could not to the actual cut, this is as close as we got.



Then Hamlet faints.



Hamlet gets found by Horatio and the soldier who also witnessed the ghost. He lets them swear on the sword to help him avenge his father.





Next scene: Hamlet reads a book, and Polonius gets the impression that he is crazy/nuts/one fry short of a happy meal/WACKO.



 photo 11-1Buch.jpg

Note that he wears a bandage around his hand now!

 photo 11-2Buch.jpg

Because his whole family thinks Hamlet is crazy, they invite his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to try and talk some sense in them. This is the scene of their first meeting:

 photo 12Begruumlszligung_Guumlldenstern_1.jpg

 photo 13Begruumlszligung_Guumlldenstern_3.jpg

Hamlet is in love with Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius:

 photo 14Hamlet_Ophelia.jpg

He's also in a happy mood and dancing around:

 photo 15Hamlet_tanzend_1.jpg

Actors were invited, to do a play about a similar murder:

 photo 17Zuschauer_4.jpg

This scene of putting poison into the ear of a sleeping man is similar to what really happened to Hamlet's father:

 photo 18aGift.jpg

Hamlet films his uncle's reaction, to get evidence:

 photo 16Hamlet_Kamera_1.jpg

Hamlet mocks around with the crown:

 photo 19Hamlet_Krone_1.jpg

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell him that his mother wants to see him before bed. He tells them that they are playing him like a recorder:

 photo 20Hamlet_flaumlzend.jpg

 photo 21Hamlet_aufThronstehend_2.jpg

He tells them that they play him like a recorder:

 photo 21aP3270240.jpg

Hamlet is angry at his mother for marrying so soon after his father’s death:

 photo 22aP6090112.jpg

 photo 22P3270052.jpg

Polonius was hiding behind the mirror and accidentally gets shot by Hamlet:

 photo 23P6090073.jpg

Hamlet carries the dead Polonius away:

 photo 24P6090127.jpg

At midnight he sees the ghost of his father again.

 photo 25P6090158.jpg

Hamlet comes back from England. He takes a break at a cemetery but does not know that the grave is for Ophelia. He finds a skull: “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio.”

 photo 26P3270258.jpg

 photo 26aHanddouble.jpg

Laertes wants to revenge his sister’s death. Hamlet and Laertes start to fence:

 photo 27P6090191.jpg

 photo 27aP6090203.jpg

Hamlet is convinced of winning: „Another hit - what say you?“

 photo 28P6090217.jpg

Laertes wounds Hamlet while he is turns his back:

 photo 29P6090233.jpg

Hamlet realizes that the sword was poisoned.

 photo 30P6090256.jpg

He hits Laertes with his own poisoned sword.

 photo 31a.jpg

Hamlet’s mother Gertrud drinks the poisoned drink, Claudius had poisened it in case Hamlet won the sword fight. He actually warns her not to drink but she does it anyway:

 photo 32P6090296.jpg

Then she falls down and dies.

 photo 33P6100305.jpg

Hamlet forces Claudius to drink the poison as well:

 photo 34P6100362.jpg

Gertrud, Claudius and Laertes are dead:

 photo 35.jpg

Hamlet dies in the arms of Horatio. „The rest is silence.“

 photo 35aP6100342.jpg

Step by step of how I changed the Doctor into Hamlet

Masterlist of Doctor Who action figure theatre

Masterlist of Torchwood action figure theatre

Edit: Hamlet action figure theatre by others: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jauds/3644256832/

The "Casting" process:

This guy auditioned unsuccessfully for the role of the ghost of the father:



We even did some "Behind the scenes" pictures:

The director is directing the actors:



 photo 07Regisseur.jpg

To prove that you cannot believe one thing you see in a movie here is one shot of behind the scenes: The Horatio actor was too small and had to stand at a plate to be able to hug Hamlet. Well, it worked for Humphrey Bogart, so why not? *shrugs*



After the play finished it was time for the set guy to clean the stage. By the way, how do you like my black shiny floor? We used a black bed sheet and a plastic foil over that.





 photo 36P3270277.jpg

 photo 37P3270282.jpg

 photo 38Putzi_Spiegel_1.jpg

Then he found the skull and dreamt of playing Hamlet one day:

 photo 39Putzi_Sauger_1.jpg


And here you see the work of the "prop department":

The sword was made by [profile] aker_ldh , I think it looks very good!



She also made the recorders:

 photo Floumlte_b600x359.jpg

And the swords:

 photo swords.jpg

and please marvel a bit longer at this nice black leather book with golden title and pages that are full with text and can be turned, as this also was made by [profile] aker_ldh !

 photo Buch.jpg

.
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Date: 2011-03-27 05:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fry-addict.livejournal.com
Oh, those are fantastic. I had a short *lol* moment with the Sycorax bishop. Loving the detail, and The Master makes a scarily good Claudius.

Date: 2011-03-27 05:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Thank you! We took our time casting the actors to the roles - some were cast because they had the same hair or skin color, others because their clothes matched with the original ;)

Personally I am also very happy that the black reflective floor worked so well.

Date: 2011-03-27 10:23 pm (UTC)
lolmac: (Shakespeare)
From: [personal profile] lolmac
Well, it was Derek Jacobi -- no wonder it worked!

Date: 2011-03-28 11:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
When I spotted him recently in "The King's speech" I half expected him to get out a fob watch...
First we were contemplating buying a Captain Picard figure for the part, but then I thought that would be too much ;)

Date: 2011-03-28 12:07 pm (UTC)
lolmac: (leonine)
From: [personal profile] lolmac
I take it you're not familiar with Derek Jacobi outside of Docter Who, then?

Date: 2011-03-28 12:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
I'm only just starting to get more familiar with British actors/movies/TV series in general. It's just so much to catch up with! German TV has mostly only American series/movies, and I always rely on friends telling me which things are important or good, and to borrow me DVDs or tell me how to find them somewhere.

But I'll go and check out his IMDB file - my first place to get all infos. Or is there anything in particular you want to tell me?

Date: 2011-03-28 12:20 pm (UTC)
lolmac: (lightchild1)
From: [personal profile] lolmac
Ah. Well, Sir Derek Jacobi is probably one of the greatest British actors currently alive. The knighthood was bestowed for acting -- and not a lot of actors are knighted these days.

For him to have appeared in Doctor Who isn't a high point in his career, but is a very shiny high point in the 'career' of the show -- it meant that the new Who had reached a level of prominence where even the long-established A+++ performers are interested in doing guest spots. Classic Who had that at one point, I recall -- Julian Glover did a turn as a bad guy.

Basically, Derek Jacobi is the actor that Patrick Stewart would like to become, one of the true novas in the current sky. He himself would insist that he's not that good, which is part of why he's so amazing.

Date: 2011-03-28 12:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Thank you! I just checked, and I don't think I have seen much with him - if you don't count "Nanny McPhee" and while I have seen "Gladiator", I don't remember much of it.

So, how and where did you encounter him for the first time that made an impression on you? Do you still remember? I sometimes don't recognize people, even if I have seen them before in other roles. Just recently this happened when I fell in love with "Sherlock" and started to look up Martin Freeman I was surprised how many movies I already had seen with him, without him standing out in any particular way. And then one role comes along I connect with - and bam.

But seeing that I still have my hands more than full with catching up on all things John Barrowman and David Tennant did and do on screen or audio, I really can't afford spreading my interest even wider at the moment - and my friends already are talking about new exciting british series... ack! I need to stop working so I can watch TV all day long ;)

(and that's even without that friend who regularly goes to London for musicals and knows a lot of musical actors by name - I am about to dive into a whole new world and I feel as if I am drowning with all that information)

Date: 2011-03-28 01:06 pm (UTC)
lolmac: (Default)
From: [personal profile] lolmac
Oh, I certainly do. Jacobi starred in the Masterpiece Theatre production of "I, Claudius", when I was -- let's see -- I must have been in my teens. I think it was his breakout role, the one that moved him from "up and coming" to prominent.

One of the co-stars in that same production was Brian Blessed, in a very rare clean-shaven, soft-spoken role. Another supporting role was done by this guy named Patrick Stewart; he became famous later. He did an excellent job of it.

David Tennant wasn't born yet. *g*

I suspect that when Jacobi was on the DW set, the other actors and the entire production team were, at some level, squeeing deep inside: 'OMG! Derek Jacobi! I'm working with Sir Derek! OMG!'

I believe that most of Jacobi's prominent work has been doing Shakespeare. In 1989, when a young guy named Kenneth Branagh took the risk of doing a major film adaptation of Shakespeare, Jacobi and (Dame) Judi Dench did their friend Branagh the favour of appearing in the flilm, which gave it a major boost of credibility. This paid off very nicely, for Branagh and for the next thirty years of filming Shakespeare!

Date: 2011-03-28 01:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
To get slightly back on topic - I probably asked this before, and you probably already have answered - but have you ever seen the Hamlet movie with David Tenannt? That Patrick Stewart guy who later became famous plays the uncle ;) (and the ghost)

And I am happy to inform you that David Tennant already was 5 years old in 1976 - and I was 3 LOL

I suspect that when Jacobi was on the DW set, the other actors and the entire production team were, at some level, squeeing deep inside: 'OMG! Derek Jacobi! I'm working with Sir Derek! OMG!'

I bet!

I recently visited the theatre here in Dresden (another thing I do more frequently since I met my friends - to see live people on stage is always the best thing) and had another revealing moment when I looked up some of the actors afterwards, to find out that they also had roles in German TV series. Somehow, in my head a theatre actor is something different than a TV actor, but many of them do both out of variety, even though theatre is their main focus.

That's why I was wondering how a theatre guy like Derek Jacobi could become so world wide famous.

I guess my problem for keeping all those things apart also is the German dubbing. So, things like Hugh Grant playing a British gentleman in a Hollywood movie are lost on my, because they all speak German without different accents. Up until a few weeks ago I couldn't even have told you whether Colin Firth is British or American...

That's why I try to watch in English nowadays whenever I have the opportunity (that's why so many people buy DVDs, to get the original voices)

Should we maybe switch to mail to discuss further?

Date: 2011-03-27 06:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] momo-uli.livejournal.com
Es ist so klasse, Astra. Immer wieder scrolle ich von oben nach unten, und kann mich nicht satt sehen.
Wieder einmal hast Du den Actionfiguren Leben eingehaucht.
Vielen Dank fürs teilen, Astra

Date: 2011-03-28 11:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Dankeschön fürs Feedback!

Date: 2011-03-27 06:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] just-denise.livejournal.com
That's hilarious!

Date: 2011-03-28 11:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Thank you so much - glad to make you laugh!

Date: 2011-03-27 06:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] canterlevi.livejournal.com
Very creative!

Date: 2011-03-28 11:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Thank you!

Date: 2011-03-27 07:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sharp2799.livejournal.com
This is astounding! And looks like so much fun!!!

Date: 2011-03-28 11:12 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Thank you! And yes, fun we did have. Only my friend and me this time, but we really do complement each other!

Date: 2011-03-28 12:02 am (UTC)
sparowe: (Doctor Who)
From: [personal profile] sparowe
Brilliant! :D

Date: 2011-03-28 11:13 am (UTC)

Date: 2011-03-28 12:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] colej55.livejournal.com
You never cease to amaze me with the care and detail you put into your action theaters! I love the Bogart comment, too. I can't wait to see more! *happy clapping*

Date: 2011-03-28 11:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Thank you! My way to compensate that I couldn't see DT's Hamlet live - I wasn't yet a fan back then ;)

During the past weeks and months I already had fun creating all the little things we would need, and to see it all come together was really wonderful. Sadly, in reality it did look much better, my pictures are not very good.

Date: 2011-04-01 05:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ripper-girl.livejournal.com
Ich bin beeindruckt! Sieht klasse aus! :-)

Date: 2011-04-01 09:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Dankeschön! Der nächste Teil kommt bald!

Date: 2011-04-01 06:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scarab-dynasty.livejournal.com
These are just AWESOME 8D

Date: 2011-04-02 04:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Thank you very much! Much more to come!

Date: 2011-04-02 04:06 pm (UTC)

Date: 2011-04-06 12:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emraldeyedauter.livejournal.com
Oh well done. I have seen Hamlet (absolutely brilliant by the way) but this is incredible and I love how you've used all the different figurines to stand in for the actors of the play. Laughed at the Sycorax, very cool. Please let me know when you have more up.

Date: 2011-04-17 09:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
I agree that the Hamlet movie with DT is brilliant! Unfortunately I was not a fan of him yet when this was on stage, but I will go and see "Much Ado about Nothing" this year.

We had so much fun casting the figures for the actors! Today you will see some more - I just uploaded the next part here: http://dieastra.livejournal.com/29075.html

The soldier in his coat was a quick decision ;)

Thank you very much for your feedback!

Date: 2014-06-07 02:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bloodsong13t.livejournal.com
hamlet has no shoes???

fantastic work on the whole thing! though i was MOST impressed when you told me what your floor is. but... how do you keep the plastic wrap so FLAT and smooth? if i tried that, it would get all wrinkly :X

also feel sorry for the guy who didn't get the role of the ghost. but i'm sure he can get something in that torchwood show... ;)

Date: 2014-06-09 08:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Here are two of the scenes we did as gifs and see, no shoes! Have you ever watched the David Tennant Hamlet?

http://media.tumblr.com/465fad39c1a967f9271d88878684c25a/tumblr_inline_mi4kbfQvmi1qz4rgp.gif

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_malphyrDiE1qbnleeo1_500.gif

It is a very thick plastic wrap. In my family, we used them on the table, over the table cloth, so you can wash it off when there is a spot and the table cloth stays clean.

Oh, that's a good suggestion! I shall tell the ghost to audience for Torchwood, then.

Thank you ;)

Date: 2014-06-09 11:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bloodsong13t.livejournal.com
no, i have never seen that. is being barefoot a thing in it? ;D

oh, i see... he's a hobbit? :X


and oh! i thought you meant plastic wrap like for sandwiches. that very thing, clingy stuff. i know what you mean, i think it's made of vinyl? or is it something else not that thick?

Date: 2014-06-11 11:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
I actually have no idea what the plastic wrap is originally used for. I always go to the hardware store, they have it on a big roll, and then you ask for how many meters of it you want and they cut it for you.

I never had much interest in Shakespeare but seeing David's Hamlet blew me away. Here is a music video a friend did, the song tells the story of Hamlet in only 3 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDD3V2-kAaY

This should give you an idea about this version. Also, Claudius was played by Patrick Stewart.

Date: 2014-06-07 10:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] owensheart.livejournal.com
Wow this is wonderful and well done getting the story in the magazine.

Date: 2014-06-09 07:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Thank you! I am so excited!

Date: 2014-06-07 01:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tardisjournal.livejournal.com
This is amazing! I can only imagine how much work and attention to detail went into this, from finding the figures to "cast" (I think I recognize a few of them from their original "roles") to choosing what scenes to illustrate, to setting it all up and making it look real. Taking on a whole movie sounds really daunting!

I especially love the scene where Hamlet sees his father's ghost, where he looks into the shattered mirror, and the sword-fight at the end. Very dramatic! And the "behind the scenes" scenes as well. :)

Congratulations on getting in the magazine. I hope it leads more people here to see the full version!

Date: 2014-06-08 05:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
We even had a storyboard! I printed out pictures of all the scenes I wanted to make, so we could look and do it exactly like the picture. With limited props of course, but it worked. We really had so much fun, especially when Aker decided to bring the director in or the guy that sweeps the set.

Hm, maybe I should make a list of which figure played which role? That's an idea. Like end credits.

That picture where Hamlet looks into the shattered mirror looks indeed good, that's also one of my favouritest. Also the one with Gertrude lying on the ground with the cup, and you can see her face mirroring in the shiny surface.

I'm really sad we couldn't do the famous scene where he wants to kill Claudius and stands with the knife in both hands behind him. I should have used a different figure to do my Hamlet, then he would have been able to bend his arms. Too late.

Since you saw the David Tennant Hamlet version, some scenes should look familiar to you!

Date: 2014-06-11 06:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tardisjournal.livejournal.com
That sounds like a great way to organize things. Having a visual reference to work from sounds really helpful, and that way you're sure both of you are on the same page as far as what you are trying to create. Literally!

End credits would be awesome--I would love to see that! I have no idea what the actual end credits to the movie look like, but it could be fun trying to approximate them. :)

Some of the scenes WERE familiar, indeed! It's uncanny how you caught their essence.

Date: 2016-04-06 05:15 pm (UTC)
hamsterwoman: (Default)
From: [personal profile] hamsterwoman
This is very impressive! And amusing! :)

Date: 2016-04-17 05:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Thank you very much! Definitely something to be proud of. And that it even got shown in the Shakespeare magazine is a special honor. Sadly it is only an online magazine, I would have loved to buy one and put it into the book shelf! The highlight of my career LOL (I had to write the little biography at the end myself though. In 70 words. That is harder than it sounds!)

If you would like to see David Tennant in action as Hamlet, there is a wonderful music video. I actually had seen this video first before watching the real DVD, and even without sound, just with the visual, I was blown away by all the anguish and sadness he displays.

The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDD3V2-kAaY

And you may recognize some of my pictures in it ;)

Date: 2016-04-18 06:04 pm (UTC)
hamsterwoman: (Default)
From: [personal profile] hamsterwoman
I would have loved to buy one and put it into the book shelf!

That would've been an awesome keepsake! Well, at least you have an electronic one :)

(I had to write the little biography at the end myself though. In 70 words. That is harder than it sounds!)

I bet! I once had to do something similar for a bunch of songs I translated for a friend-of-a-friend who had written a play in Russian, then translated into English, but while he felt OK translating the prose himself, he needed help with the (rhymed) poetry, and this guy we both know recommended me to him. I don't think the play really went anywhere, but it's one of the things that comes up -- in a real book! -- if you google my full name. :)

Date: 2016-04-21 09:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
That sounds great! I hope you got a free copy of the book? ;)

When I google my name, I find an art exhibition and someone who wins sports medals, but none of those people is me ;)

When my mother did that book with poetry, my father let it print at his workplace actually, he worked as an engineer in an office for the railway and they print timetables and such there I guess.

Fast forward a little and a woman who had been given this book as a gift wanted to buy more. She actually went into a bookshop and asked for that famous author LOL They couldn't help her of course but the printing facility had their address in it, so she contacted them and they forwarded it then to my dad. Pretty cool story I think ;)

Date: 2016-04-23 11:09 pm (UTC)
gillo: (Will S)
From: [personal profile] gillo
This is really splendid. Thank you for linking to it!

Date: 2016-04-23 11:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Thank you very much! I'm happy you like it. It's one of the things I am most proud of and we really put a lot of work into it. I got the idea late at night, looking through my tiny things and finding the crown, the skull, the knife and the video camera. I would have loved to start right there and then but realized this needs to be done properly. So I changed two Doctors into Hamlets and my friend made all the props and then we met. And we had such fun, especially with the "behind the scenes" with the director yelling and that poor set guy.

I don't know if you have seen the David Tennant version - we achieved the shiny black floor with a black cloth and I put some clear plastic foil over it. I love how Gertrude's face mirrors in it.

Via "Brush up your Shakespeare" I have no ended up at youtube watching BBC Proms videos. Just finished singing along to the Mary Poppins Medley.

Date: 2016-04-24 07:17 am (UTC)
arashinoookami: (Default)
From: [personal profile] arashinoookami
Love it! Just one question, where did you get the skull?

Date: 2016-04-24 07:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
Thank you, glad you liked it!

The skull came with the Stargate Daniel Jackson figure many years ago (there had been a Stargate episode about the crystal skull that was found in Belize). This figure is very rare and very expensive today though. Don't know if someone would sell the accessories seperatedly on ebay.

You could try to get a Sherlock, which comes with an even more realistic skull and a lovely violin as well: http://dieastra.livejournal.com/182089.html

He just came out last year.

Also when we went to see Benedict Cumberbatch in London as Hamlet, the shop had small eraser skulls and I also bought one of these ;)

This is actually how I happened to get the idea for this whole Hamlet story: One evening I was looking through all my tiny things and marvelling on them, and I found the crown and the skull and they somehow rang a bell.

Date: 2016-04-24 07:54 am (UTC)
arashinoookami: (Default)
From: [personal profile] arashinoookami
Thanks for the info :)

Date: 2016-04-24 07:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dieastra.livejournal.com
You're welcome! Oh, and I wanted to say - I know you friended me a few weeks ago but have you seen that in the upper right corner of the page I have link lists for all the fandoms - Star Trek, Stargate, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Arrow, Sherlock, Flash - with all the links to the action figure stories. If you want to look at the old ones. I hope they are funny and understandable even if you don't know the fandom.

Date: 2016-04-24 09:53 am (UTC)
arashinoookami: (Default)
From: [personal profile] arashinoookami
Cool, thanks!

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