Astra's actionfigures in Action

A plea to all my friends: Would you please also sign the petition to make the "Much Ado About Nothing" theatre play with David Tennant and Catherine Tate (from Doctor Who fame) into a DVD? I saw it live in London two weeks ago and I would love if many more people could watch it, and I would like to repeatedly watch it, too. A petition worked for the Hamlet DVD, so let's hope it'll work again! There are already over 9000 signatures.

Here is the link:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/muchadotodvd/

For those, that are going to see it yet - you will have a great time! If you want to wait till after to sign that is fine - I wanted to see it first myself, but now I am trying to do everythin I ca to make this DVD work!

Hi! I'm back home from London (came back on Sunday already) and want to share some pictures and stories. For those that don't know - I was there to see David Tennant and Catherine Tate, both actors from "Doctor Who", live on stage in Shakespeare's "Much ado about nothing". It was very funny! It's still on till September, so when you are in the neighbourhood - go! You won't regret it. This post will have no spoilers, only pictures from the theatre and the stage door. Enjoy!

Important things first - that's me and "Awwww, David...." (please ignore these frequent sighs coming from me and also the bad hairstyle, after a day walking around in London you look not so fresh anymore) - and there are many more pictures and explanations under the cut beyond the picture, as always.



( read on under the cut )

And before you ask - yes, we also did visit a few other London sights, but I wanted to get those pictures out to you first. More will come in time. Watch this space!
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To be continued
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My friend 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:





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:



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.





Note that he wears a bandage around his hand now!



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:





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



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



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



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



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



Hamlet mocks around with the crown:



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:





He tells them that they play him like a recorder:



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





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



Hamlet carries the dead Polonius away:



At midnight he sees the ghost of his father again.



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.”





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





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



Laertes wounds Hamlet while he is turns his back:



Hamlet realizes that the sword was poisoned.



He hits Laertes with his own poisoned sword.



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:



Then she falls down and dies.



Hamlet forces Claudius to drink the poison as well:



Gertrud, Claudius and Laertes are dead:



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



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:





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.











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




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

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



She also made the recorders:



And the swords:



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 aker_ldh !



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Previously - Part 1: Changing The Doctor into Hamlet - bare arms

Previously - Part 2: Feet for my Hamlet figure

I needed to make the shirt longer, as it is going over the jeans. The original figure had a hip joint which is now lost because I put Milliput over it.



( read on under the cut )
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Next week I will have fun trying to get the picture on the shirt - oy!

On to the next part: Both Hamlets finished!

My weekend was busy, and I want to show why! (also why I have this deep cut in my thumb ;) )

The fabulous jbsnow has changed Captain Jack Harkness figures into John Barrowman in kilt or Robin Hood costume and so I got the idea to try my hands on a David Tennant in Hamlet T-shirt. Can't be so difficult, right? Here is what I did so far:

( read on under the cut )
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On to the next part - Feet for my Hamlet
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