PROGRAM NOTES
The Hamnet Players debuted the concept of Internet Theatre, a participatory performance art forum, in December 1993 with a production of "Hamnet," an 80-line version of "Hamlet," which was repeated in February of this year with Ian Taylor, of the Royal Shakespeare Company, in the title role. True to the concept of theatre, the production is presented in real time with live performers and audience, with all the opportunities for spontaneous genius and imminent disaster that entails. The debut performance of "Hamnet" was interrupted by a thunderstorm which cut the producers' online access; the play had to be restarted after the producers logged back on via Taiwan. The second performance was enlivened by a bot which accidentally killed Hamlet halfway through the production. Notwithstanding disaster, both productions were received with enthusiasm by participants and audience alike.
XKEK73A@prodigy.com was sufficiently encouraged to write a play with a Scottish theme, from an idea by Bard@Avon.ac.uk, whose 430th birthday was marked by this piece's premiere production. The original plot outline has been preserved, but the text has been mercilessly corrupted in keeping with the expected cultural level of the audience. Also, since we are convinced Shakespeare would never have used Apple hardware if he had known there was a choice, the play has been re-titled in IBM mode.
====================== THE CAST ================================
*** Cubby *** PCbeth [VANCOUVER]
Cubby is really Chris Fonnesbeck, Artistic Director of Vancouver Shakespeare and experienced, FOR REAL, Shakespearean actor. What he's doing in this shoddy company we really can't imagine.
*** AlmaW *** LadyM [LEXINGTON, VA]
AlmaW sent in a moving e-mail audition at just the right moment, when the original LadyM broke a virtual leg, and so swanned right into the plum role. Thus, everybody knows she was not the first choice which should give her plenty of confidence. She claims to be one hell of a typist -- and since she logs in from Virginia we are expecting a special touch.
*** Honcho *** Banquo [HOLLYWOOD -- CLOSE, ANYWAY]
Behind this innocent nickname lurks Mick Jackson, British director of Hollywood feature movies. His credits include "L.A. Story" starring Steve Martin, "The Bodyguard" starring Kevin Costner and, just this year, "Clean Slate" with Dana Carvey. Look him up in the Cardiff database if you don't believe me. He's here to find out a bit about the way the net works, to help him decide whether he wants to make a movie with an Internet sub-theme. Mick is a *guest*. Do you hear? A *guest*. We will not play *any* of those pranks we love to play on newbies. Buahahahahahahaha.
*** susanj *** 1Witch [PHILADELPHIA]
Susanj is some kind of academic or other, and a leading light of the L-COLLAB "post-modern theatre" listserver. She has an avowed ambition to perform Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" on a MOO [Object-Oriented MUD]. If things go really well today she has said she will consider switching from MOO to irc. We look forward to her MOO Kafka.
*** kay *** 2Witch [SANTA MONICA]
Kay wishes to apologise in advance for her poor performance and blame it on Netcom, which as we all know overextended itself to the point where it cannot properly serve all its clients. We have prepared some additional entertainment for the audience's amusement while waiting for Netcom to catch up with Australia and the rest of the planet. Maybe after this kay will sign up for a real Internet account.
*** bros *** Mac(Duff) [????????]
We don't actually know where bros is. Since he's from a .com site, you might imagine he's a suit in the software business. Adding to that impression is the fact that much of his e-mail audition consisted of a reading from the Irix manual. However, the reading was unusually fine, and he also proved that he can type "rubber baby buggy bampers" (which is more than I can, as you can see). After this, he may burn his executive suit and run away with the virtual gypsies.
*** Clive *** King [SE ENGLAND]
Clive got kind of press-ganged into playing the part of the stage direction _Enter in the premiere performance of PCbeth. We thought he'd be pleased to be given the part of the King this time, but he's been driving everybody on #gb crazy all week, moaning that he only has two lines. Clive is possibly the only person present who actually knows how the irc software works, and so we are slightly afraid that he's preparing some awful revenge. Try to be nice to him, please. At the cast party he'd like a pint of ale in a warm glass.
*** gazza *** Porter [BATH, WEST ENGLAND]
Believe it or not, Gazza played Shakespeare's Scottish villain for real at the Bath festival in June. He also created the irc role of PCbeth for the April 1994 premiere, and was acclaimed despite losing his script. On the occasion of his first appearance in irc theatre, as R_krantz in the irc Hamnet, he showed his complete professionalism by first identifying, then corrupting, the one critic in the audience.
*** Quondam *** Ross [HOLLYWOOD]
Quondam is our other distinguished guest from Hollywood. Real name Richard Grove, he has an impressive list of TV. movie and stage credits. He was awarded a Dramalogue Award for "Beethoven," and his TV stuff has included Perry Mason, Matlock, Quantum Leap, In The Heat Of The Night, Renegade, L.A. Law, etc.. He graduated from the Yale School of Drama but he doesn't want us to say how long ago that was, hehehe. We can't quite work out why he wants to do irc theatre and we only hope he doesn't have some crazy idea that this is a paying job.
*** msdanet *** Lady_R [JERUSALEM]
Brenda Danet is a Prof at the Hebrew Uni of Jerusalem and since her name looks just like an e-mail address she naturally developed a professional interest in Internet activities. She tends to use long words like "Computer-Mediated Communication" when the rest of us would say "flirting," but that's probably just to impress the granting agencies. We certainly hope that when she hangs out in the singles bars of Jerusalem she does not go on about "Vodka-Mediated Communication." The fact that she has read through the logs of all previous performances of The Hamnet Players, and *still* wants to be part of this, is a tribute to her... er, courage.
*** BoPeep *** SCENE [CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA]
BoPeep is today repeating her triumph as SCENE in the original production. Having seen her style in this role it is now hard to imagine anybody else doing it, and quite possibly she may even get it right this time around. BoPeep has been voted "most meticulous irc user" for five straight years. A typo has never been seen from her. By day she is a librarian at Virginia Uni, wears thick glasses and a tight bun, and delights in shushing people who want to party in her library. But at night, off come those glasses, down comes that hair, out comes her irc toolbox and WOW!!! LOOK OUT!!!!
*** dano *** _Enter [ENGLAND]
dano's audition by e-mail was a work of art. It's actually funnier than the play. Hey! Here's an idea... Why don't we perform the audition instead of the play, and quit worrying about all the other actors. Nah, we like to suffer in the cause of Art.
========================= THE HAMNET PLAYERS ===================
*** El_Ingles *** Artistic Director [SAN DIEGO]
El_Ingles jokes that he has had six careers but never actually had a job. His colleagues cannot imagine why he finds this funny -- it is the plain and hideous truth. Irc theatre was one of his typically hare-brained ideas, driving other people crazy and creating no income whatever from endless hours of work. We must all hope somebody gives him a job one day.
*** minou *** Playwright [SAN DIEGO]
minou, a writer in RL, was the cyberturge for "Hamnet," the first irc theatre production. Not understanding really what that position required, she promoted herself to playwright for Pcbeth and is therefore the one your virtual rotten tomatoes should be thrown at if you do not find the script funny, interesting, or appropriate. If you want to be kind you can of course assume that minou's script was just fine but the actors ruined it.
*** zarquon *** Stage Manager [LONDON -- well, close]
As in the RL theatre, the SM is here to take the blame for everybody else's failures and shortcomings. Zarquon has no known experience of theatre, and so we suspect that he has not yet found out the true nature of his job. The original SM of the Hamnet Players showed how closely the parallels between virtual and real theatre can be by resigning after the last performance. Poor old zarquon was next in line. If he tries to escape we have prepared a novel irc command, the reverse of /KICK, that will drag him right on back.
Gazza's makeup by "Never-run panstix of Bristol"
AlmaW's bustier by "Bristol Tips of Virginia"
BoPeep's pants by "LSB Services"
er...
In-jokes by "The #gb reulars"
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