Fortinbras

Many years ago I came across a play written by Lee Blessing and entitled Fortinbras.  I bought it, read it and then added it to the small collection of Hamlet items on my desk at work.  The occasion of the blog gave me reason to return to it. 

Fortinbras begins where Hamlet ends.  In fact, it opens with the original play's closing lines and final deaths.  Fortinbras enters to find Elsinore in a terrible state with bodies strewn about.  Trying to understand what has happened, he speaks to Horatio and Osric.  He attempts to put the situation into words.

"So what?  I mean, who can understand all this stuff?  A ghost appears to Hamlet and tells him his uncle killed his father, so Hamlet pretends to go crazy -- or maybe he really does, who cares? -- and he decides to kill his uncle.  But he stalls around for a long time instead, kills a guy who's not his uncle, gets sent to England, gets rescued by pirates, comes back and kills everybody -- including himself.  I mean, come on."

That pretty much covers it, methinks.  When put that way, though, it really does sound kind of wild.  Fortinbras decides that no one will buy this, so he invents a new story involving a Polish spy.  Not only does it explain the happenings at Elsinore, but it justifies Fortinbras' pending military action against Poland.  While the truth cannot be changed, "it can be ignored," to quote the protagonist.

Fortinbras' plan is simple.  Unfortunately it is foiled by ghosts.  Elsinore has become a veritable haunted house.  Ophelia, Laertes, Gertrude, Claudius and Polonius all surface and antagonize Fortinbras.  They are visible, audible and even tactile.  As one of them states, it is harder for them to turn their ghostliness on and off.  Eventually, even Hamlet reappears.  First he is trapped in a television set; anachronism was not a huge problem for Shakespeare, so Blessing merely follows the leader.  As the play unfolds, Hamlet is able to escape from the TV set and join the rest of the crew.

The action continues with military advances and Fortinbras' increasing insanity.  Before the play concludes there are several more deaths, which lead to even more ghosts haunting Elsinore.  The curtain drops on Marcellus and Barnardo reading a speech about "shuffling off a mortal coil" from a book they found in the castle. 

Fortinbras is a very clever take on Hamlet.  As with Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, it brings side characters to the fore.  To quote Fortinbras:

"I'm not here to finish their story.  They were all here to begin mine."

The play functions much better as a sequel than did Hamlet 2 (see 4/6/14 post), and it attempts to analyze some of the action of its predecessor.  Its discussion on the nature of truth resonates even outside of the realm of the play.  All told, it is an excellent work that I hope to see performed live someday.