#and then jen takes on that role for henry iv after [spoilers] :)

[agentravensong]

just watched this video on how plays were performed in shakespeare's day and, as a hamlet fan who likes thinking about stories from a meta angle, it's given me some things to think about.

on one hand, the fact that the same show wasn't done back to back night to night in those days, with there being weeks or months between repeat performances of the same play, means that any time-loop readings of hamlet or the others are moreso applicable to modern re-stagings and adaptations. which isn't a bad thing, just a thing to note.

(it does create some friction with the heavy implication of the time loop as the final sucker punch at the end of r & g are dead, but i feel like that friction might actually add to things if i were to think about it more?; alas, it's too late in the day for that)

on the other hand, the revelation that back then there would only be one person who'd have the honor of getting a copy of the script, known as the book-keeper or book-holder, and that, because of how limited rehearsal time was, he'd be right offstage during every show to cue people if they needed it, is.

there's just, such meta potential there. y'all can see it too, right? the idea that there's one guy, just in the corner of the characters' eyes at all times, who has the full prewritten text of the story they're in, who will put the words in their mouths and thereby keep things marching forward on the right track if they falter, but is never acknowledged and never participates themself (is spared from being a part of it) (but still has to watch it all, and can't intervene and change things even if they wanted to) (except, if they really wanted to, they could give a different cue, couldn't they? what's stopping them, other than themself, and the sense of How Things Must Be?)

...some more recent production of hamlet or one of the other tragedies must have done something with that, or at least considered it. and if not, somebody better.

(and like, imagine if that had been worked into r & g are dead. you could, going on instinct, easily have one of the players play that secondary function in the scenes in elsinore (the ones that originate from hamlet) and just not draw attention to it at first. maybe even the main player? or, hell, have it be the person who plays horatio in the ending, to make all this hit home harder!)