Hamlet - Prince of Denmark - 皇子復仇記 (4)

皇子復仇記或哈姆雷特（Hamlet）莎翁名劇，亦曾多次被拍成電影，亦曾被改編成歌劇、音樂劇、芭蕾舞劇、甚至最近被改編成粵劇。

這個故事很簡單，一位丹麥皇子在外留學，得知父親突然死去，回國時見到父親的鬼魂、才知父親是被他的叔叔謀害的，並奪了皇位及迎娶了他的母親作為皇后，鬼魂父親要皇子替他復仇！從此皇子便面臨一個決定：為父親復仇，但他知道是要復仇便要付出代價，因為復仇只可以是個人的事，那麼便可能要犧牲自己身邊的人如愛人、最好的朋友、母親、甚至要倍了自己的生命！於是皇子便陷入一個非常矛盾的狀態、外表近乎瘋癲，而內心非常悲憤！皇子的角色是這齣劇的最主要人物，他的戲非常重、是從頭一直帶到尾，其它角色都只是配角身份！

所以要將莎翁這劇本改成歌劇或音樂劇等，編劇家都要動腦根把皇子的愛人 Ophelia 的戲加重，在歌劇裡便特別加插了 Ophelia 瘋癲至自殺的那一幕。https://youtu.be/cnCU1_iu7qk

皇后的角色也不弱，她是這齣劇的關鍵人物，不過莎翁沒有太清楚地交代她再嫁丈夫的弟弟的緣因，記得在中學讀此書時，老師解釋過皇后所以這樣做是保持皇子的地位。不過很多人都有疑問，因為在劇本中，她似乎很安享她的地位，沒有看到她有些豪萎屈的表現。

很多已經成功及有名氣的男演員都很渴望演繹 Hamlet 的，因為這個角色能讓他們盡量發揮他們精湛的演技，這個角色是被認為是任何演員的最終挑戰，扮演這角色在許多地方需要顯示這角色的複雜情緒，究竟要復仇抑或不復仇呢？他是面臨人生的一個非常重大的決定，他就要憑他的內心戲來引起觀眾對他的同情，Hamlet 都是一些最好演員夢寐以求的角色。

知名度的演員演繹過 Hamlet、除了上世紀英國著名莎翁名劇演員 Laurence Olivier (羅蘭士奧利花 - 演過電影及舞台劇) 之外：

其他更有 Mel Gibson，Richard Chamberlain，Jude Law，Kevin Kline，Keanu Reeves，還有許多、數不勝數。

年青有為的粵劇編劇家黎耀威在兩年前把 Hamlet 改編成粵劇公演，獲得好評如潮，一位外藉朋友看了，非常讚賞。他在今年四月五及六日再度重演皇子一角，可惜我不在香港，又要錯過這個大好機會欣賞這齣名劇了！

Kitchen Renovation

Trust me, don't renovate your kitchen if you don't really need to! I've had a horrible experience with this Kitchen Designer. Before I signed the contract, they promised me that it wouldn't take long to get it done. The most, a few days without the use of the kitchen, that's exactly what she had said! I believed everything they said because my high-school classmate who is an interior designer introduced them to me. And silly me - I believed that they really meant a few days!

From January 4 up to today, Jan 27, on Chinese New Year's eve, my kitchen isn't ready. They told me that someone would come in first thing in the morning around 8:30 am to do the tiles and backsplash so I woke up early in the morning and waited, waited, and waited. Nobody came! Around 11:45 a.m., I called and emailed them, nobody got back to me. At 12:30 p.m., I finally sent them an urgent email asking them to find that guy or tell me what's going on. Guess what! They said the tile guy's truck had an accident and would show up tomorrow morning on Chinese New Year Day to finish the job! Can you believe that?

Now when someone got back to me on the phone, she told me that how come I didn't know that any renovation job would take a long time...a few weeks at least. And she said that I should know that!

And they're not cheap either! In fact, quite expensive! If I could only go back to the time before I signed this contract and undo everything...I would!