ANOTHER HAMLET

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 817, 25 March 1955, Page 14

ANOTHER HAMLET

| THE FOLIO SHAKESPEARE HAMLET, published by the Folio Society, with illustrations by Roger Furse and an introduction by Richard Burton, English price 18/-. (The shade of WILL SHAKESPEARE encounters a BIBLIOPHILE.) Will: They’ve done it again! Another edition of Hamlet. Reader: Very attractive format and type-setting-Will: They call it "Folio," but stick neither to a Quarto nor a Folio text; | M. R. Ridley editsReader: Without notes, I see; but a fairly comprehensive glossary. Will: Look at the illustrations! No colour! Where’s the contrast for Hamlet’s | black? And not all the characters rep- | resented, even then. Reader: I'd have liked more of the settings and — er — more completely related to the scenes. Will (drily): Or none. But no colour! From the film, of course; black and white was false economy and bad box office. Reader: The lines aren’t numbered, so it’s not much use to a student. Still, it must be most gratifying to be so continuously reprinted. Will: Probably because the copyright’s free. I see little reason for this edition; even the young actor who writes the introduction is too timid to have an opinion about the part at all. ReaGer: Ah! What is yours? Will; It’s all in the play-any old edition will do. Let ’em act it, they'll soon find out. That’s how I meant it, acted, to an audience. It’s theatre. Reader: So this edition is quite worth having.

Will: Any edition of my work is better than none. And now excuse me; I must collect a few more epithets from Bernard Shaw. Such a welcome arrival.

John V.

Trevor