Word: claudius
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...Kampen's score of trumpets, strings, percussion and piano-coordinated with sounds of wind, sea and rain-compliments the mood of accompanying scenes. The thundering chords, lighting and unearthly chanting of "Sanctus Spiritus" heighten the horror of the Ghost scenes. Strains of piano and strings underlying loving scenes between Claudius and Gertrude and later among Laertes, Ophelia and Polonius reveal the fragility of those moments...
Hamlet's situation is made more formidable by Mark Metcalf's portrayal of Claudius, not as a clear inferior to the brother he murdered, but as an emancipator who releases Elsinore from an austere ruler and awakens Gertrude's passion and love. Metcalf depicts Claudius as the ultimate politician-charming and charismatic whenever it suits him. In comparison, the Ghost (Miguel Perez) is presented as a frightening imposition on poor Hamlet's time, rather than an inspiration to avenge. Claudius' appealing grace undermines the Ghost's severe dignity, and, as a result, the audience understands Hamlet's delay in killing...
...Claudius I, scholar and writer...
Marino provided outstanding comic relief as the doddering Polonius, and Sheila MacDonald shines as the troubled Gertrude. Saddly, Steven Lucado's Claudius never reaches any kind of emotional intensity. In the final scenes he appears bland--the evil man who killed his brother in order to possess his kingdom and his wife never emerges in Lucando's performance...
...FIRST MAN IN ROME, by Colleen McCullough (Morrow; 896 pages; $22.95), is a truly astonishing work, the first of five planned volumes about life -- mostly political life -- in ancient Rome. Robert Graves covered this ground, in I, Claudius, and so did Shakespeare, for that matter. McCullough, who wrote The Thorn Birds, is not awed, and her narration marches sturdily through a period of fascinating turmoil in the last years of the Republic. Terrifying German barbarians have wiped out most of Rome's legions. The Senate dithers; Gaius Marius, a wealthy military man of low birth, has the energy...