Thanks! I'm happy to be blamed for such. ;-)

] But, he talks about the difficulties performing in a stage production of Hamlet that has been chopped up and shortened to 2 or 2-1/2 hours.

Yes, with all the non-essential bits cut out it's an amazingly strenuous part to play (which it is anyway). I remember reading somewhere that part of Shakespeare's purpose for all those bits between the Big Scenes was to give Hamlet some down time, or else it's just an exhausting ordeal. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, it has to be cut down to 2, 2 1/2 hrs. In the case of the Mel Gibson version, it is reduced to just the Big Scenes, making what I call Hamlet's Greatest Hits. ;-p

] "When Gertrude first talks to Hamlet in the court scene, she says: 'Hamlet, cast off thy nighted color.' And I was in a production with someone that Gertrude said: 'Hamlet, cast off thy colored nighty.'

I love this. And he used this line in his movie A Midwinter's Tale which I highly recommend if you haven't seen it. It's about a third rate acting troop putting on Hamlet at Christmastime. It has a lot of the same actors he used in his Hamlet but in different roles. For instnace, Polonius becomes Claudius, Laertes is Hamlet, Horatio is Laertes - and Lydia Bennet is Ophelia! :-)

] Good to know that Kenneth -- often described as driven -- can also have some fun with the Bard's words.