Fortinbras

by Lee Blessing

Book annotation not available for this title.Title FortinbrasAuthor Blessing, LeePublisher Dramatists Play ServicePublication Date 19920101Number of Pages Binding Type PAPERBACKLibrary of Congress 92165606

Genres: Plays, Shakespeare, Theatre, Drama, Humor, School

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly funny sequel to Hamlet. The play begin with Fortinbras coming on scene as the last characters in the play "Hamlet" die. He quickly finds that he is now- by default- the King of Denmark and embarks on a hilarious campaign to obscure the wanton regicide that has paved his way to the throne.

The play was written in 1991, but it has a tight, satiric post-9/11 feel to it and I can't imagine it not playing well with a modern audience. Fortinbras himself is as naive as he is earnest in his wish to make Denmark more than just the place where the King killed his brother and was killed by his nephew. It may be his honesty (through constant lying. Read the play and you'll know what I mean) that makes this comedy sell. There was n way to read this and not think of American politics.

Written in modern English (except for the beginning of the play. Blessing fades the Shakespearean speech out in the early scenes) this would be a joy to watch in capable hands, but- in a rarity as far as plays go- it makes for an INCREDIBLE casual read on its own.

Strongly recommeded.

[tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

honestly hilarious. literally 90s fanfiction of hamlet keeping with the everybody dies vein.

[Lena Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eine kurze aber sehr lustige Fortsetzung zu Hamlet :D

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cringey, sitcommy writing and shoddy, absent-minded structure damn this light-as-air script which might've otherwise been a fun slice of metafiction for real Shakespeare diehards.

When Fortinbras marches into Elsinore his chatty contemporariness and casual brutality reminds one of Gordon Gekko or Patrick Bateman (appropriate to this play's early-90s origins). But Blessing seems to tire of Fortinbras when his attention shifts to writing new scenes for the ghosts of Hamlet, Ophelia, et al. The problem is that these renditions of the characters are basically unrecognizable. Hamlet is shrill and complaining and (literally) stuck in a questionable plot device; Ophelia is sassy and sexed-up and vomits up some of the play's worst material with her insincere, unconvincing feminism; Blessing thought up the word "repentant" for Claudius and Getrude and then considered his work done. Only Horatio and Osric escape with some dignity intact, since Horatio's patient nobility and Osric's panicked subservience do in fact connect them in an appreciable way to their original selves.

It gets two stars instead of one because it has moments that are sort of funny in an NBC primetime comedy kinda way, and it's possible you might not die of embarrassment if you saw an able company perform it live, but Blessing's Ophelia declaiming "I will not... be... marginal!" did make me wince and pretty much ruined my night.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hamlet is dead and Fortinbras comes to Elsinor for a friendly visit only to discover that the land is now his.

When Blessing concentrates on the living survivors the play is quite enjoyable (poking fun at public relations, politics, and the inanity of the Hamlet story when taken in broad strokes), but I really couldn't stand the majority of the scenes with the ghosts, which is unfortunate considering that they take over the show. The couple moments of pathos created by their presence does not make up for their generally grating behavior.

[Faith B · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3 1/2 stars)

I read this for my Hamlet in Performance class. While I didn't think it was great literature, I did find it incredibly amusing. Many people in my class disliked the play, especially how Blessing has absolutely no subtlety. But I loved the blatancy of it all - Hamlet's stuck inside a tv, they bring the Oedipal thing smack out into the open, and the castle basically is its own character. Plus it's funny.

[Mark Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

And now for the lighter side of Shakespeare...this, ah, 'sequel' to Hamlet bends some rules but hell! so does Hamlet! The comic, lighter side becomes apparent as soon as Fortinbras arrives. If his costume included a visor sliding down over his eyes at certain lines it would add to his Don Quixote-like presence. And Osric is his Sancho Panza.

Blessing adds dozens of twists and slides that it resembles a Chutes and Ladders two-hours of theater.
Can't say too much more without spoiling the ending and it is worth staying to see it all.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It definitely makes up for the humor lacking in Hamlet but in the messy comedic plots, the message of the play, which is oh so clear in all of Shakespeares’s plays, feels impossible to pin down. The ending does offer an epilogue to clarify the play writes intentions but does still leave enough room for interpretation for the chain of events that first begin to unfold in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

[Teaandbooksplease · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the end of Hamlet, the entire royal family lies dead in Elsinore. Enter Fortinbras - in this version, a modern yuppie man of action who doesn't understand why Horatio insists on telling some crazy story that starts with a ghost roaming the ramparts - until Fortinbras starts running into some ghosts of his own. A funny play that picks up the themes of Hamlet where Shakespeare left off.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stage managed, counts as reading it (way too damn many times)

[Amira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this two act play for my theatre class and my initial impression was that it was a light, comedic rendition of Hamlet (almost like a fan fiction) and nothing more, and that it wasn't even worth me giving a rating. However, while it is as funny as I figured it would be it is the type of humor that has some serious thought behind it. The persona of Fortinbras seems an unconventional but truly fitting character for this famous group of tragic heroes and villains that we have come to know. All in all there are much more layers that get discovered with each scene.

While I certainly can't say that I like these versions of the characters more than in the original nor do I put it on the same pedestal as Hamlet I do appreciate how Blessings restyled them to fit his idea, which in one part is a political satire but, in what I think is a more important part, an attempt to answer the all powerful questions that Hamlet proposed of what does lie after death, who can we trust, and what is the point of this "mortal coil"

[Maci · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Fortinbras by Lee Blessing as the final text for the year in my AP Lit class. This is a hilarious play that was made even better by the fact that we had read Hamlet in class earlier in the year. This play is just filled with jokes and innuendo’s about Hamlet and is discussing what happens after the final scene of Hamlet by William Shakespeare. I really enjoyed reading this play and would really recommend this play if you have read or seen Hamlet, it gives a sense of closure while also making fun of the play at the same time. And I would also recommend having a group to read this play aloud with because it is so funny.

[Elise G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This comedic spin on Hamlet has a great premise. The immediate aftermath of the play's bloody ending finds Fortinbras dealing with the public relations headache of explaining how he came to control a castle with the entire royal family dead within. It's a decidedly modern spin, with political opportunist Fortinbras talking a lot about the need for a narrative that people can get behind. It's snarky and jokey, with some fun ideas and surprisingly poignant moments for its cast, which naturally includes the ghosts of everyone who died in Hamlet, now haunting the castle. Blessing gets a lot of dramatic mileage out of his universe's afterlife, where the people are as unhappy and lost as ever, and no one is sure of anything but what they did wrong in life. Polonious, repentant of being a pompous windbag in life, is all silent smiles and uncertainty in death. It's a conceit that works surprisingly well.

What works less well is Blessing's frequently incoherent Ophelia, who snaps between insightful snarker, manipulative succubus, and irrational shrew without any apparent rhyme or reason. It's like he put every trope associated with assertive female characters in a blender and ladled the resulting mush over Ophelia, without any regard for how it makes sense for Shakespeare's character. Also not helping the play in general and its treatment of women in particular is an unfunny and uncomfortable subplot about Fortinbras' repeated attempts to bed two unspeaking female war captives. Poor Gertrude is mostly ignored, but that may be for the best for her.

Still, when it steers back to the subject it and Hamlet are truly concerned with (death, of course), its cheery mix of cynicism, scheming, and wit wins the reader over. The bleak humor, for all its modern twists, feels right at home in Elsinore.

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard about this book from a different literature class at my school. When I heard lots of encouragement from all the students in that class that this short play was hilarious and worth the read, I was still unsure. Because how could a play that is an epilogue to the play Hamlet be funny? Well, once Fortinbras stops the iambic pentameter and the ghosts start showing up, the castle gets just as crazy as when Hamlet was in it. Even if I had set my expectations high, it would have exceeded them. It was a hilarious, fast read that I finished in one sitting. The symbolism was great, the characters funny and by dropping the iambic pentameter it brought the reality of the corruption and stupidity of politics into any time period. Any fan of Hamlet would enjoy reading this play.

[Sol · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review contains spoilers. Sorry.


I will be honest: I was disappointed.

When I read a summary of this, I was really, really excited. I've always wondered what Elsinore would be like after the royal family's death. But this was just... strange. Everything felt out of place. Ophelia's attitude, Polonius's wisdom, Fortinbras's whole character -- not a lot of things really clicked with me, nothing to really make me think, "Yes, these are the characters I know and love from Hamlet."

The way the events played out was choppy, and even though it had a pretty clear "resolution", I can't help but feel like there was a lot of things that went unresolved. Why was Ophelia really so upset? Why did she never work it out with Fortinbras and Hamlet? Why was Laertes having trouble grasping the fact that he was dead? Why was Hamlet even stuck in a TV in the first place? What was Horatio even feeling? How could Mr. Blessing have given Polonius, of all people, a pretty thoughtful (and I'll admit, well written) monologue and not Horatio, whose feelings I was most concerned about throughout the whole thing?

I'm sure this play was a bit more interesting and, um, odd, to watch live, but it was a quick read full of cringing for me. I don't think I'd really recommend this play to anyone unless they really wanted to explore this strange universe that Mr. Blessing created.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

After watching Hamlet and knowing this was going to be produced in Portland, I had to read it. And how much fun was this! At the end, how much of it will I remember ... maybe not much. But the reading of it (and hopefully the watching of it) was fun and great entertainment.

This is more about the twisting of the truth than about revenge or any other lofty ideals. Of course, truth is a lofty ideal, yet it is all undercut with this humor and satire. In the end, is truth more important than humor? Is truth important at all? But would Blessing wish us to speak of this anyway? Isn't this play just for fun?

But that's what made this a blast in the first place. There are multiple levels that you can dive between as with the absolute best drama. And that's what, in the end, this is. A great drama.

[Leta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find that Blessing's play toggle between very good and very bad (Independence is a favorite of mine, but Eleemosynary is the best known example from the good plays and Whores is an example of one of the bad ones), but this play is really more "pretty good."

This examination of how Fortinbras, upon inheriting Denmark, decides to have a fact-free (or chose your own facts) administration hits a bit too close to home right now, and watching him try to do this while being pestered by the ghosts of the recently gone-but-not-departed just adds to the sense of "didn't I just hear some of this on the news?"

[A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this book is a great idea - Hamlet after Hamlet! Who takes over? How do they deal with the aftermath of Hamlet? Perhaps death doesn't really grant the death any peace. The story begins humorously and I think there are strong moments throughout the play, but overall I was unimpressed. I felt the author was trying to go for laughs over content and so a lot of interesting philosophical ideas were iced over with jokes about lusty maidens. I felt that it didn't warrant one star, but it just barely got into two. Perhaps 1.75?

[Skye Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious in so many ways. I was told in college that the playwright created it as a metaphor for America's first war in Iraq in the 1990's, and though I suppose I can see some of those parallels, I really enjoyed this play all on its own. Lee Blessing's characters are so funny, and he gives voice to numerous things that I wish someone (Ophelia, especially) had been able to say during the actual Hamlet play.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious in so many ways. I was told in college that the playwright created it as a metaphor for America's first war in Iraq in the 1990's, and though I suppose I can see some of those parallels, I really enjoyed this play all on its own. Lee Blessing's characters are so funny, and he gives voice to numerous things that I wish someone (Ophelia, especially) had been able to say during the actual Hamlet play.

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the end of Hamlet, the entire royal family lies dead in Elsinore. Enter Fortinbras - in this version, a modern yuppie man of action who doesn't understand why Horatio insists on telling some crazy story that starts with a ghost roaming the ramparts - until Fortinbras starts running into some ghosts of his own. A funny play that picks up the themes of Hamlet where Shakespeare left off.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real delight, a sweet little trifle that goes down easy. Zany humor and no small amount of cynicism about the way politics proceeds in its insane way to destroy innocents in its march to noble goals. It is broad humor and not to be taken too seriously.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play is fantastic.

[Tree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny take on the aftermath of Hamlet

[Meltha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trippy, creative, and worth seeing/reading.

[Kendall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cheesy as it may be I found this "sequel" to Hamlet thoroughly entertaining. if it weren't for the inclusion of a television set that Hamlet somehow escapes I would give it five stars.

[mkfs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moderately amusing. Really reads like a 90s play -- I'm going to say it doesn't age well.

[Rachel Gorman]

I don’t like what was done with the characters but this is one of the funniest plays I’ve ever read in my life. A must read for any Hamlet fan.