There Is Nothing Like a Dane!

Hamlet""is, without a doubt, the most famous play ever written; certainly the most quoted and certainly the most talked about which is amazing when you consider that there are no jokes in it."" So says actor and caricaturist Francis, and for those who prefer their Shakespeare with a bit of humor, he obliges with this anthology of poems, musings and reminiscences that make light of the dark Dane. Peter O'Toole called it""the worst play ever written."" The""duke"" in Huckleberry Finn mangles Hamlet's soliloquy as he recites it from memory (""To be or not to be; that is the bare bodkin/That makes calamity of so long life""). And director Tony Richardson recalls his casting of Nicol Williamson as the prince in 1969--lauded at first, Williamson became a erratic after awhile: he""walked off or interrupted the show several times...to the titillation of audiences,"" and began overacting recklessly. This is a charming bit of fluff for Shakespeare enthusiasts.