Hamluke photos by Eric G.Y. Petersen are available on Flickr.

Pioneer Press dubs Hamluke a Must See!

City Pages calls Hamluke an “entertaining mix” which tells a “fast-paced and engaging version of the original [Hamlet] story.”

“Hamluke delivered not only what it promised, but much more. Just do yourself a favor and buy your tickets NOW.” - Adam Whisner,Minnesota Playlist

“There were moments when the confluence of Mark Hamill, Clarence Wethern and Hamlet were just about perfect. And many excellent moments, often from Lindsay Marcy. And I’m very enthusiastic about any production that dresses children up in costumes that restrict their vision and then makes them toddle about.” - John Middleton, Minnesota Playlist

MPLS.TV recommends Hamluke, praising the “swift, energetic acting and hilarious one-liners.”

Listen to Joshua Humphrey interview Brad Erickson and Clarence Wethern about Hamluke on the Twin Cities Theater Connectionpodcast.

Like Hamluke on Facebook: facebook.com/hamluke

Join the conversation on Twitter! Tags your tweets with the#Hamluke tag!

Lindsay Marcy & Clarence Wethern. Photo by Eric G.Y. Petersen

The Minnesota Fringe Festival has posted some photos by Eric G.Y. Petersen from a performance of Hamluke on Flickr.

Click here to see the gallery.

We have two more performances: Thursday at 10pm & Friday at 4pm. Reservations are recommended, as we’ve sold out two out of three shows.

We had another great audience today (though not sold out this time), and reviews have started pouring in. The audience reviews on the Fringe website have given us an average rating of 4.5 “Kitties” (out of 5), and the reviewers say things like:

“…probably the funniest show I will see this Fringe!”

“..a visual love-fest of costumes and props…”

“Brilliant comedy.”

“This play is genius wrapped in sci-fi, served with a gigantic side of hilarity.”

“…this is the most amazing thing I’m going to see all week.”

The Pioneer Press gave Hamluke the coveted “Must See” rating, saying:

A big strong cast, especially Mike Rylander as both the evil lord Darthius and the puppet Polyodius, Clarence Wethern as the whiny indecisive Hamluke and Mahmoud Hakima channeling Billy Dee Williams as Landocrantz.

I’ve gotta say, I was nervous about what sort of reception we’d receive. I couldn’t be more elated/relieved/grateful/happy. If you want to catch Hamluke, we have three more performance: Tues @ 8:30, Wed @ 10pm, & Fri @ 4pm.

Visit the Hamluke show page for more info or to reserve tickets: www.fringefestival.org/2011/show/?id=1565

Like Hamluke on Facebook: www.facebook.com/hamluke

Join the conversation on Twitter by using the #Hamluke and #mnfringe tags.

Tonight is the first performance of Hamluke! Head to the Minnesota Fringe site for details and tickets!

A long time ago, in a castle far, far away…

Hamluke embarks on a tragic tale of betrayal and revenge in this hilarious, acclaimed, Star Wars-inspired version of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, as told by Wookiees, droids, and Jedi Knights.

Fresh from their run playing Hamlet and Ophelia in Theatre in the Round’s production of Hamlet, Clarence Wethern and Lindsay Marcy star as Hamluke and Opheleia. Hamluke also features Mike Rylander reprising his role of Darthius and Polyodius in his final performance in the Twin Cities.

Listen to Joshua Humphrey interview Brad Erickson and Clarence Wethern about Hamluke on the Twin Cities Theater Connection podcast.

This video joins the ranks of those by such luminaries as Tom Hanks, Ira Glass, Paul Reiser, and the President of Georgia.

Since its debut yesterday, it’s scored over 14,000 views on YouTube, been mentioned on nerd blogs (Topless Robot, The Mary Sue) and local radio alike, and even Jonathan Coulton himself and Neil Gaiman have tweeted their approval.

Here it is in all its ridiculous glory:

They do a weekly feature called “Fan Fiction Friday,” wherein they pluck the most horrific fan fiction from the internet and post it with amusing commentary.  Last week, the author was none too pleased and made his outrage known.  Go read the extremely hilarious post at Topless Robot before you do anything else.  I’ll wait.

One of my favorite “WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS?” pics is Grimlock opining about Bay’s Transformers.

I made some of my own:

And here’s one from a pic I took of Bill Stiteler:

And finally, my friend, Twin Cities actress Amber Bjork:

You’re welcome.

Dick suspected that Lem was an agent of the Communist Party (and perhaps not a person at all, but a committee) and wrote a letter to the FBI warning them about Lem, which the FBI ignored.

I just found the text of that letter online.  Read Phil’s paranoia after the jump.

From the official site of Stanislaw Lem:

Philip K. Dick to the FBI, September 2, 1974

I am enclosing the letterhead of Professor Darko Suvin, to go with information and enclosures which I have sent you previously. This is the first contact I have had with Professor Suvin. Listed with him are three Marxists whom I sent you information about before, based on personal dealings with them: Peter Fitting, Fredric Jameson, and Franz Rottensteiner who is Stanislaw Lem’s official Western agent. The text of the letter indicates the extensive influence of this publication, SCIENCE-FICTION STUDIES.

What is involved here is not that these persons are Marxists per se or even that Fitting, Rottensteiner and Suvin are foreign-based but that all of them without exception represent dedicated outlets in a chain of command from Stanislaw Lem in Krakow, Poland, himself a total Party functionary (I know this from his published writing and personal letters to me and to other people). For an Iron Curtain Party group – Lem is probably a composite committee rather than an individual, since he writes in several styles and sometimes reads foreign, to him, languages and sometimes does not – to gain monopoly positions of power from which they can control opinion through criticism and pedagogic essays is a threat to our whole field of science fiction and its free exchange of views and ideas. Peter Fitting has in addition begun to review books for the magazines Locus and Galaxy. The Party operates (a U..S.] publishing house which does a great deal of Party-controlled science fiction. And in earlier material which I sent to you I indicated their evident penetration of the crucial publications of our professional organization SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS OF AMERICA.

Their main successes would appear to be in the fields of academic articles, book reviews and possibly through our organization the control in the future of the awarding of honors and titles. I think, though, at this time, that their campaign to establish Lem himself as a major novelist and critic is losing ground; it has begun to encounter serious opposition: Lem’s creative abilities now appear to have been overrated and Lem’s crude, insulting and downright ignorant attacks on American science fiction and American science fiction writers went too far too fast and alienated everyone but the Party faithful (I am one of those highly alienated).

It is a grim development for our field and its hopes to find much of our criticism and academic theses and publications completely controlled by a faceless group in Krakow, Poland. What can be done, though, I do not know.

I don’t know if I’m ready to part with (or otherwise violate) my Star Wars Micro Machines just yet…