Shakespeare

[SimonNZ]

Reading John Dover-Wilson's introduction and notes for the edition of A&C I have I learn for the first time that "gypsy" is a corruption of "Egyptian".

...along with quite a bit of other information, of course.

[Mandryka]

What do you all make of this sort of thing?

https://www.youtube.com/v/EQsOnJ6kFmo&ab_channel=GavinBryarsEnsemble-Topic

[SimonNZ]

Looking for something else I came across this striking poster for Measure For Measure:

[Rosalba]

Saw this earlier today and mixed feelings at best, but still worthwhile.

Far far far too much, especially in the first half ,was given a humorous interpretation and played for laughs, which detracted tome and again from the depth of the characterization and made everything frivolous. Likewise having Enobarbus played as a drunk. The two leads shout their lines at each other (I know this is theater and they have to reach the back row, but still) which robs scenes of not only subtlety, but also romance. Shakespeare's Cleopatra is a hard role to pull off without leaving the viewer wondering what her famous lovers saw in her - it is there in the text if played carefully - and much as I often admire Sophie Okonedo, this one was warped by bad directorial decisions.

The costumes and very creative staging are justly praised.

I can't imagine that a shouting Cleopatra would be in the least bit seductive!

[SimonNZ]

And yet...National Theatre Live broadcasts are among the things I've missed most over the last two years.

[Rosalba]

Yes - it's not as if there are limitless opportunities to watch Shakespeare acted. And even not-quite-right performances give pause for thought.

[SimonNZ]

Finally...this Henry V production with Kit Harrington set to screen in 3 weeks time.

I don't care if the reviews are a little mixed (and anyway I usually come out of these or local performances weighing strengths and weaknesses).

[SimonNZ]

*bump*

Found a couple of interesting douumentaries about two very different NY Shakespeare In The Park productions:

The first with Meryl Street and Raoul Julia performing Taming Of The Shrew in 1978. Some backstage banter, but long stretches of the actual performance, which is fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH9FsjtBLSI

The second about the 1982 Hamlet with a very young Diane Venora being cast androginously in the lead role. Mostly rehearsal scenes with a few bits of the actual performance. Fascinating, but based on this alone I'm unconvinced by the casting: her youth and inexperience has her making the role no more than a copy of her own personality and attitude. But, again, fascinating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J91NCqSdHXY

[SimonNZ]

Looking for something else I learn that Daniel Craig has done Macbeth at least a couple of times now:



Also this performance I hadn't heard about before:




In other Shakespeare news I'll be driving/ferrying up to Wellington to see The Tempest in five weeks time:




tap.tap.tap...is this thing on?

[ando]

Here's a great conversation on The Bard streamed earlier today, where the panel skirts around the subject of the "contemporary" quality of Shakespeare:

[SimonNZ]

Here's a great conversation on The Bard streamed earlier today, where the panel skirts around the subject of the "contemporary" quality of Shakespeare:

Thanks for that.

Coincidentally I was looking at a copy of the Jan Kott book just a couple of days ago thinking I really need to get to it.




In other news: hoping to get up to Auckland in February to see Midsummer Nights Dream and Measure For Measure, which the same company are playing on alternating nights.

Only seen Measure live once before and it was a some night say questionable production that cranked the comedy up to 11, and had the disguised Duke deliver all his lines in a southern holy-roller tent-meeting voice, ending all his musings to the audience with "Can I get an amen!".

And the play ended not with a question left hanging but with Isabella saying "Ah, bugger it".

[ando]

Only seen Measure live once before and it was a some night say questionable production that cranked the comedy up to 11, and had the disguised Duke deliver all his lines in a southern holy-roller tent-meeting voice, ending all his musings to the audience with "Can I get an amen!".

Haha. Speaking of amen moments, I saw a production of Measure "in the park" (at NYC's Dealcourt Theater) where the actress playing Isabella asked the audience who would believe her complaint of Angelo's indecent proposal, whereupon some lady shouted, "Nobody, girl!"

[vers la flamme]

Reading Hamlet for the first time. So far, so good.

[Karl Henning]

Reading Hamlet for the first time. So far, so good.

To borrow a phrase from Jeeves: I believe it has given general satisfaction, sir.

[vers la flamme]

To borrow a phrase from Jeeves: I believe it has given general satisfaction, sir.

Indeed it has Not sure what took me so long to get around to it, as I've read and enjoyed certain other Shakespeare plays. 

[ritter]

I've never understood what Hamlet's problem is! I just think that what the kid needs is a proper good slapping to pull himself together...   

[Karl Henning]

I've never understood what Hamlet's problem is! I just think that what the kid needs is a proper good slapping to pull himself together...   

I may have posted this before, but the classic observation is: if Hamlet and Othello traded protagonists, there would be no play in either case. The Dane would have waited and learnt that Desdemona was innocent, and the hot- blooded Moor would not have hesitated to dispatch Claudius. 

[(poco) Sforzando]

Reading Hamlet for the first time. So far, so good.

Spoiler: he kills the king.

[vers la flamme]

Spoiler: he kills the king.

Bro... 

Edit: Finished, and onto Othello. Prior to this, the only Shakespeare I'd read is the Henry VI trilogy + Richard III, A Comedy of Errors, and Titus Andronicus. As to why I picked these random plays to start with, I used to have a fat paperback containing his complete works, and they were presented in this order, and I stopped here. I loved them all but somehow never made it around to the more famous ones. (I did also read Romeo & Juliet for school.)

[Mandryka]

Finished, 

What's it about then?