Eh, I should have said English language. That's what I meant . I'd agree that the latter two might be better... but Poe? Ugh, couldn't agree. I'd also include people like Dostoevsky, Moliere, and that Spanish contemporary of Shakespeare's who's name always alludes me. Maybe Goethe as well.
I guess the Shakespeare summer festival thing isn't a local phenomenon. http://www.texasshakespeare.com/links.htm … I think it's a conspiracy …
I think Shakespeare had some great stories that were very revolutionary, but I think that we sometimes forget just how many people used the same language everyday. It was how they related with each other. So I'm not impressed as much by the language as I am the story itself. I love Charles Dickens myself, and most people consider him a dificult read too, but that guy could make story out of anything. He was truly gifted.
Hydra, I couldn't disagree more. They were fantastic storytellers ( I just recently finished Homer's Iliad .....great stuff!), but as far as the use of language goes.......Noone comes close. Det, How was it when you tried reading it out loud? I bet you rarely did, and if so it was in class while everyone was watching and listening (or not watching and listening....who are we kidding?) It feels really goofy sometimes, but very often that's the only way I can sit down with his text and read it. It was meant to be read out loud. That's when the real magic happens. Grizzled, Yeah, the Summer Festival is not an isolated phenomenon. They're all over. I worked at one in Wisconsin the past two Summers. All Summer classical repertories are the same sort of thing, just under differently worded titles. PhiSlammaJamma, I urge you to read, though admittedly it may difficult, my earlier posts in this thread regarding the very thing you're talking about. They didn't speak that way. Noone did. They were very often hearing many of those words for the first time, and probably (in some cases) had a more difficult time with it than we do.
I love Shakespeare and my favorite had to be MacBeth. Most people do not list MacBeth as one of their favorites and I dont know why. The story is great. Is there anywhere in Houston that you guys know of that shows quality Shakespeare?
MB, McB is a brilliant play, but an almost impossibly difficult play to produce well. I rarely hear of a good production. Anthony Sher's was supposed to be phenominal, but I think that may have had more to do with his performance, rather than the overall production value. Also, a lot of actors are a little superstitious when it comes to McB, including me. We don't like to say it. I don't even like to write it. It's generally referred to as "The Scottish Play". If you call it by it's name in a theatre, you're likely to get more than a few dirty looks from those around you. Supposedly, bad things happen when you call it by it's name. I used to think this was silly. I could tell stories.
I disagree completely. The "fanciness" of the language might have been normal in Elizabethan England... but the wit was not. I can't read (or hear) exchanges in Much Ado... or As You Like It without being completely amazed. Nobody really does that sort of comedy that well anymore... or so it seems to me. On mainstream TV, it seems that only the writers for Frasier even try... and that's partly what's so amazing about Shakespeare. He wasn't erudite. In his day, his plays were popularly consumed and produced for the masses.
I have played numerous Shakespeare roles, most notably MacBeth, Hamlet, Horatio, Iago, the Fool, Puck, Romeo, Henry V, and Richard III, and have also taught Hamlet and Hank Cinque... I have too many opinions for this or any forum, or at least I have too much love of my own opinons, and expressing them, to subject you to them, but I will say this... Favorite Opening Line: Richard III Favorite Closing Line : Othello Favorite Speech Performed : MacBeth, seg'd by " The Queen, My Lord, is dead." , and beginning " She should have died hereafter, there would have been time for such a word...Tomorrow and etc..." Other great speeches : Hamlet's big 2, ie... The one to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern including " I have of late, wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth and custom of excercise..." and the obvious one...Henry V's 2 best, the tennis ball speech, and the St. Crispian's Day rally... Favorite Role I've Yet To Do : Lear or Marc Antony Best Film Versions of Roles: Branagh's Henry V, Olivier's Richard III, Branagh's Hamlet, Gielgud's Prospero, Olivier's Lear... Best live performances: Paul Schofield in Hamlet, William Hutt ( who taught me acting 1 on 1 for a little while) as Lear, Kevin Kline as Horatio...I saw an actor who's name escapes me to an absolutely magnetic Othello...usually loses out to Iago, but not in this case... Dislikes: Ok, while I greatly appreciate your starting this thread, people who call Shakespear Bill, or, worse yet, Billy Boy, have always grated on me...Also, the way Shakespeare is taught is High School is, for the most part, akin to an autopsy, and does more damage than good...Allow them to enjoy the play for the story's sake, and for the love of God, do away with plot charts for all eternity...Oh, and he never really wrote enough great female characters, for obvious reasons...
JAG, I agree one hundred percent on your opinion of the high school approach to Shakespeare. Those teachers do have it pretty tough, though. And you're right, his name is William Shakespeare.................... He's just Billy Boy to those of us that know him best.
Gascon what was your favorite production? A few years ago I was in an experiment called the “Unrehearsed Shakespeare Project”. We did it for three nights. We did A Midsummer night’s Dream. Here’s how it goes… One month before the dates the cast got together, each person was given three parts (each night you would play a different part, sort of like the true repertory style). I did Puck, Lysander and Peter Quince. Each person was assigned their “scroll” with your lines and the cues and the entrances. We established the playing field, entrances and had a “stage manager; which became more of a referee, with a whistle and script, and if we got totally off, she would get us back on track. That was it! We met at the theater an hour before each show went at it! It was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had on stage. Such an exercise in listening! And the audience ate it up! I mean they were on the edge of their seats as much as the actors! Just to see what was going to happen next! Such a feeling to go on stage and have to truly focus! You never knew what was going to happen. The actors were standing in the wings watching every scene. Talk about spontaneity! I don’t know if something like this would work so much with one of the tragedies or history plays. But I would love to do that again sometime!
Wow, that sounds like it would be a blast, to perform AND watch. I don't know if anyone's interested, but I'm taking Politics of Greek Theater. Sometime in late April (date has yet to be det) we're putting on a production of Aristophane's The Assemblywomen." It should be quite humorous (and hopefully good). It's mostly political science majors or honors college kids with no formal theater training at all. Greek theater was interesting to say the least. It's all about dildos and sex. Anyway, just an FYI. Thanks Gascon, I fixed it!
mcmark, OH MY GOD!!!! That sounds like so much fun! Scary as hell, but so much fun! I would love to do something like that! Man, what an adventure. I guess my favorite production I've been in so far was Richard II . Just a great experience. We didn't get to perform it as much as we wanted to, because it was the last to go up in our repertory of five last summer. But it was always an adventure. It also seemed cursed (or blessed, depending how you look at it) by the weather. It rained for most of the performances. That seemed to bring us together, though.....the players and the audience. By the end of a production that was performed in cold, Wisconsin rain, both the actors and the audience feel as if they've all been through something together....and there's a closeness that can only be achieved that way. But on those clear nights, especially the cool ones, when your voice just carries through the night in the crisp air, that's when you really feel the power of Shakespeare's words. Some of the most beautiful imagery is in that play. The language is gorgeous. It's all in verse, which helps. But that was my favorite, I guess. Princess, You'll never catch any of us saying we aren't interesting.
