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In Reply to: Re: "Shakespeare is magic " nt posted by patrickU on May 31, 2005 at 12:14:07:
As I wrote before, Stephen Greenblatt's "Will in the World" is a good overview of thought on Shakespeare today. It shows how he was influenced by the events around him and used them or avoided them in his works in such ways that everyone...a king, a small business owner, a teenager in school...could see themselves in various works. It also shows how he works some interesting undercurrents of his personal life into various plays (the part discussing marital relations and "Macbeth" justified the book's price for me!).I love how Shakespeare incorporates the everyday ceremonies of life in his works. Weddings, funerals, dances (and until this century, duels!). Indeed, the book's central theme is that Shakespeare's work is the "Triumph of the Everyday." Deep thoughts can be presented in the most ordinary of ways.
Years ago, an instructor of mine said that playing Shakespeare is easy: "You just hop on the train and let him do all the work." That is the most astonishing thing about Shakespeare: the variety of ways that one can play what he has given us. I love Eugene O'Neill, especially the very early and very late works. But when I see "Long Day's Journey into Night", I'm going to see basically the same play I saw last time. I may see "Measure for Measure", and I'll hear the same words, but the acting choices can be very different! At the end of the play, when Claudio tells Isabella he is marrying her, she says nothing. In fact, there are 150 more lines, and this outspoken defender of chastity doesn't utter even a word. I have seen actresses glow with joy and pride, and I have seen actresses fume and stomp about, and I have seen actresses just stand still in slack-jawed shock. Those 150 lines don't change...but what Shakespeare gives the performer, and the audience, is incredible. "Infinite variety" indeed!
Look at the lines he wrote, the phrases he coined, the words he created! Phrases like "brave new world," "dogs of war," "by any other name would smell as sweet," and "Methinks the lady protests too much." The words "gloomy," "bedroom," "bump," "monumental," "battlefield," and 1700 others were first heard in his plays.
"Shakespeare is magic." Absolutely, patrickU!
Follow Ups:
Modern English (yes, with a capital "M") in the exact same sense Dante "invented" Modern Italian.
Too often, folks misunderstand "simple" for "simplistic."
Though he seldom uses "big words," the meanings in his soliloquies are subtle and beautiful as any words ever written.
I wouldn't put too much emphasis on what ONE actor or teacher says about playing any of Shakespeare's characters, especially since we have a video record of Olivier to consult...
Shaekespeare wrote his plays for the uneducated and illiterate of British society. His verse and language changed depending on who said what. At the moment the break-down escapes me and I don;t want to fig through my Norton Anthology because it's one heavy ass book :)
There are many English and theatre students who are afraid of Shakespeare. Since only "Julius Caesar" and a censored ("Peter, where's my fan?") "Romeo and Juliet" are all that is taught in most
American high schools, many students think Shakespeare is "difficult." The teacher's point in his lecture was to demonstrate that Shakespeare offered a variety of approaches and choices to the actor. But first, the actor should not be afraid of the words (I once saw a student reading "Hamlet" freeze before the big monologue and the teacher had to say, "Go ahead, Rudy!" before he continued)!BTW, I think it's wonderful we have Olivier's Shakespearan work to look at. But I also like Orson Welles' films, and I love listening to the John Barrymore recordings. I'm sure you'll agree with me that Olivier is one approach, but not the only approach, to Shakespeare.
Why did he do "To be or not to be" as a voice-over?!
...and when he howls over Cordelia´s death, despair reigns, both on stage and in your own heart!I have a wonderful album (LPs) of that, and I cherish it high...
Regards
BF
Thank God for those recordings! There are so many wonderful "aural-only" versions of great plays (BTW, if you've never heard the recording of "The Glass Menagerie" with Montgomery Clift and Julie Harris, I recommend you track it down immediately!). Whatever the decisions at the time about money that prevent us from seeing these on film or video today, at least we can hear some incredible performances!BTW, in an early draft of one of my posts, I pointed out that it was a shame that we could not compare Hamlets the way Thirties audiences in New York and London could: first Gielgud, then Leslie Howard, and finally Laurence Olivier, with the first two coming within a season or so of each other. At least recordings gives us the shadow of that kind of opportunity!
did Hamlet to a Star Wars kind of minimilist setting. Not my preference but playing Shakespeare is no easy task. I would like to have seen Ralph Fiennes's work in Richard II but alas my tastes are far higher than my bank account. So I'm stuck reading it which was never the point of Shakespeare's plays. And it SHOULD be on the stage -- all the film versions except for some of the BBC productions have all SUCKED royally. Though I never saw the Hamlets done by Brannagh or Gibson -- they'd just Hamlet it up ;) I suspect.
Correction -- I take my comment back -- I have not seen very many film production -- off hand I can think of only a few Romeo and Juliet in the 70s and a couple of Dissapointing Julius Caesar's -- so maybe there are good ones. I have not seen the Denzel Washington Emma Thompson one.
The Emma Thompson one is light and enjoyable, still has the lust for life from the original play.
I love him because of his profound view of mankind, his insight and understanding of the human soul. Our very own essence.
In the end, his humanistic reality and moral.
He is the master of the past and of the things to come.
Always copied and almost never reached.
He is timeless and hence a genius.
He is the best among the best, and yet he was like us, a brother.
I give the nuts and bolts, the craft, as my reason for loving Shakespeare's work. You point to his heart and his soul. Beautiful.
Together we have the whole.
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