tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301923073845301598.post9105709423236600403..comments2024-01-26T13:24:37.659+00:00Comments on Senior Common Room: How Do You Like Your Shakespeare?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301923073845301598.post-28328790191457205252011-03-07T08:22:24.257+00:002011-03-07T08:22:24.257+00:00WG I couldn't agree more about the importance ...WG I couldn't agree more about the importance of seeing the plays on the stage and I think for most children that is where the experience should start. Then you can move on to the text and the synergy that comes from holding the magic of the two forms together. It is that tension and what comes from it that excites me most. I have terrible problems with 'Romeo and Juliet' (which I will be seeing again the weekend after next). I always think that this time, if I wish hard enough, it might just work out all right, but it never does:)Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16966461711132186974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301923073845301598.post-88621524476957034822011-03-06T23:34:16.236+00:002011-03-06T23:34:16.236+00:00Love the law/love issue. Thanks for sharing that. ...Love the law/love issue. Thanks for sharing that. The performance/text issue is an interesting one. I agree that the text is important - it is the starting point after all - and I enjoy close textual analysis - but as the intent is performance I think it's a shame that student so often don't see the plays they study. <br /><br />My young teenage daughter (at the time) fell in love with Romeo and Juliet. It was around the time the Baz Luhrmann version came out. She watched every (film) version she could find and one theatrical one (including the Olivia Hussey as Julia one) read the text over and over and developed her own ideas about the play and the interpretations. (Can't recollect her conclusions now but it was wonderful seeing her so engaged.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301923073845301598.post-69425332522508391502011-03-04T09:09:52.973+00:002011-03-04T09:09:52.973+00:00Emily, one of the reasons I first started to blog ...Emily, one of the reasons I first started to blog (elsewhere and quite some time ago) was precisely because I wanted to explore the relationships that become apparent between different works of art (used 'art' in its broadest sense) and which throw up new questions about a work that you may have almost begun to take for granted. It is that very sense that there is something happening that you can't quite pin down because it is still in the process of growing that excites me most.Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16966461711132186974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301923073845301598.post-51137058234193369152011-03-04T09:06:05.245+00:002011-03-04T09:06:05.245+00:00I once ran a class that worked like that, Stefanie...I once ran a class that worked like that, Stefanie. We would study the text of the play, then its stage history and then see a current production. One of the most interesting aspects of that was to see how stage interpretations had changed according to the cultural and social mores of the time.<br /><br />Leah, one of the things I value most about having a good working knowledge of the text before I see a performance is being able to appreciate the emphasis that the director has placed on specific elements with the play. It gives you the opportunity to appreciate the nuances of thought behind the work that has gone on. Of course, the standing joke at Stratford is that at least half the audience knows the play word for word and will prompt if any of the actors has a problem!Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16966461711132186974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301923073845301598.post-61837430374054925412011-03-03T22:42:52.902+00:002011-03-03T22:42:52.902+00:00you can hold the two in your mind together then th...<em>you can hold the two in your mind together then think of the dynamic which that creates. </em><br /><br />I love this. I love experiences of art that ask me to hold two (perhaps seemingly mutually exclusive) realities in my mind at the same time, an let them interact. Not just negative capability (tolerating the unresolved), but actually glorying in it. Such a valuable life skill, not to expect all contradiction to be neatly wrapped up. <br /><br />And re: the performance versus close textual study issue, I strongly agree that they both reinforce each other. One experiences a different kind of richness in performance (timing, vocal timbre, etc.) and in reading (the poetic meter, for example, which is often somewhat obscured in performance, and the ability to SLOW DOWN and savor the delicious texture of the words).Emilyhttp://www.eveningallafternoon.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301923073845301598.post-5210515404975811542011-03-03T16:39:01.375+00:002011-03-03T16:39:01.375+00:00I totally agree Annie, I get certain things from t...I totally agree Annie, I get certain things from the performance, visual enhancements and signifiers, but close reading highlights the text in its full glory. I studied Shakespeare for a whole year, as well as plenty of other times during my degree, but I can still miss dialogue for various reasons during a performance, either distracted by visuals or simply zoning out. I love both ways of appreciating Shakespeare, and like you I have been fortunate to indulge both.Leahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07401356477073274808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301923073845301598.post-24018342477922839802011-03-03T14:12:57.071+00:002011-03-03T14:12:57.071+00:00Sounds like a wonderful lecture. When I was in sch...Sounds like a wonderful lecture. When I was in school my classes would always first study the play and then we'd go see a performance of it. It really makes all the difference in one's ability to notice the nuances of plot and character when a live performance is flashing by.Stefaniehttp://somanybooksblog.comnoreply@blogger.com