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Re: Why I quoted that instructor's comment

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In Reply to: Shakespeare is rightly considered the father of posted by tinear on May 31, 2005 at 15:21:01:

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?!

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You forgot to include Sir John Gielgud in your list: his "Lear" is chilling, to say the least..." - orejones 10:43:17 06/02/05 (1)
...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
- Re: You forgot to include Sir John Gielgud in your list: his "Lear" is chilling, to say the least..." - Gee LP 22:54:37 06/02/05 (0)
  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!
My university - RGA 16:39:34 05/31/05 (2)
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 - RGA 16:44:28 05/31/05 (1)
  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.
  - Re: Correction - patrickU 05:18:36 06/01/05 (0)
    The Emma Thompson one is light and enjoyable, still has the lust for life from the original play.

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