Tuesday, March 20, 2007
I want to see Russians do Shakespeare
Guardian Unlimited: "In fact Shakespeare performed in a language other than English often has a liberating effect on both audiences and directors. Yes, of course you lose the poetry, but Shakespeare was a playwright first and foremost: the text is only one part of the experience, and one that sometimes seems overfamiliar. One of the reasons I love it when a company stages the first folio of Hamlet is that it makes you sit up and listen to the play afresh. It is akin to being in a room you know well but discovering it's been painted a different colour. It's often the same with Shakespeare in a foreign language."
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I think that if I were to go see a Shakespeare play done in another language, I would find myself trying to match the script I know with the action and the new language. I agree with the statement “Overfamiliarity is a curse” because I wouldn’t be concerned with the way the work was being presented, but rather how well I was doing at understanding a language based on a play I already new. It still would be interesting to see though.
I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE FIND IT SO FASCINATING AND STRAGE TO SEE SHAKESPEARE DONE IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE. THERE ARE VERSIONS OF HAMLET DONE ALL AROUND THE WORLD, LIKE THE MODERNIZED VERSION, ROCK VERSION. I THINK IT WILL BE AS FRESH AS TO SEE ROCK VERSION OF HAMLET IN ENGLISH THAN TO SEE RUSSIAN HAMLET. I'M ASSUMING IT'S THE ISSUE OF THE POETRY AND THE NUANCE BUT ISN'T IT THE SAME WAY WITH OTHER FOREIGN PLAYWRIGHT'S WORK TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH LIKE BRECHT OR DANTE? (WELL, I AM NOT SURE IF THEY USED AS MUCH LINGUISTIC DISTINCTIONS LIKE SHAKESPEARE DID, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN) YEAH....
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