Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Toronto's Romeo and Juliet is just too racy for Nashville
thestar.com: "When Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet 'There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so,' he must have had the city of Nashville in mind."
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6 comments:
I can't really imagine a play with such a rich history of production value could be looked upon as trash. The language of the play is as it always has been; there are racial slurs and sexual jokes that have been in the original script since, I'm sure, the day Shakespeare put pen to paper in the first draft. This sort of shift from proper manners is what makes the play what it is, it doesn't 'cheapen' the work or make it feel tawdry. The script is what the script is.
And while some directors might choose to highlight bits of the script more than others, these kids are going to pick up on the language whether its screamed or whispered. Get a grip, Nashville.
I'm surprised that some people thought that Romeo and Juliet was NOT racy. I don't understand how someone can rationalize going to see a play where two teenagers commit suicide over love, but then decide that bawdy jokes are just too far. Why don't they take it up with William Shakespeare? In my opinion, a good Romeo and Juliet effectively conveys the dirty jokes to the audience, otherwise it's just dialogue the audience glazes over.
The comment by the homeschool teacher (how stereotypical) that the show was inappropriate and made children "impure" is absolutely ridiculous. Our culture promotes violence on tv and in the movies, shows graphic images of porn or sexuality in magazines and on the internet, while politicians have sex scandals, and THIS is the issue tainting the children of america? Yes, Shakespeare can be crude by modern standards, but so what? Theater is an art, it should be used to make you loosen up, to introduce you to something perhaps outside of your comfort zone, something that will allow you to step beyond the normal boundaries of society.
If you think a production is too racy, don't let your kids see it. The end. If you want to expose your kids to Shakespeare, there are a million different ways to do so; they can read the text, rent countless movies, and see any number of theatrical productions. There is no reason to make a lot of noise because you don't approve of one specific production. Besides, compared to a lot of other "racy" material kids are exposed to via television and film these days, the bawdier parts of Romeo and Juliet are just not that offensive.
I agree with what everyone said here. If you think its too much, then don't let your kids see it. Don't ruin it for everyone else. Any play with teenagers and love (lets not forget the suicide) is going to be racy. And if they took out the racy parts or didn't act ti how it is meant to be viewed then it would be as boring as hell. I think todays society is too strict with censorship. People keep sheltering their kids and that will effect how they grow up.
I totally agree with Ariel. The audience should have gone in with a certain expectation. Its not like they were going to see a production of a new play that no one has ever heard of. The audience knows what the story line is before going in and should have considered if they wanted to expose their children to it beforehand. There is a level of maturity associated with Shakespeare in general.
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