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Friday, July 06, 2012
The World Takes On Shakespeare at London Festival
NYTimes.com: The names of the three couples were familiarly foreboding — Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Ophelia, Othello and Desdemona — but almost everything else about them felt fresh and disorienting.
3 comments:
Adelaide Zhang
said...
While personally I think I would be rather more comfortable with a slightly more traditional Shakespeare presentation, the more artistic shows described in the article certainly are interesting at the least. They do raise the question of to what degree should the idea of "artistic license" be taken, and how far from the author's intention should we deviate, though certainly some of the shows presented are on the far end of that particular spectrum. Many of said shows recieved rather mixed reviews, which, I think, is something to be expected for more or less any non-traditional take on typically traditional works such as Shakespeare, but I think such "alternative" methods of theatre are at least worth exploring -- if briefly -- whether or not they amount to much in the end.
I have seen Shakespeare plays in both original format and in modernized versions, and I have found both to have had an impact upon both me and my peers. However, I must admit that we were all very excited about Shakespeare to begin with. So many students nowadays feel that Shakespeare is outdated and difficult to understand and has no relevance to our lives today because of how old the writing is. I will accept the terms that the writing is hard to understand and that it is much easier to comprehend while watching in a play format, but the problem is getting teenagers to care enough to go to the theatre to experience Shakespeare's work. If we, as a society, can excite teenagers about Shakespeare, they can see his writings' relevance in today's world. What the World Shakespeare Festival is doing with the changing of lines and altering of language form in the plays is just what teenagers need to get into the world of Shakespeare. Hopefully, with this "more appealing" written form, more teenagers will become interested in Shakespeare, and eventually want to hear his writing in its original form.
I'm definitely in favor of the classic versions of Shakespearean plays while still implementing the new technology into the design as well as new techniques into the action. The best I've seen so far has really been the first to turn me on to Shakespeare. The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre put on the most entertaining version of A Midsummer Night's Dream I've seen. They chose an interesting design choice especially for a thrust stage where a large carpet lifted up mid-play to create a mystical forrest. However, it obviously provided difficulty for lighting. However, I'm more than excited that there is such a large group attacking such difficult plays to perform with true success.
3 comments:
While personally I think I would be rather more comfortable with a slightly more traditional Shakespeare presentation, the more artistic shows described in the article certainly are interesting at the least. They do raise the question of to what degree should the idea of "artistic license" be taken, and how far from the author's intention should we deviate, though certainly some of the shows presented are on the far end of that particular spectrum.
Many of said shows recieved rather mixed reviews, which, I think, is something to be expected for more or less any non-traditional take on typically traditional works such as Shakespeare, but I think such "alternative" methods of theatre are at least worth exploring -- if briefly -- whether or not they amount to much in the end.
I have seen Shakespeare plays in both original format and in modernized versions, and I have found both to have had an impact upon both me and my peers. However, I must admit that we were all very excited about Shakespeare to begin with. So many students nowadays feel that Shakespeare is outdated and difficult to understand and has no relevance to our lives today because of how old the writing is. I will accept the terms that the writing is hard to understand and that it is much easier to comprehend while watching in a play format, but the problem is getting teenagers to care enough to go to the theatre to experience Shakespeare's work. If we, as a society, can excite teenagers about Shakespeare, they can see his writings' relevance in today's world. What the World Shakespeare Festival is doing with the changing of lines and altering of language form in the plays is just what teenagers need to get into the world of Shakespeare. Hopefully, with this "more appealing" written form, more teenagers will become interested in Shakespeare, and eventually want to hear his writing in its original form.
I'm definitely in favor of the classic versions of Shakespearean plays while still implementing the new technology into the design as well as new techniques into the action. The best I've seen so far has really been the first to turn me on to Shakespeare. The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre put on the most entertaining version of A Midsummer Night's Dream I've seen. They chose an interesting design choice especially for a thrust stage where a large carpet lifted up mid-play to create a mystical forrest. However, it obviously provided difficulty for lighting. However, I'm more than excited that there is such a large group attacking such difficult plays to perform with true success.
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