NYTimes.com: Visitors to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival expect a generous array of works by the playwright in whose honor it was founded in 1952. But this year, in a nod to Shakespeare’s 450th birthday, the artistic director, Antoni Cimolino, decided to present, for the first time in the festival’s history, two productions of a single play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
3 comments:
I'm torn about this in a few ways. On one side, it is good that the dual representation of Shakespeare's play had been released for audiences during his 450th birthday as well as the Shakespeare festival. On the other hand, if I had traveled to see the festival of shows, I would want it to be performed how I know it and expect it to be. I would also love to see and read the separate representation of the text, though, I would want to understand it before seeing it. Shakespeare is by far my favorite playwright and I respect his work to a high degree.
I agree with Zara-I'm a little torn about these productions. On one hand, the darker, more romantic version of the play seems like an experience all in itself. On the other hand, I don't know how much of the actual play, as intended by Shakespeare, shines through their interpretation. I think the same goes for the other production, in that though it holds truer to the original version it is still an interpretation of a show that I would like to see done in a new way. I'd like to see both of these shows, to understand what the article's author means when he wrote about his experience.
I always look at an interpretation as a new work and I try not to compare it to the original. Especially with Shakespeare, his plays have been produced so many times eventually one has a hard time looking at it a new way. That is why it is particularly hard as a designer to try to interpret a well know work in your own way. For example I saw Les Miserables at Dallas theatre Center over the summer. I'm sure many have heard the controversy over it since they decided to set it in a modern setting rather than the french revolution. Having already seen the musical at many different venues many people, including myself, had pre determined thoughts about how the show was going to be. I actually enjoyed not seeing the show as what I had previously seen. They were able to bring over the same concepts and themes that made the original such a success. Therefore for something like this I believe that new experiences force us to look at things in a different way, many times for the better.
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