Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 3, No. 393. Friday, 18 December 1992.
From: Nikki Parker <N_PARKER%This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 18 Dec 92 12:51 EDT
Subject: 3.0392 Further Comments on *Hamlet*
Comment: RE: SHK 3.0392 Further Comments on *Hamlet*
As a student, I have only seen one live performance of Shakespeare, and that
was "MacBeth", performed by an all-African-American cast. Seeing Shakespeare
acted out sometimes helps to understand what the play is all about. For
instance, after reading "The Tempest" and then watching a scene (BBC version?)
of Prospero talking about his "project"...I was able to understand better of
what was going on. It's difficult at times to read Shakespeare "straight"
and grasp the full meaning of it. I was involved in a project where a friend
and I compared certain scenes Akira Kurosawa's "RAN" to a BBC version of "King
Lear". It was not until I could see the differences and similarities of the
two films, that I realized some intriguing revelations about the "Lear"
dialogue and characters.
True, nothings more fun than trying to "be" Hamlet or Othello...but
sometimes it helps to see others perform it, with settings, costumes and all,
to understand what is occuring.
As we've been mentioning films made from Shakespeare's plays (Mel's "Hamlet"
and Branagh's "Henry V"); I highly recommend Kirosawa's "RAN"...it shows the
Lear text in a new way (three sons instead of three daughters) and has an
unforgetable actor as Lear.
Nikki Parker
St. Michael's College----Colchester, Vermont
sophomore, journalism major