The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 11.1081 Tuesday, 23 May 2000.
[1] From: Stuart Manger <
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Date: Monday, 22 May 2000 19:33:33 +0100
Subj: SHK 11.1076 Secondary School Play Choice
[2] From: Virginia Byrne <
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Date: Monday, 22 May 2000 16:01:24 EDT
Subj: Re: SHK 11.1076 Secondary School Play Choice
[3] From: Alan Pierpoint <
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Date: Tuesday, 23 May 2000 02:38:59 EDT
Subj: Re: SHK 11.1076 Secondary School Play Choice
[4] From: Marcus Dahl <
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Date: Tuesday, 23 May 2000 05:07:02 EDT
Subj: Re: SHK 11.1076 Secondary School Play Choice
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Stuart Manger <
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Date: Monday, 22 May 2000 19:33:33 +0100
Subject: Secondary School Play Choice
Comment: SHK 11.1076 Secondary School Play Choice
You mean no HAMLET????????
Definitely NOT Much Ado. Hugely over-rated in my view, and flawed.
If you really have to, then Othello. But, good grief, what an editorial
decision. Are they mad?
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Virginia Byrne <
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Date: Monday, 22 May 2000 16:01:24 EDT
Subject: 11.1076 Secondary School Play Choice
Comment: Re: SHK 11.1076 Secondary School Play Choice
If I had to choose from the two offered i would choose OTHELLO have
taught both to my secondary school Shakespeare class and I think
OTHELLO offers far more interesting people and relevant problems to
teenagers. BUT my suggestion is Richard the Third. THEY LOVE IT and it
offers a lot of discussion for them AND you can teach them a mini
English history course in the process
Virginia Byrne
[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Alan Pierpoint <
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Date: Tuesday, 23 May 2000 02:38:59 EDT
Subject: 11.1076 Secondary School Play Choice
Comment: Re: SHK 11.1076 Secondary School Play Choice
Interesting choice. The two plays meet at so many points: the Italian
setting (at least in the first act of Othello), the military culture,
the diabolical villains, the drunken constabulary, the too-perfect
heroines and the credulous dupes that love them. Of the two, (having
taught both at the high school level), Much Ado gets my vote. It's
great fun, and has a good video. It also serves as an entry for
discussions of values and gender issues. So might Othello; but I've
seen high school audiences laugh inappropriately at the ending, and I
don't blame them. The death scenes in Othello strike them as phony, and
I haven't met the teacher that can get a high school class past
Lodovico's "Oh bloody period" line without breaking up. I daresay the
kids have a point. Its brilliant symbolic structure and vivid poetry
notwithstanding, Othello is a play of uneven quality and relatively
scant appeal for high school students. Much Ado is a better play for
that age group, or (so I think) any other. -Alan Pierpoint
[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Marcus Dahl <
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Date: Tuesday, 23 May 2000 05:07:02 EDT
Subject: 11.1076 Secondary School Play Choice
Comment: Re: SHK 11.1076 Secondary School Play Choice
RE: anthology...
King Lear surely? (though beware the different texts...)
For kids with no knowledge or 'scholars' with plenty... King Lear is the
highest art and the worst - Johnson didn't get it and Yeats misread it
and every poet since has been unable to avoid it. Even Schostakowitz
couldn't outdo it.
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