The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.2789  Monday, 10 December 2001

[1]     From:   Kelley Costigan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Friday, 07 Dec 2001 10:04:02 +0000
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.2712 The "Comedy" of Lousy Acting

[2]     From:   Joseph Sullivan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Friday, 07 Dec 2001 15:31:32 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.2778 Re: The "Comedy" of Lousy Acting

[3]     From:   Edmund Taft <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Sunday, 09 Dec 2001 11:49:29 -0500
        Subj:   The Comedy of "Lousy" Acting (Jonson)


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Kelley Costigan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Friday, 07 Dec 2001 10:04:02 +0000
Subject: 12.2712 The "Comedy" of Lousy Acting
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.2712 The "Comedy" of Lousy Acting

Referring to productions of The Alchemist, Martin Steward wrote:  'I saw
a very good production at the National in London about 5 years ago,
starring Simon Callow. Everyone cried tears of laughter, bloody great
belly laughs, not those annoying clever-dick chuckles at obscure (but
old) Jacobean jokes.'

Sorry, I've been away and am only now getting through all of my inbox's
contents (if I've already missed the boat, I apologise for repetition).
Surely the production you saw with Simon Callow was at the Birmingham
Rep with Tim Pigott-Smith and Josie Lawrence as Face's confederates.  It
was, indeed, a wonderfully crafted performance and one of the funniest
Jonson's I've had the pleasure to see.  I also saw two very wonderful
Volpones in recent years - Michael Gambon and Simon Russell Beale at the
National and Malcolm Storry and Guy Henry at the RSC.  Each made
wonderful use of pace and space and I left these performances in
stitches.

Kelley Costigan

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Joseph Sullivan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Friday, 07 Dec 2001 15:31:32 -0500
Subject: 12.2778 Re: The "Comedy" of Lousy Acting
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.2778 Re: The "Comedy" of Lousy Acting

I haven't noticed the string that Brian Willis' last comment originates
from, so I'm sorry if I am repeating anything others have said.  I'm
glad the Alchemist is enjoying its recent popularity.  As Brian
mentions, there is quite a lot of fertile turf in the script for
physical comedy.  The Shenandoah Shakespeare Express effectively played
up the slapstick.  They approached burlesque, in fact.  For me, the
Alchemist resonates as a terrific Mamet play.  Forceful attitude.
Intelligent, though anti-intellectual, dialogue.  And the SSE's
characteristically fast pace really fit this ultimate urban piece.  I'm
sorry I missed the Shakespeare Institute's go at it.

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Edmund Taft <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Sunday, 09 Dec 2001 11:49:29 -0500
Subject:        The Comedy of "Lousy" Acting (Jonson)

Brian Willis is certainly right about how funny Jonson's plays are (or
can be). Mosca's manipulations of Corbaccio and Corvino, Truewit
shouting into Morose's hearing tube, and the treatment of Sir John Daw
and Sir Amorous La Foole, just to cite a few instances, can bring the
house down in  good productions.

I teach at least two of Jonson's plays in my course on Shakespeare's
Contemporaries, and have found that even graduate students tend to miss
most of Jonson's hilarity if they cannot see it acted out in class.

While that's fine, I'm not a great actor, nor are most of my students.
Where are the BBC productions of Jonson?

Tanya, can you help?

--Ed Taft

_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The S H A K S P E R Webpage <http://ws.bowiestate.edu>

DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the
opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the
editor assumes no responsibility for them.

Subscribe to Our Feeds

Search

Make a Gift to SHAKSPER

Consider making a gift to support SHAKSPER.