The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.2117 Thursday, 6 September 2001
From: Mary Jane Miller <
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
>
Date: Wednesday, 5 Sep 2001 11:40:45 -0400
Subject: 12.2098 Re: Globe Macbeth
Comment: Re: SHK 12.2098 Re: Globe Macbeth
Larry Weiss:"Only Edmund played to the Globe's proclivity to try to make
to audience an active participant, at one point taking a vote as to
whether they preferred him to go with Goneril or Regan. (On the day I
saw it, the clear preference was for Regan, a busty blonde.)"
I don't remember the vote the day I was there but the Fool stole a beer
from the groundlings and the knights playing football through the crowd
included them in play. Hanging the fool in the Within (as I recall it
now) seemed to me to demonstrate the problems with the sightlines from
the sides of the house as well as the director's refusal to let a
mystery remain a mystery.
Covering that gorgeous stage with barn board seemed rather wasteful -
and those who come to see the theatre as much as the plays would miss
out on the full effect of the playing space.
My two questions are:
what was that pole and wheel for? I read it as a reference to torture
one sees in paintings - Stratford Ont had used a similar device years
ago in M for M to indicate how violent Vienna had become. But this
production used it only once or twice as a place for Edmund to spy from
- and that was all. Very odd and in our sightlines from front of third
balcony to SL;
and did anyone else find the sandbox in which Lear's chair was placed
completely distracting for the Cordelia/Lear rediscovery? it was OK for
dividing the kingdom but by the late scenes in the play was a liability
I thought.
However we enjoyed the production as a whole and admired the actor
playing King Lear for stripping off his clothes and doing most of act
III in a loincloth when it was very cold and damp. It didn't seem too
literal, just effective.
Mary Jane
_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook,
This e-mail 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.
|
