The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.0713  Friday, 8 March 2002

From:           Don Bloom <
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Date:           Friday, 8 Mar 2002 08:02:10 -0600
Subject: 13.0679 Re: Olivier
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.0679 Re: Olivier

>From:  Sam Small

 > I don't believe he was
> remotely interested in plot.  Hence only three of his plays had original
> plots - and someone probably told him those.

To quote an IntC colonel of my acquaintance from years ago (spoken with
a heavy Southern accent): "That's a mighty weird idea for a Monday
mornin'." (It was a Thursday afternoon when he said it, as I recall.)

Plot, as Aristotle noted a few years back, is the most fundamental thing
of all. Lyric may do without it, but not drama. Drama simply
disintegrates without it -- disappears.

(Anecdote: some years back, some students wanted to stage a
student-written play. When I read it I pointed out to them that it
consisted entirely of a group of people bad-mouthing a friend who had
stopped being a sensitive intellectual and turned into a girl-chasing
socialite. I suggested to them that something needed to happen in the
play or else the audience would get bored, even angry. I got a cool
response, suggesting I was something of a Philistine. When they got the
same response from all its other readers, however, they re-wrote it,
adding in some scenes where something happened.  Unfortunately, they
didn't add enough. It was still a pretty dull.)

Cheers,
don

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