February
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.0560 Friday, 27 February 2004 From: Al Magary <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Thursday, 26 Feb 2004 14:57:48 -0800 Subject: Children and Shakespeare A thread not long ago took both sides of the question of Shakespeare's appropriateness for children. I ran across this interesting article about how a library paraprofessional and her grad-student husband present Shakespeare to kids 5 and up: -- BRINGING SHAKESPEARE TO CHILDREN Library series presents scenes, then 'translation' By JULIE FERRARO Tribune Correspondent South Bend (Indiana) Tribune, February 26, 2004 http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2004/02/26/local.20040226-sbt-FULL-D7-Bringing_Shakespeare.sto In days of yore, folks of all ages packed the Globe Theatre in London to hear the latest offering from the Immortal Bard. From the youngest tot to the oldest grand dame, the well-crafted words were readily understood. Not so in today's world, which is one reason Yvette Couser, children's paraprofessional at the Francis Branch of the St. Joseph County Public Library, decided to create an after-school series for youngsters on the topic. "It's practically a foreign language to us," Couser commented. The "After School Special: Shakespeare Snack Series" started Tuesday and will continue for five additional Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. It will give children ages 6 and up a chance to grow in understanding of Shakespeare's English, and his work. Using "Twelfth Night," Couser and her husband, Jonathan, will present scenes from the play in their original form, then offer them translated into modern English. Each session will last approximately one hour. "We'll be doing one act per week," Couser explained. "Twelfth Night" has five acts, with about five scenes per act. The presentations will be geared for elementary and middle school students, but older teens -- even parents -- may enjoy this exploration of classic theater. This particular play was chosen because it's "accessible," according to Couser. "It's not dark. It's one of Shakespeare's nicest comedies." Also, the dialogue itself is "not all in iambic pentameter; it's more like prose." With Jonathan Couser currently studying for his Ph.D. in medieval history at the University of Notre Dame, one part of the presentation will involve highlighting the historical aspects of the play. The relevancy of the action, both when it was written and in modern day, will be touched on, in addition to the Cousers outlining what happens in the play itself. Yvette Couser and her husband both have theater backgrounds, and hope the series will "get the kids excited about theater and writing plays." On the last day of the series, those who participate will even have the opportunity to present scenes from the text they've learned. "It'll be more like a workshop," that last day, Couser remarked. "We'll show the group how they'd approach the play if they were going to perform it." Already, there are 30 youngsters signed up for the series, with the maximum number being 60. Couser said she believed this type of program, while considered "nontraditional" in many ways, is ideal for children who are home-schooled. This being the first time such a series is taking place, Couser hopes things will go well, and may consider holding similar events in the future, using other Shakespeare plays. Pre-registration is necessary for the series, which is free of charge. Those who wish more information, or want to register may call the Francis Branch reference desk at (574) 282-4641. _______________________________________________________________ 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 Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> 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.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.0559 Friday, 27 February 2004 From: Brenno Kenji <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Thursday, 26 Feb 2004 17:31:25 -0300 Subject: Scholarly Edition for Othello and The Tempest? Greetings to all SHAKSPEReans, If I were to buy one single-volume scholarly edition of Othello and another of The Tempest, which would you suggest? I do not ask for the 'best' edition, for I know there is no such a thing -- each one has its 'best', in each one's opinion, for each one's reasons. Hence my question: which would you suggest? Thanks in advance, Brenno Kenji. _______________________________________________________________ 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 Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> 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.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.0558 Friday, 27 February 2004 From: Kenneth Meaney <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Thursday, 26 Feb 2004 18:06:02 +0200 Subject: 15.0546 Hamlet on Film Query Comment: Re: SHK 15.0546 Hamlet on Film Query The British National Film and TV Archive has a copy of the Johnston Forbes-Robinson Hamlet (1913) that is 5,344ft long and runs for 59 minutes. According to Luke McKernan and Olwen Terris (Walking Shadows: Shakespeare in the National Film and Television Archive), this is a faulty copy that is partially out of order and contains some repeated scenes. There is a shorter copy (4,846ft) correcting these features. The running length is not given, but I estimate that must be about 54 minutes. The film is described as "a record of Sir Johnston Forbes-Robinson and the Drury Lane Company's production of the play. The action is substantially that of the play, with some reduced Shakespearean intertitles." There is also an Italian version, Amleto (1917), which runs for 50 minutes. ("A largely complete rendition of the play.") McKernan and Terris describe the Asta Nielsen Film (6,610ft, 73mins) as "based not so much on Shakespeare as on the original Danish legend, with the added twist of a Princess Hamlet who is obliged to masquerade as a prince While the King of Denmark is seriously ill his wife gives birth to a daughter, telling the court that a son has been born to safeguard the crown. The King recovers and the baby is brought up as a boy. Hamlet grows up and at college encounters Horatio, Laertes and Fortinbras. Hamlet's uncle Claudius and the Queen plot to kill the King. Hamlet returns to find her father dead and the Queen and Claudius married. A voice within tells her to revenge the death and she feigns madness the better to observe Claudius. Ophelia is taken to meet Hamlet, but Hamlet falls in love with Horatio, who is himself in love with Ophelia. Hamlet feigns a love for Ophelia to thwart Horatio. Hamlet instructs a group of players to re-enact her father's murder to the court. Hamlet fails to kill a praying Claudius but kills Ophelia's father Polonius. Claudius sends Hamlet to Norway with secret instructions for her to be killed, which she discovers. In Norway she is greeted by Fortinbras. Ophelia drowns. The Norwegian army approaches Denmark. Hamlet starts a fire at Elsinore and kills her father. The Queen and Laertes plan Hamlet's death. During a fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes, the Queen inadvertently drinks poison and dies, Hamlet is struck by a poisoned rapier and as she dies Horatio learns of her secret and her love for him." The first recitation of "To be or not to be" seems likely to have been that by Donald Calthrop in a feature film of variety acts in revue called Elstree Calling (1930) (McKernan and Terris). It was also performed in The Immortal Gentleman (1935). Ken Meaney University of Joensuu, Finland. _______________________________________________________________ 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 Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> 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.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.0557 Friday, 27 February 2004 From: Judy Kennedy <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Thursday, 26 Feb 2004 10:43:45 -0400 Subject: The Wedding Legend for MND Furness in his Variorum edition of MND (1895) pp. 259ff. attributes to Tieck in 1830 the first suggestion of the occasion being the Southampton wedding, but this would not have been attended by the queen. Furness summarizes a number of other (but not all) nineteenth century discussions of which wedding may have provided the occasion, and (from Wright's 1877 Clarendon edition) mentions the possibility of the queen's presence at a performance. The discussions are complicated by questions of political allegory, and of public or private performance. The debate gathers steam towards the end of the nineteenth century, and has not been resolved. A good representative early discussion can be found in the introduction and Appendix H of E.K. Chambers' 1897 Warwick edition. Twentieth-century arguments and speculations are too numerous to list. _______________________________________________________________ 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 Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> 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.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.0556 Friday, 27 February 2004 From: Clifford Stetner <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Thursday, 26 Feb 2004 10:10:38 -0500 Subject: 15.0503 Query: Brewer Satire Comment: Re: SHK 15.0503 Query: Brewer Satire >...the philosopher Democritus offers 27 "characters," in > the Hall-Overbury sense, of Jacobean types. These are introduced not > with a clear label - the Lawyer, the Sycophant, the Social Climber, or > whatever - but with a presumptively appropriate proverbial phrase. >> *First come, first served.* >> >> ------------ ------------- ------------ Who can chuse >>But laugh at this: Why here's a running Stewes >>Hurries them on. This waight was wont to ride, >>Not on *foure* wheeles, but *one* on either side, >>And that me thinks shewd better. --------------- I'm stuck on interpreting your query let alone the passage. I would have to go with Matt Steggle's reading, but I thought you were asking about the character. He sounds like a Dandy or a Fantastc like Lucio of MM: a reformer of the Viennese stews and critic of aristocratic morals. (Except I would add Peter Bridgeman's sandwich but obviously reverse the gender as a quibble on the whore cart. Waight is no doubt wight i.e. person and wont means accustomed) Clifford Stetner CUNY _______________________________________________________________ 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 Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> 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.