The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1465  Tuesday, 6 September 2005

From: 		Jack Heller <
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Date: 		Monday, 5 Sep 2005 12:39:22 -0500 (EST)
Subject: 	Stratford (Ontario) Festival Season

Listmembers:

Let me first thank those who alerted me to the Stratford General 
Hospital guest residence for the recent group I took to the festival. It 
is economical and clean-and, given the dumpiness of some of the inns in 
Stratford, I would likely stay there again even when traveling alone.

I've complained on this list before about my disappointment with 
performances I've seen of Measure for Measure. This past weekend, I saw 
its current staging in Stratford. I was generally satisfied, 
particularly with the solicitous, handwringing Thom Marriott as the 
disguised duke.  Jonathan Goad gave a good performance as Angelo (and 
I've seen none for that role before), but with a characterization that 
troubles me and raises a question:

None of the performances I've seen try to make Angelo a comedic 
character, favoring a more tyrannical characterization. I'm not sure why 
Angelo cannot be mocked and tyrannical simultaneously. The awakening of 
his desires should hardly be a discovery to the audience, so why 
shouldn't we laugh that he knew so little of himself. Today, we call M4M 
a problem play, but is the problem mainly for us, and not for the 
Jacobeans whom I think might have found the play as funny as any of its 
contemporary city comedies?

Finally, the plays for 2006 have been announced:

Coriolanus
Twelfth Night
Much Ado About Nothing
1 Henry IV

I am also interested in
The Glass Menagerie
Duchess of Malfi
Ghosts

Jack Heller

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