The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1529  Thursday, 15 September 2005

[1] 	From: 	John Briggs <
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	Date: 	Wednesday, 14 Sep 2005 14:28:46 +0100
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 16.1513 Caliban's Father

[2] 	From: 	Joseph Egert <
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	Date: 	Wednesday, 14 Sep 2005 21:39:41 +0000
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 16.1504 Caliban's Father

[3] 	From: 	Joseph Egert <
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	Date: 	Wednesday, 14 Sep 2005 21:40:29 +0000
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 16.1504 Caliban's Father

[4] 	From: 	Robert Projansky <
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	Date: 	Wednesday, 14 Sep 2005 16:18:28 -0700
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 16.1490 Caliban's Father


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		John Briggs <
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Date: 		Wednesday, 14 Sep 2005 14:28:46 +0100
Subject: 16.1513 Caliban's Father
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1513 Caliban's Father

David Lindley wrote:

 >Is there no rein on idle speculation and fantastic allegorisation?

Hold on to that concept :-)

No, on this list there isn't :-)

John Briggs

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Joseph Egert <
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Date: 		Wednesday, 14 Sep 2005 21:39:41 +0000
Subject: 16.1504 Caliban's Father
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1504 Caliban's Father

David Basch casts Ariel and Caliban as "good angel" and "bad angel" 
respectively, willing servants of their Creator.

But are they willing? Or do they both chafe under His command(ments)? 
After insisting that Prospero's books be burnt (not drowned), Caliban 
contends that without these books Prospero is "but a sot...nor hath not 
one spirit to command: they all do hate him..." A revered Father? Or 
just another tyrant?

Joe Egert

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Joseph Egert <
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Date: 		Wednesday, 14 Sep 2005 21:40:29 +0000
Subject: 16.1504 Caliban's Father
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1504 Caliban's Father

Budding censor David Lindley exclaims, "Is there no rein on idle 
speculation and fantastic allegorisation?"

Time to free your Ariel, DL, or at least give him some slack.

Still unreined,
Joe Egert

[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Robert Projansky <
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Date: 		Wednesday, 14 Sep 2005 16:18:28 -0700
Subject: 16.1490 Caliban's Father
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1490 Caliban's Father

Steve Purcell says:

"The hint that Caliban may be Prospero's son was certainly present in 
Tim Carroll's production this year at Shakespeare's Globe, in which Mark 
Rylance's Prospero embraced Caliban during the final moments of the 
play. Rylance acknowledged the implication of this moment in a talk 
after the performance last week - he did however note that the 
chronology of the play's back-story made the suggestion problematic."

Quite astonishingly, Mark Rylance, the artistic director of 
Shakespeare's Globe, is an anti-Stratfordian (the usual blah, blah: WS 
didn't have enough education), so it's no surprise that he should have 
such lame judgment, re Caliban as in many other things.

Do others find this sort of thing (although hugging Caliban is a lesser 
instance) as disturbing as I do?  Off-the-wall theories about 
Shakespeare don't bother me much, no matter how silly, but I do find it 
disrespectful and objectionable to wrong his work in performance.  There 
is all the room in the world for creativity well within the bounds of 
his plays, but I think he is now too often abused in production, usually 
by directors forcing things that just don't fit.

Bob Projansky

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