Shakespeare Electronic Conference, SHK 7.0724. Saturday, 5 October 1996.
From: David Evett <R0870%This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 03 Oct 1996 14:32 ET
Subject: "respecting": Shakes
Comment: SHK 7.0718 "respecting": Shakes
Three marks to Frank Whigham for reminding us that Shakespeare was and still
should be Entertainment Tonight--one problem with filling people up with
politics, as Gabriel Egan apparently wishes to do, is that all the fun gets
squeezed out in the process, and what's left has a lot of dry, harsh,
indigestible fiber in it. This is not to say that people should not be
encouraged to notice that the plays _don't_ pay much attention to prostitutes.
Though does anybody besides me remember Martha Henry's terrifying Doll
Tearsheet in a Stratford, Ont. 2H4 15 or so years ago? I can still visualize
the savage gesture with which she whipped the concealed knife from her boot to
keep 3 very much larger and younger constables very busy for 20 seconds or
before she was dragged off the stage. Now that's entertainment! Which happened
also to condense and focus a lot of socio-economic reality, not just because
Henry is a brilliant actor but because there are things in that text that
foster such a reading of that beat.
Entertainedly,
Dave Evett