The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.0712  Thursday, 22 April 1999.

From:           Janet Maclellan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 21 Apr 1999 13:05:08 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Keanu Does Shakespeare
Comment:        SHK 10.0704 Re: Keanu Does Shakespeare

Mike Jensen wrote: "I don't take your point about [Keanu Reeves's]
performance in Branagh's film."

How very odd. I thought I had carefully avoided making one.

Since my post about the stylization of Don John's prose has now twice
been interpreted as a defense of Reeves's delivery in Branagh's Much
Ado, perhaps I should make it clear that I too was unhappy with his
performance.  In deference to the "If you can't say anything nice..."
principle, I aimed to restrict my remarks to DJ's language itself,
eschewing any comment on Reeves's delivery of it.

I fully agree with Mike Jensen that a skilled actor should be capable of
rising to the challenge posed by difficult text. Branagh's tendency, as
a director, to dodge this challenge when casting his clowns has been
discussed by others on SHAKSPER. He seems to have executed a similar
dodge when casting Reeves as Don John-which is why I called his choice
"oddly appropriate." (It was a wee joke, you see.)

My apologies to the list at large for further drawing out this thread.
Why is it that corrections and clarifications-arguably the life and soul
of spoken conversation-seem so insufferably tedious when translated into
the medium of the listserv?

Cordially,
Janet MacLellan
University of Toronto
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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