The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 11.1103 Saturday, 27 May 2000.
From: Judy Lewis <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Saturday, 27 May 2000 16:31:34 +1200
Subject: 11.1081 Re: Secondary School Play Choice
Comment: Re: SHK 11.1081 Re: Secondary School Play Choice
If you must choose between these two, then make it Much Ado. Sure, it
is flawed, BUT it is easy to act whereas in these PC days, Othello
provides problems; the Branagh film is always a great hit with kids, and
third, too much of what is studied in school veers on the tragic side -
Death of Salesman, war poetry etc. A touch of comedy would be a nice
change. Because so much is in prose, it is more accessible to many
students.
And Beatrice is one of the best heroines ever written - confident,
articulate, intelligent. Benedick is one of the most attractive of
Shakespeare's heroes - more so than Orsino or Orlando, for example.
I teach - and have directed a school production of - Much Ado with great
success. It is a great play.
Judy Lewis
