The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.1848  Friday, 6 September 2002

[1]     From:   Ann Carrigan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Thursday, 05 Sep 2002 12:29:46 -0400
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1840 Re: Jarring Experience at Ashland

[2]     From:   David Evett <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Thursday, 5 Sep 2002 12:44:16 -0400
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1840 Re: Jarring Experience at Ashland

[3]     From:   D Bloom <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Thursday, 5 Sep 2002 14:56:46 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1840 Re: Jarring Experience at Ashland


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Ann Carrigan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Thursday, 05 Sep 2002 12:29:46 -0400
Subject: 13.1840 Re: Jarring Experience at Ashland
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1840 Re: Jarring Experience at Ashland

>I don't know why Shakespeare hasn't yet been performed in the nude.
> Macbeth in the buff.

Gosh, I can't recall whether I had yet joined SHAKSPER when this was
making the news, but I figured this little story had made its rounds. An
adult nightclub in the Orlando area *did* stage some form of the
Scottish play (well, a scene, anyway) in the nude, and it made national
news.

A search of Google Groups turned up lots of stuff on the "Nude Macbeth"
story.

--Ann Carrigan

_____________________________

Published Tuesday, June 8, 1999, in the Miami Herald

Nude Macbeth broke the law, officials claim

ORLANDO -- (AP) -- The owner of an adult nightclub and three dancers who
challenged an anti-nudity ordinance by performing Macbeth in the buff
were charged Monday with violating the law.

Club Juana owner Michael Pinter and dancers Margaret Morgan, Sara Jo
Uffelman and Christy McKee were charged with a misdemeanor and ordered
to appear in court next month. The maximum sentence is 60 days in jail.

The May 28 show, which included the opening witches scene from Macbeth,
and part of a play by the Marquis de Sade, was intended to challenge
Seminole County's anti-nudity ordinance, which requires dancers to wear
at least a G-string and pasties.

The law, passed in November, exempts ``bona fide performances'' --
which, according to county officials, refers to legitimate theater. The
club's attorney said the performance that included Macbeth was meant to
show the hypocrisy of the ``bona fide'' restriction.

However, which performances are considered bona fide won't be addressed
in this case because the defendants were charged under a separate
anti-nudity ordinance in Casselberry, the Orlando suburb were Club Juana
is located.

Casselberry's ordinance prohibits nudity in establishments where alcohol
is served.

Pinter said he was happy he was getting his day in court but would have
preferred to been charged under the Seminole County ordinance, which has
been challenged in four separate and pending lawsuits by dancers and
club owners.

``They're trying to legislate me out of business,'' Pinter said.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           David Evett <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Thursday, 5 Sep 2002 12:44:16 -0400
Subject: 13.1840 Re: Jarring Experience at Ashland
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1840 Re: Jarring Experience at Ashland

I seem to remember seeing articles about nude performances of
Shakespeare at a strip club in Florida a couple of years ago.  And I
would not be surprised to learn of more esthetically ambitious attempts,
perhaps in Europe, in the 60s and 70s.

Dave Evett

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           D Bloom <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Thursday, 5 Sep 2002 14:56:46 -0500
Subject: 13.1840 Re: Jarring Experience at Ashland
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1840 Re: Jarring Experience at Ashland

To me, inappropriate laughs indicate very bad judgment on the part of
the director and/or actor. Cheap laughs damage the mood of the scene
which the playwright and players have been carefully building, and which
can usually never be recovered fully. Sometimes an accident occurs that
startles the audience and causes a laugh, but you work through those
things. To leave in a bit of business that damages the mood cannot, to
my mind, be excused.

My un-favorite occurred in a production of *R&J* where Mercutio did his
line just after being stabbed by Tybalt ("I am hurt") in a bemused and
quizzical tone that brought down the house every night. I think that the
director and actor were trying to get something across about the wound
being so apparently minor, yet ultimately fatal, but it manifestly
failed -- and yet they wouldn't change it. Frankly, it drove me nuts

Cheers,
don
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