The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.0764  Thursday, 24 April 2003

[1]     From:   Ben Spiller <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 23 Apr 2003 15:06:09 +0100
        Subj:   Re: SHK 14.0757 Re: The Public Theater's AS YOU LIKE IT

[2]     From:   Michael Shurgot <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 23 Apr 2003 11:57:10 -0700
        Sub:    RE: SHK 14.0757 Re: The Public Theater's AS YOU LIKE IT


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Ben Spiller <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 23 Apr 2003 15:06:09 +0100
Subject: 14.0757 Re: The Public Theater's AS YOU LIKE IT
Comment:        Re: SHK 14.0757 Re: The Public Theater's AS YOU LIKE IT

I am in contact with the director of the recent Sheffield Crucible
"Macbeth", James Phillips, who has sent me the script, edited initially
by himself and then altered throughout rehearsals with the cast.
Although I didn't manage to catch the production, the script certainly
makes for an enlightening read.  The witches are reworked as children
who play with china dolls, and Banquo's ghost wears a mask similar to
the faces of the dolls.  The cutting does not seem to be blunt and
careless, but carefully executed to produce a new script, which,
although critics will inevitably compare to the 1620 Folio, should
probably be seen as a text in its own right -- a version, reworking or
off-shoot from the play as it was recorded by the compositors of F1.  I
envy Mr Zull, who must have experienced an extremely intense performance
(four actors, minimal design, no interval) of a pared-down version of an
already short and thrilling play.  Did anyone else see it?

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Michael Shurgot
 <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 23 Apr 2003 11:57:10 -0700
Subject: 14.0757 Re: The Public Theater's AS YOU LIKE IT
Comment:        RE: SHK 14.0757 Re: The Public Theater's AS YOU LIKE IT

Dear Colleagues:

Don Bloom's trouble with very small cast productions of a WS play is
understandable, although I do not wish to minimize the abilities of
talented actors to engage the imaginations of their spectators in many
and enchanting ways. However, as I have mentioned previously on this
list serve, excessive and unconvincing doubling/tripling of roles was
one of the major problems with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Macbeth
in 2002. Some of the role switching was silly because the same actor was
unable to convince spectators that s/he "embodied" two or three totally
different characters: e.g.: Fleance one moment and one of Macbeth's
hired thugs the next. We should all try to respect actors' efforts, and
be accommodating and imaginative in our responses to a production's
choices, but I would agree that at times credibility is strained so much
that the production--like a too taut string--snaps.

Regards,
Michael Shurgot

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