The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 18.0765 Tuesday, 13 November 2007
[1] From: Larry Weiss <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 09 Nov 2007 11:49:08 -0500
Subj: Re: SHK 18.0756 Shakespeare as Falstaff
[2] From: Dan Venning <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 9 Nov 2007 12:11:30 -0500
Subj: Re: SHK 18.0756 Shakespeare as Falstaff
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Larry Weiss <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 09 Nov 2007 11:49:08 -0500
Subject: 18.0756 Shakespeare as Falstaff
Comment: Re: SHK 18.0756 Shakespeare as Falstaff
>Steve Sohmer has argued (persuasively, it seems to me) that
>Shakespeare played Julius Caesar (as well as Polonius).
I thought it is generally believed that Heminges played Polonius and
Shakespeare played the Ghost (maybe doubling as Player King).
As for the possible puns in Falstaff's name, let us not overlook the
phallic one.
[2]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Dan Venning <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 9 Nov 2007 12:11:30 -0500
Subject: 18.0756 Shakespeare as Falstaff
Comment: Re: SHK 18.0756 Shakespeare as Falstaff
Jack Heller writes: "Another problem particularly for this idea about
Falstaff is that he appears in three plays, once as the lead character.
Do we ever hear of Shakespeare taking a lead role?"
Having dramaturged THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, I definitely feel that
while Falstaff is the largest role, the leading role of that play is
actually Master Ford. Ford's jealousy, suspicion, and disguises provide
as much dramatic action as Falstaff's lust, greed, and bumbling
seduction, and are in many ways the high point of that play. It could
also be argued that the wives themselves (together) are the main
characters. It's a bizarre play, because Falstaff is neither the
funniest character nor the central character in the play he dominates,
in my opinion. We did it with puppets, directed wonderfully by Sean
Daniels at California Shakespeare Theater.
This is straying somewhat far from topic, my apologies. Although I don't
know of any evidence to suggest that Shakespeare played leading
characters, I am fairly certain that he was known for playing kings and
old men. If I remember correctly, he is listed as playing Tiberius in
Jonson's SEJANUS HIS FALL--a king and a secondary character, although
only barely; Tiberius is almost equal in size and importance to Sejanus
in that play. It seems far more likely to me, considering what we know
about his parts, that Shakespeare played Henry IV in those plays. But as
with much in this topic, that's just speculation on my part.
Dan Venning
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