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Post by flamineo on May 13, 2003 7:12:58 GMT -5
Hi, Rabagas...Thanks for the welcome. Your field sounds interesting: what's the state of Shakespeare in France? Have you ever seen any of Peter Brook's productions? I saw his Hamlet with Adrian Lester recently (only on video), and although some of the performances (Laertes for example) seemed a little weak, I thought that the production (and especially Lester) was one of the best I've seen.... My interests lie mostly with the lesser-performed playwrights (Webster, Ford, Tourneur, Marston, Middleton and Rowley, etc) of the Elizabethan-Jacobean period. These plays are always regarded simply as 'blood' or 'revenge' tragedies, but I've been looking into the way the Renaissance produced doubts about death, science and the position of the individual in the universe. it really opens these plays up, and had helped me to view them as expressions of individuality (however macabre) in a confused time...... That sounded like an essay! Any thoughts?
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Post by rabagas on May 13, 2003 8:02:16 GMT -5
I've always been impressed with Webster, Middleton, and the other Jacobeans. I think they and Shakespeare were all coming to terms with a world that was emerging from the medieval mindset to the modern mindset. Many of them were born Catholics (or into families that were Catholic) but lived in a Protestant world, and a world in which science and the humanities played a far greater role than under the earlier paradigm. Whether you believed in God or not, you had to face the fact that the world was round and spun around the Sun.
On another list someone suggested that Hamlet can be interpreted as the dilemna of Catholic living in a Protestant world. I think there's a lot of truth to that. It was a brave new world. The old values lingered and although publicly taboo were not forgotten. Shakespeare is said to have died a Catholic.That was not uncommon in England until around 1750. People lived Protestant and died Catholic. It wasn't so much that they converted as that they were returning to their roots.
Anyway, I'm glad to have someone I can talk to about Elizabethans other than Shakespeare. Some were very great writers and in one or two plays rivaled WS's best work. They deserve to be better known, not only for their intrinsic merit, but because by knowing them we know Shakespeare better. I'm also a believer that we should look at some of Shakespeare's Apocrypha because of the light that sheds on his work. But I have few followers in that regard.
Cheers
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The_Turtle
Denizen
Nay, faith, let not me play a woman; I have a beard coming
Posts: 52
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Post by The_Turtle on Jun 2, 2003 2:38:44 GMT -5
What if I came back to this forum?
I just might, you know...
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Post by holbrook on Jul 19, 2003 8:28:47 GMT -5
Hi all, just joined. I majored in theatre in college, not English, so be sure to dumb it down a bit for me. ;D
My background is in acting and directing, and now I teach theatre in a Dallas area high school. I'm currently developing an all-day Shakespearean acting workshop that I can take to other schools on the weekends. I'll probably need help with some of the ideas for my workshop, so I'll be picking your brains soon.
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Post by Bardolph on May 17, 2009 0:15:21 GMT -5
I've been away from Shakespeare discussion for a long time. I hope to round up the veterans and invite them back to rebuild our community. Anyone out there, I'll be waiting.
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