Shakespeareathon #2

[arisha]

Apologies to those of you with no interest in these entries! I am a mere seven plays from the end, at which point we will return to our regularly scheduled programming of Sarah and her boring life.

Comments

[shake_the_stars]

I'm of the theory that Titus Andronicus was dashed off in a week and a half because Shakespeare had bills coming due. I feel like this is a terrible thing to say, but it really isn't a good play.

The best King Lear, for my money, is Ran :D

[arisha]

Hahaha, I admit there are plays where I've thought "This was totally written right before a deadline." With Titus, though, you may or may not be aware that it is believed to be a collaboration with George Peele, about whom I know basically nothing. So maybe the parts you dislike weren't Shakespeare's fault!

I have yet to see Ran but I intend to! It is on my list of Shakespeare-ish movies to watch after I finish the Shakespeareathon. :D

[lysanderpuck]

I 100% agree with you that Taming isn't a feminist production. One of my professors told me that the modern interpretation came from this version and Mary Pickford's wink: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taming_of_the_Shrew_%281929_film%29 And everyone's picked up on it being a comedy about a man who has a stubborn wife since.
My very favorite version of Taming (done by the UK's Propeller theatre company) had Kate absolutely broken by the final speech and it really showed me how awful and abusive the play can be so I can't ever see it as a feminist production again. D:

Also I know Titus is kind of a terrible play technically but I absolutely love how goddamn ridiculous it is. Like, Bill, what?

[arisha]

I'm glad you left this comment because last night I watched a video where someone very confidently referred to Taming of the Shrew as an "early feminist text" and I have this problem where I start to doubt myself very quickly when I hear someone state an opposing opinion with great confidence. (Whether or not they offer any evidence to back it up!)

I didn't know that the Mary Pickford version sparked that interpretation! That's super interesting. Did you watch that movie? I'm curious to see it now, especially because Wikipedia says it was filmed as a silent and then dubbed over later?!

I think the Elizabeth Taylor version I watched could be said to follow in Pickford's footsteps, although it was really more interested in wacky hijinks than anything else.

The Propeller production sounds suuuuuuper interesting!! I would be really interested to see a production with a similar interpretation. I would imagine it didn't feel much like a comedy anymore, but maybe Shrew should go the way of Merchant of Venice and lose its happy ending ...