Brushing up my Shakespeare in London

[selenak]

I almost didn't make it to the Almeida on Friday night, which, given that the chance to watch Ralph Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave in Richard III was one of the reasons why I picked this particular week when my APs gave me a week in London for Christmas, would have been a not so fun irony. The London Underground played one of its tricks, with the

Comments

[mamculuna]

Oh, envy. I would love to see that! Thanks for the great analysis, really showing how the great actors and the others interpreted the play and made their interpretation work.

[selenak]

You're very welcome.

[kathyh]

Sorry to hear that the Northern Line played one of its old tricks on you (it used to be known as the Misery Line because of its unreliability) but glad that a taxi driver rescued you and got you there in time.

It sounds as if it was an interesting production, rape notwithstanding. I take it that Ralph Fiennes did not go the full on body contortion route that Kevin Spacey took in the Old Vic production, which was dramatic to watch but felt very OTT.

Must get to that Shakespeare exhibition.

[selenak]

That taxi driver was, if not a life, than a holidays saver, to be sure. :)

Body contortion: he did the humpback and withered arm, and didn't change his posture for the final bows, but then again I guess he couldn't, with whatever they used for the humpback in his costume.

Yes, absolutely, do check on that exhibition!

[sonetka]

Since I can't be in London for the foreseeable future I'm very much enjoying your accounts of these plays :). And I have to say, I'm with you on wishing directors (and writers) would get off the rape train when it comes to rape as lazy shorthand for "Hey, audience, this character who's already murdered scores of people and ruined countless lives is *really* bad, just wanted to make sure you understood that." It turns up so many times in historical novels and gets frustrating -- it's so unimaginative.

I keep seeing ads online for Shakespeare in Ten Acts -- glad to know it lives up to its billing. Interesting about the book being handwritten -- have seen it quoted tons of time but never really pictured it; it is unusual. I wonder if someone was saving on the cost of a typesetter :).

[selenak]

Wouldn't a typesetter be cheaper and faster, though, than handwriting? Unless this was really a personal notebook...

Re: rape, yes, sigh. Exactly this. A few years back Alara Rogers wrote a good post about how annoying this habit was in terms of fanfiction (and she named a few examples where raping someone was really ooc for villains, not because they were better persons than depicted but because their particular hang-ups and goals did not compute). But since then, it's gone overboard in pro fic, theatre and movies as well, alas.

[sonetka]

I wrote a post a few years ago as well (https://anneboleynnovels.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/intermission-cruel-intentions/). I'm ridiculously behind on my posting these days but I have at least been reading a lot and authors really do need to get a new Villain Signal. Did you know Alison Weir has an Anne Boleyn novel coming out? I really wonder what's going to happen there ...

[selenak]

Alison Weir, sigh. Given what she came up with for Jane Grey already, I'm not placing any money on her resisting trope temptation. In fact, I'd rather place money both Henry and George Boleyn will end up as rapists in a book of hers. Maybe she'll throw in some of the Seymour men as well...

[angevin2]

I guess the only ursurper whom Shakeskpeare allows to remain subtle instead of ham fisted is Claudius in Hamlet

Bolingbroke, surely?

Aislin McGuckin played Lady Anne in the RSC first tet I saw in 2001 (the one Michael Boyd later revived) and was terrific. In that production, Margaret carried her dead son's bones around, so the baby doll is kind of a step down from that really. ;)

[selenak]

Point taken about Bolingbroke, but then again, he's the only one who actually stays on the throne and dies in a non-violent way with a son succeeding him, with that being a big plot ploint lead up to the ultra patriotic play, so Will couldn't give him the usual arc. Thinking about it further, Antonio in The Tempest, maybe. If persuading Sebastian to poison his brother counts as subtle scheming. Antonio is an odd one anyway because he doesn't get killed off or thrown into prison, but doesn't repent, either.