We’re blogging about Shakespeare, revivals, and what Jonathan Miller terms “Subsequent Performances” @ http://thankyounext.blogspot.com/

I’ve been working in DC for a while, where Michael Kahn’s Shakespeare Establishment runs in full-force with the commemorative, monument-making spirit of the town. And I still can’t get enough of him.

Good luck and go forth …

FYI, I live & breathe Shakespeare, but I agree that lame productions sully his reputation. For this reason, I increasingly avoid Canadian Shakespeare unless I hear it’s extraordinary.

FYI2, Shakespeare is worth the effort & not so difficult as he seems. Once you zen into his mindset, he makes perfect sense. Just think of him as a chap who talks in a very strange dialect. Listen close. It’s still English.

I don’t think anyone here actually believes it’s possible or even desirably to put a moratorium on a playwright.

Still, many of the issues raised in the comments above are real and valid – and most have used the “moratorium” hyperbole as a point of departure for far more nuanced arguments.

For the record, I am not seriously advocating a ban on Shakespeare. I just tend to find it dull and boring and I’m bitter because it makes me feel ignorant.

The point is, Malvolio doesn’t approve of what’s going on downstairs; but Sir Toby asserts that it’s none of his fucking business. Most people in this world like to enjoy life’s pleasures, and Malvolio can just fuck off.

“Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” Toby asks him.

“Yes, by Saint Anne, and ginger shall be hot i’ the mouth too!” adds Feste the clown.

MY point is, bad performances of Shakespeare WILL happen because people enjoy performing them. And the Malvolios posting above can go “shake their ears”.

Care to translate this passage into dumbed-down contemporary English for the Shakespeare-impaired?

Thanks.

And to all else who speak of moratoriums …

“Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” … “Yes, by Saint Anne, and ginger shall be hot i’ the mouth too.” (12th Night)

And so should the audience. I’d not like to go 5 years without Shakespeare because I continue to make new discoveries each time I see one of his plays - no matter how familiar I thought I was with the play. Five years of new discoveries is too much to sacrifice!

As for the language, good acting aids comprehension greatly. The words are, for the most part, the same words we use every day; the phrasing is just a little funky. And is there another playwright whose words and phrases have become so commonly used in everyday speech?

Hell, no, to a moratorium. Bring it on!

On a more serious note, some of the most incredibly productions I have ever seen have been of Shakespeare plays. Some of the most moving times I’ve ever had at a theatre has been at Shakespeare plays. I’ve personally put a moratorium on Dream, R&J, Comedy of Errors, & Tempest; yet I broke it recently to see Tim Supple’s Dream, and I regret never seeing Jonathan Crombie play Romeo at Stratford.

It doesn’t seem like a ban is in order, just more artists doing like I am and not immediately jumping to direct/act in it. It is a different style, like the Greeks, and all too often the text seems to be at the mercy of some grand concept.

To tie back to the article, some of the best Shakespeare I have ever seen used a mix of English with actors native languages - not just Supple’s Dream but Frank Theatre’s Crown of Blood (Macbeth). I think there is something to be said to trying to free Shakespeare from Elizabethan English.

Personally, I’ve been wanting to go the other way and go to original pronunciation and open-air performances. The experiments done in this excite me - the plays ran faster and the language had a greater attack. Since some people have trouble understanding the language, let’s just go full out with the feel of the text and see what happens.

I too, am so sick of Chekhov and would be happy to never hear about Godot again as well but am leary of talks of bans on anything artistically related. Each artist needs to go where their muse calls them and there are definite merits to the idea of experimenting with proven scripts.