It takes a certain touch to bring a play to the stage, and an even more certain one to bring Shakespeare to it. The director, cast, and crew have to be completely immersed in the world they’re creating in order for it to be believable for the audience. It’s all or nothing, and often a gamble. Shakespeare is not an easy mountain to climb. You have to have the right director, cast, crew, set, and theatre to pull it off; and even if you produce a good product, the chances of box office success are slim. Modernization The Bard has been around for years. His plays have built the bases for theatre standards around the world. To produce a successful production, a company can no longer manufacture a traditional Shakespearean play; it has to be modernized with some sort of relevant twist (The National Theatre’s production of Othello in modern times or the movie Private Romeo and its representation of homosexual relationships). Adaptations that use this technique are considered to be fresh and push the boundaries of Shakespeare. A Shakespearean play can be modernized in three ways:
Time Period
SpeechThis technique is more popular in movie adaptations. Its purpose is to introduce the main themes of Shakespeare to the movie-going audience in an entertaining and inventive way. The movie 10 Things I Hate About You is based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. The movie was criticized for its loose storyline around the original text, but appealed to young audiences and inspired many young teens to read the play. The trailer for 10 Things I Hate About You, based on The Taming of the Shrew. Modern TwistsModern Twists on Shakespearian classics are a great risk, but if done in an interesting, creative, and fitting way, the movie or production will be successful. In the movie Private Romeo, the director, Alan Brown, took creative freedom and made the star-crossed lovers of Romeo and Juliet homosexual, this twist is very relevant for modern times. Brown chose to keep some of the Shakespearean text, which keeps the integrity of the piece, while still being relevant. The trailer for Private Romeo. The Actors Perhaps the most important factor of presenting a Shakespearian play is the choice of actors. After you get an audience into the theatre, you then have to connect to them. Shakespearean language creates a huge barrier. A good Shakespearean actor must be able to break down this wall and connect to the audience. This process takes years to master and is only gained by experience and hours hovered over Shakespeare's original words. If this can be achieved, the audience will walk away with something special, and that is every actors ultimate goal. Actors that begin in Shakespeare are considered the best in their craft and are highly respected. Some famous Shakespearian actors who have gone on to other success include Judy Dench, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, and Kenneth Branagh. Photo provided by thereadingwore.com Bringing a Shakespearian play to life is a long and complicated process. But if it is done right, the product will be an incredible piece of art that is proven, by the test of time, to be timeless.
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If you haven’t heard, reading Shakespeare sucks. While the Bard sure did know how to construct a play, he also knew how to confuse every single high school student who ever had to suffer through his diction, complex storylines, and all of the metaphors. Luckily, there have been others before you who have paved the path and developed strategies that make reading him slightly more tolerable (Stress on slightly because no matter what, you’ll be confused for a little bit).
So there you are! Five strategies to make the Bard a little more tolerable. Follow these steps, and one day you might just be begging your teacher to assign Shakespeare (Just kidding, that will probably never happen but it’s a nice thought). As humans we are made to make mistakes. We miscommunicate, we misinterpret, we miss the mark. Othello, by William Shakespeare, is perhaps one of the most beautifulーand most humanーpieces of tragic art ever created. It illustrates the purest forms of evil and how innocence can be manipulated into corruption. While humans are programmed to corrupt and often cause ruin to their own lives, we like to point fingers and assign someone the blame in difficult situations, and a tragedy as devastating as the one designed in Othello is no exception to its audience. Photo provided by Giphy.com
Who's at Fault?Pie chart created with meta-chart.com Iago- 80%
Othello- 14%
Desdemona- 4%
The Turks- 2%
Humans are unstable and unreliable beings. Every character in Othello is to blame, not just Iago. While his intentions were purely wicked, he did have a lot of luck. He created a master plan, and was lucky enough that everyone around him was foolish enough to believe it. It begs the question: Who is to blame? The puppets? Or the puppeteer?
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AuthorMy name is Grace Van Horn and this blog will focus on the books I red in my A.P. Literature class. ArchivesCategories |