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Shakespeare - The Word and the Action
Dr. Saccio knows his stuff - he has not only researched, he has performed in, directed, and written about Shakespeare. I'm finding the class thought-provoking and yes, I'm learning things.
But at the same time, I'm really glad that this is a taped class, because if it were live, I would be that man's worst student. First is his voice - many professors have a theatrical/oratory edge to their manner of speech, but years of hammering the iambic pentameter has made him stress syllables slightly oddly in "regular speech." He doesn't quite sound like William Shatner, but I'm certainly reminded with every lecture that the genesis of the famous Shatner delivery was Shakespearean training.
The other biggie was that as he discussed the importance of blank verse in Shakespeare in Lecture 1 ("Shakespeare's Wavelengths") he talked about how much he hated it when people spoke the verse in a conversational meter and tone instead of treating it like verse. Fortunately he admitted that this was a personal opinion, because in my view, if you don't try to make the verse sound like speech, you're murdering the play. The quickest way to suck all the life out of a Shakes performance is to come at it from the attitude of "I am talking oddly and wearing odd clothes, but you will enjoy it because it is GOOD for you - like broccoli!"
Besides, it's entirely possible to use Shakespeare's exact language and make it feel fresh and modern. I think anyone who's heard the Barenaked Ladies As You Like It music is going to get the bouncy "with a hey and a ho and a hey nonny no!" stuck in their head and not think twice about the age of those lyrics.
This isn't to say that I'm not getting a lot out of the class - I am - but there's a fundamental viewpoint difference between myself and the teacher that makes me glad that a real GPA doesn't rest on this.
Word and Action has 16 45-minute lectures, covering topics like:
- The Multiple Actions of A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Love and Artifice in Love's Labor's Lost and Much Ado About Nothing
- The Battles of Henry VI
- Action in Hamlet
- Nature and Art in The Winter's Tale
- History and Henry VIII
I think after I have listened to it through, I will add it to the Team Wench Shakespeare raffle basket I'm building, which also includes Stratford's Much Ado (VHS); a boxed set of Romeo & Juliet, RIII, and Taming; Love's Labors Lost (DVD); Discovering Hamlet (VHS); the Stratford mug that lists the entire canon; and the Barenaked Ladies' Much Ado soundtrack. (I'm trying to decide if the Ladies will be such an attraction on their own that they can stand to be a separate raffle item. Or if I should put the rarity up on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
4goodcauses and advertise it on musical, theater, and rennie communities.)
But at the same time, I'm really glad that this is a taped class, because if it were live, I would be that man's worst student. First is his voice - many professors have a theatrical/oratory edge to their manner of speech, but years of hammering the iambic pentameter has made him stress syllables slightly oddly in "regular speech." He doesn't quite sound like William Shatner, but I'm certainly reminded with every lecture that the genesis of the famous Shatner delivery was Shakespearean training.
The other biggie was that as he discussed the importance of blank verse in Shakespeare in Lecture 1 ("Shakespeare's Wavelengths") he talked about how much he hated it when people spoke the verse in a conversational meter and tone instead of treating it like verse. Fortunately he admitted that this was a personal opinion, because in my view, if you don't try to make the verse sound like speech, you're murdering the play. The quickest way to suck all the life out of a Shakes performance is to come at it from the attitude of "I am talking oddly and wearing odd clothes, but you will enjoy it because it is GOOD for you - like broccoli!"
Besides, it's entirely possible to use Shakespeare's exact language and make it feel fresh and modern. I think anyone who's heard the Barenaked Ladies As You Like It music is going to get the bouncy "with a hey and a ho and a hey nonny no!" stuck in their head and not think twice about the age of those lyrics.
This isn't to say that I'm not getting a lot out of the class - I am - but there's a fundamental viewpoint difference between myself and the teacher that makes me glad that a real GPA doesn't rest on this.
Word and Action has 16 45-minute lectures, covering topics like:
- The Multiple Actions of A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Love and Artifice in Love's Labor's Lost and Much Ado About Nothing
- The Battles of Henry VI
- Action in Hamlet
- Nature and Art in The Winter's Tale
- History and Henry VIII
I think after I have listened to it through, I will add it to the Team Wench Shakespeare raffle basket I'm building, which also includes Stratford's Much Ado (VHS); a boxed set of Romeo & Juliet, RIII, and Taming; Love's Labors Lost (DVD); Discovering Hamlet (VHS); the Stratford mug that lists the entire canon; and the Barenaked Ladies' Much Ado soundtrack. (I'm trying to decide if the Ladies will be such an attraction on their own that they can stand to be a separate raffle item. Or if I should put the rarity up on
4goodcauses and advertise it on musical, theater, and rennie communities.)