Shakespeare - The Word and the Action

[neadods]

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 4goodcauses and advertise it on musical, theater, and rennie communities.)

Comments

[vampry.livejournal.com]

Your Shakespeare raffle basket makes me want it myself.

And I didn't even know the Ladies did a Much Ado soundtrack.

Cool.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I don't think a lot of people do who didn't go to Stratford this year. They did the music for the restaging of Much Ado (set in the Summer of Love, so it's all rock music).

[nycdeb.livejournal.com]

all these lectures you've been listening to sound extremely cool and interesting. I'm gonna look at getting some myself. I spend an awful lot of time on trains so it might be a good thing for those times.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It's absolutely perfect for that sort of thing - I've been listening while I commute. Highest recommendations to History of English and Victorian Britain.

Mind you, I've got a couple on DVD, and I'm not sure when I can get to *them*!

[stratfordbabe.livejournal.com]

Is that on CD? Is there anyway you might consider selling it outside the basket? (Or as a Xmas pressie?) That's one my library doesn't have.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

What, the class? CD. If you don't mind a gently used copy, I'll stick a bow on it and give it to you for Christmas. Thought you didn't think much of Saccio.

[stratfordbabe.livejournal.com]

Don't particularly care for him ... at least on his history stuff. But I loathe Bloom ... no, that's not strong enough LOATHE with the white hot passion of a thousand suns ... and still read the stuff he authors and edits. Sometimes the best stuff is that you can disagree with and have to come up with cogent arguments against them.

And why doesn't it shock me that he's one of these "it's ritual ... it's not supposed to be lifelike" types.

And thank you. Heck, you could even have it back for a later auction. It's not something I need to keep ... just wanna listen to it once.

Oh, I can recommend the Henry VIII lessons, too. I don't like the way the guy says "dynasty" and there are a couple of other odd pronounciations, but it's an interesting course.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't want to give you a Christmas present you don't want to keep! But have no problems lending it out.

Great to hear about Henry VIII! I've got that one, to be listened to next year as part of the Tudor thing. I've also got History of the Religious Wars in Europe and History of the Tudor and Stuart Kings, if you want to borrow them when I'm through.

English Romantic Poets has gone on sale. Am trying to decide if I want to get it on tape or on CD. I suppose if I go CD and don't want to keep it, it would "basket" up better later.

[stratfordbabe.livejournal.com]

I'll always be willing to borrow ... especially ones I can't get at the library. Heck, I'd even be willing to pay a few bucks for the privilege. But yeah, I don't need to keep them.

I'm pretty sure the English Romantic poets is one my library has. Have you checked your library before you buy?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

...no, actually...

I'm having a hard time figuring out which libraries have what; anything in the PG system I should be able to get via interlibrary loan. But when I do searches the "location" field just comes up as "Audio Visual." I'll check, and if it hits the system, I'll ask the Greenbelt librarian to sort it out.

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

Shatner says it was because he was groping for his lines ... *ggg*

[neadods.livejournal.com]

He might have been, but he was groping in a particularly Iambic way...