I would make a wild guess, David, that you've never been
an actor. I have. The first thing I would do is count
the lines. Even the poet's got to ate, as Patrick
Kavanagh would say.
Mairead
Quoting "David E. Latane" <[log in to unmask]>:
> In the nineteenth-century, it was felt that
Shakespeare's women were his
> chief glory--vide Mary Cowden Clarke's bestselling The
girlhood of
> Shakespeare's heroines.
>
> Counting the numbers of lines seems like an arbitrary
judgement, in a
> theatre in which the audience was also male, and the
expected subject
> matter--sad tales of the death of kings--pretty much
precluded the p.c.
> 50/50 split in terms of lines spoken. Shakespeare,
within the context of
> his times, has always been considered extraordinary
for his women
> characters. Frances de La Tour certainly stole the
show in the recent
> Antony and Cleopatra at the RSC--and the script gave
her plenty of aid.
>
>
> David Latane
>
>
>
> On Sun, 9 Jul 2000 [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> > In the most recent Abbey Theatre (Dublin) production
of The Tempest, I
> > found Miranda unbearable. I know some of the lines
attributed to Miranda
>
> > in some versions are given to Prospero in others.
It's not just the
> > lines though: it's how far you're willing to push
them, or hide within
> them.
> > In this production, Miranda was directed to be a
ninny. I would imagine
> > that the fact women's roles were played by young
boys had the effect of
> > shrinking them: women's roles in Shakespeare already
come shrunken, in
> > terms of lines to be spoken. So there's a shrink
within a shrink. In
> > other words, if you're paid by the word, few people
playing women's roles
>
> > in Shakespeare are going to make a killing. But
there's no need to go to
>
> > Shakespeare, who was one of the greatest Irishmen
ever. Women's roles in
> > most contemporary movies are similarly shrunken, and
actresses are
> > similarly directed to be ninnies, e.g., the mom in
E.T.
> > Mairead
>
>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|