![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Which is clearly subjective and open for argument, but I'll never forget the revelation: Shakespeare was a guy. And he wrote that stuff. Like, someone was responsible for it. It didn't just... happen.
(Full disclosure: I kind of feel the same way about "Me and Bobby McGee." What do you mean, somebody sat down and wrote that? Didn't it just appear?)
The first play we studied, with an enthusiastic prof who knew when to stop belabouring a point, was in fact Richard III.
To many, the definitive Richard is the one by Laurence Olivier:
For me, when I saw this one I was disappointed. I recall it as shouty, and it seemed to miss all the gleeful black humour.
I just found the one our prof bootlegged off PBS and showed to us. The Richard in that one really enjoyed himself. We knew he was evil, but we rooted for him to get away with it, at least up to a certain point. And when he starts to come apart at the end of the play, well, because he hasn't spent the whole play ranting, he has somewhere to go. There's some great tension.
Here's the opening scene from that one:
Much, much subtler, and to me it works a lot better. ("He cannot live...[*smirk*] I hope...")
We watched the first act in class, then a bunch of us begged to borrow the tape to watch the rest. But as a judgement against copyright infringement, our professor's VCR had kicked out in the middle of the final act, so the version was incomplete! Argh!
And now... I think I have found this version at the public library!!! I just placed a hold on it and we shall see.
But even if not, now that I know the name of the actor who played Richard, I should be able to find a copy for myself pretty easily.
And I thought Gimme Shelter was dark...
- Mood:
triumphant
Comments
"Shakespeare was really good at epilogues. And prologues. And you know...lines."
I think it's safe to say Richard was the victim of the fact that history is written by the winners, but in older bios I've found in university libraries there's a wide variation between the Good Man, Good King side and the He Was Evil Anyway side. I wonder if current scholarship is still as divided?
Ooh, shiny...
Have you read the Sunne in Splendour?
And I *so* am with you on Olivier. His cut-class English accent is *wrong* for Richard of York. I think part of the problem is that he is walking around in the scenery rather than engaging with it. and he plays to the camera too much. I suppose that dates the film - in current cinematography, the camera would zoom in on him for closeups; here he needs to walk up to the camera.
Back when I first got interested in Richard I encountered a few texts that really gave more credence to Thomas More than seemed reasonable. I found them infuriating, since I like the play but don't believe it for a second. But they may have been really old, I don't remember. Or maybe North American scholars hung onto More longer than they should have?
Anyway, the book I have is the one the mystery I'm reading (The Murders of Richard III) keeps citing, which is funny, but since I work at a university it'll be easy to find more (heh) if I want to.
And I haven't read The Sunne In Splendour, but I know I saw it in a library catalogue either here or at the public library. Recommended?
Edited at 2008-02-28 08:14 pm (UTC)