tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post3120835609326960287..comments2023-09-20T14:34:21.102+02:00Comments on Postcards from the Gods: William Shakespeare: middlebrow racist?Andrew Haydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05568061302451610140noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-52100930900067194052007-07-22T02:00:00.000+02:002007-07-22T02:00:00.000+02:00ooooh, i helped her with her audition for drama sc...ooooh, i helped her with her audition for drama school. she was ace.alexfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08663311179979081963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-1967962939279142972007-07-21T18:05:00.000+02:002007-07-21T18:05:00.000+02:00Jennifer Kidd.Jennifer Kidd.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-50006678807899055112007-07-21T04:35:00.000+02:002007-07-21T04:35:00.000+02:00Re: Dude, Where's My Portia? - That'll teach me to...Re: Dude, Where's My Portia? - That'll teach me to take my programme on face value after losing the insert. Who was the new Rada girl playing Nerissa?Andrew Haydonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05568061302451610140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-75842826818045217192007-07-21T04:14:00.000+02:002007-07-21T04:14:00.000+02:00Two things, one general, one specific:I think a si...Two things, one general, one specific:<BR/><BR/>I think a significant degree (though obviously far from all) of the brow-rating of Shakespeare is due to the fact that our culture is so thoroughly steeped in his writings, his language, his coinages that we simply don't need to think twice about such words or allusions the way we do with contemporaneous writers.<BR/><BR/>Also, Michelle Duncan hasn't made ANY kind of Portia since she left the Globe production suddenly during previews. The actor you saw was Kirsty Besterman, who got an upgrade from Nerissa class.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-78682863046912654692007-07-20T19:11:00.000+02:002007-07-20T19:11:00.000+02:00Hey ThereGotta say that I believe that for the mos...Hey There<BR/><BR/>Gotta say that I believe that for the most part it often comes down to the way you play it. A few years ago, my friends and I put on a MofV and put Shylock as the victim.<BR/>we still got racism complaints, but that was from the people that left at the interval and had drawn their opinions before they got to the performance.<BR/>As for Shakespeare himself, I suppose it's again down to the individual and how they interpret the plays. But I'd like to think that he saw things from both sides.Douglas Easonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03508104247257657559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-88822081105401809942007-07-20T18:39:00.000+02:002007-07-20T18:39:00.000+02:00In refence to your thing about Shakespeare's 'ligh...In refence to your thing about Shakespeare's 'light rom-coms' in your Merchant review, I dont think either Twelfth Night or Merchant can be described as such. 12N is a play that is shot through with extraordinary levels of cruetly andf a resolution that is about as flimsy and unsafe as possible - Olivia, until a few days ago wracked with grief, has only moments before met the man she professes to be in love with and whom she has married - hardly the basis of a stable relationship. (All the others are simliarly dodgy...)<BR/><BR/>Indeed, in Dream, Demetrieus is still under Puck's spell and so that could all go tits up at any minute. The point of this is that rom-com is a bad way to describe the plays because it has associations with contemporary rom-coms (a la the Richard Curtis (all hail etc)) where everything is tied up in a more generally satisfactory and therefore implausible way. Given this, any judgement in the play about love or race or watever has to be seen as being more complex and tentative than it might first seem. I dont think directors are forcing it when they present the Christians in Merchant as shits, they, including at the end Portia, behave appaling badly and are profoundly self-centered. they certainly dont exhibit a fraction of the self awareness that Shylock does, and as such are not nearly as sympathetic as characters. Additionally, there is the line in Merchant that the prince of Morocco says 'mislike me not for my complexion' - Shakespeare is clearly aware of the problem of racial prejudice, and not just in a way that means he embodies it.<BR/><BR/>This is not to say that the plays necesarily aren't racist, or at least that they don't potentially encourage it amongst more unreflective audience members. But, in the same way as with Eminem's lyrics, I think it is important to be aware that there is a great deal more ambiguity toward, or distance from the the supposed prejudice than is normally recognised.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com