Amidst all the other teaching I've been doing, I spent the last week immersed in Shakespearian texts. I'm not a Shakespeare specialist, but I'm enjoying this course hugely, and it's wonderful to get back to the critical theory reading I often don't have time for.
This week was The Tempest - probably Shakespeare's last play, and one performed at James I's (and VI's) court at least twice. The First Folio lists it under Comedies but - as I've been trying to explain to my students - it's more like a mix of tragedy and Shakespeare's history plays for the first four acts, with a comedy resolution (marriages, restoration to power) bolted extremely unconvincingly on the end. Unconvincing because Shakespeare's made sure that every neat ending unravels: Ferdinand and Miranda cheat at chess, Prospero's blackmailing Antonio and poor old Caliban is forgotten.
I used a mix of postcolonial and New Historicist theory for the lecture, which I thought was intellectually coherent at least. Unfortunately for most of the audience, they hadn't read the play, so had to endure 90 minutes of me minutely exploring characters and events they hadn't yet heard about…
Oh well… next lecture to write is the origins of Celtic mythology. Back to the books…
Meanwhile, here's an 'interesting' production coming up: Helen Mirren, but also Russell Brand. Apart from that, I'm slightly reluctant because all the magic in the play is part of a more cerebral examination of the origins, legitimacy and application of power, particularly in a colonial context. Too much concentration on magic and special effects will detract from this. Furthermore, the original play links power and fatherhood to stunning effect and contrasts Prospero's rule over Miranda, Milan and the Island with Sycorax's mothering of Caliban: making Prospero into Prospera turns the story into something else entirely. Still, I'm sure it will be worth seeing.
3 comments:
Never fear Vole. Some of us who have read the texts before lectures just don't like to shout about it. We already seem to be looked upon with incredulity for showing any interest at all in our chosen subject.
I enjoyed the play and the lecture immensely.
Thanks Graham, very kind of you. I knew you'd have read it.
I loved Julie Taymore's "Titus," so it'll be interesting to see if her "Tempest" is on par. I was already disappointed to see the computer-generated "magic" in the trailer, though.
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