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Any language that does not grow and change becomes a dead language. English is very much alive, but the writer with the greatest impact of an individual on the English language died in 1616. Sadly, many modern English-speaking people find Shakespeare as hard to understand as a foreign language.
I have a deep love and affection for Shakespeare. On an April 23 (traditional date of both Shakespeare’s birth and death) my beloved proposed to me. April 23 a year later, we got married. We each picked a sonnet to read instead of writing vows. (His #29. Mine #115. Look ‘em up!) Our music was “Prelude in G Major” by Bach, “The Firebird Suite” by Stravinsky and “As Time Goes By” by Herman Hupfeld. I wore an antique red silk Chinese wedding dress. The wedding was uniquely “Us.” We got a rousing standing ovation.
I am also a passionate defender of Shakespeare’s authorship. Anybody who says Shakespeare didn’t write Shakespeare better be prepared for an all-out war of words with me. I firmly believe that snobbery is behind the attempts to attribute Shakespeare’s genius to somebody else. The “candidates” have much higher rank and/or fancier educations than Shakespeare. The detractors insist that a man of Shakespeare’s background and schooling couldn’t have produced those plays and sonnets.
Consider three of the “candidates.” They’ll give you an idea of the sheer nincompoopery involved:
1. Christopher Marlowe, whose style and talent was closest to Shakespeare’s, KILLED IN 1593.
2. Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, DEAD IN 1604.
3. Sir Francis Bacon, who did outlive Shakespeare, was far too busy being a statesman-jurist-essayist-scientist-philosopher to write plays and sonnets which were completely different in style and content from his actual writing. And in an age where spelling was highly individual, his was consistently different from Shakespeare’s.
How many wonderful writers came from unlikely beginnings? The Gettysburg Address, widely regarded as one of the greatest speeches of all time, was written by a man born in a log cabin, who was mostly self-educated well into his teens. Charlotte Bronte, one of six children of a poor clergyman, only had a year of formal education, at an institution that inspired Lowood School in “Jane Eyre.” Joseph Conrad barely knew any English until he was an adult, but his command of the language in “The Heart of Darkness” and his other writing is superb.
One of the reasons that Shakespeare’s plays are such hard going for modern readers is that they are READING Shakespeare instead of SEEING and HEARING Shakespeare. His plays were never intended to be read, they were written for players to perform.
And this is my main argument in favor of Shakespeare’s authorship. He was working during a “Golden Age” of theatre in Britain. There were many plays written then, and quite a few of them were highly regarded at that time. Yet the only playwright from that “Golden Age” whose works are still frequently performed today all over the world is William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays continue to be performed because they are the work of a truly great writer who was also a player, so he had practical, in-depth knowledge of what worked on stage, and what didn’t. That vital working knowledge is missing from the résumés of the pretenders to Shakespeare’s throne.
Even watching a Shakespeare performance, there can be obstacles to our understanding. Some productions are so “reverent” they look stuffed and mounted. The pace is too slow. Modern productions often run between 15 and 30 minutes longer than the plays did in Shakespeare’s time. Remember, a large portion of his audience was standing in the middle of an unroofed ring -- their feet and the weather demanded a fast pace of play.
Shakespeare’s players didn’t have much time to learn their lines or rehearse, but they were working in the language of their time (although Shakespeare added to it considerably) in a company of actors who knew each other through and through.
Modern productions usually don’t have these advantages, and many American actors have little or no background in Shakespeare. If you only know “the Method,” Shakespeare will confound you. Watch Keanu Reeves and Michael Keaton in Kenneth Branagh’s film of “Much Ado About Nothing.” Reeves is lost. Keaton has it.
If the actor doesn’t understand the meaning of the words, the audience won’t either. So first the actor has to study the language. Then it gets harder – you have to put your trust in the work completely. Ideas both large and subtle, huge emotions AND silly jokes, puns and pratfalls -- you have to go big – not empty bombast, but a total commitment emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically.
Why are British actors so frequently cast as villains in today’s Hollywood movies? Playing Shakespeare gives you the confidence and skill to go all out in a role, and that’s something you especially need to play the villain.
There’s always something FUNNY, even in Shakespeare’s darkest plays, and modern productions sometimes miss the jokes, especially the word-play. He knew you had to change things up – a surfeit of tragedy OR comedy will soon break the bond with the audience. And worst of all, many modern productions lack the JOY in performing that was so much a part of Shakespeare’s theatre.
I’ll be off with my husband next week on Part 32 of our Honeymoon. “Decoding Shakespeare – Part II - Suit the Action to the Word” will appear on MOT on April 27.
Happy Birthday Will, wherever you are.
_________
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