Re: Dromio and Juliet
Matt Kozusko (mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu)
Tue, 03 Nov 1998 01:58:01 -0500
J J R wrote:
> I think the only reason Shakespeare didn't spend six
> minutes blowing the hell out of Verona in his original play was that he
> couldn't pull it off :)
Hell, son! Have a look at _Coriolanus_, or _Titus Andronicus_. And
while the facts are sketchy, it's probable that the Globe first burned
down as a result of canon fire in a performance of _H8_. Shakespeare's
gore and violence made Marlowe's ugliest moments--_Tamburlaine_ I & II
included--look like Sunday afternoons in Disney films.
In the end, though, I concede that the opening scene is a great
translation of the opening of the play (as far as I remember it).
Indeed, the urban gang warfare is the perfect 20th-century analogue for
the trouble in the play. And despite all proper inclinations to the
contrary, I love the way Tybalt says "peace? I hate the word."
> I have to Totally disagree with your belief that the actors didn't
> understand their lines. I thought they pretty generally nailed it. The
> delivery seemed pretty natural to me.
Somebody else also remarked that the actors sounded comfortable with the
lines. I thought they sounded like they had lemon wedges in the arses.
Mine's just a different perspective, though. I watched the movie most
recently with fourteen of my closest Shakespeare pals last summer at
Camp Shakespeare, and the concensus was that at least Benvolio should be
found and forced to swallow hot coals. And Mercutio...never was poor
Queen Mab so trampled. If they had done _Hamlet_, "to be or not to be"
would have been turned into a dream about hang gliding. We begin to see
where a director's interest in pathos encroaches on his sense of
integrity.
--
Matt Kozusko mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu