--- Betty Ragan ragan@sdc.org wrote: .
After all, to take your Shakespeare example, if Shakespeare *had*
left more in the way of notes
as to what he intended, there would be a lot more
agreement as to how his
plays should be performed.
And I suspect the theater would probably be much poorer for it...
Unlikely, given that even the most cursory examination of the work of Shakespeare as compared to his contempories (even those great or nearly great in thier own right, such as Ford, Webster, Middleton) suggests, in fact more or less confirms, that the plays are written to *be* interpreted. There is a looseness built deliberately into them that allows a director leeway with many aspects of staging and performance. Compared to Middleton or Marlowe who excercise far more control over thier text (down to stage directions, suggestions of emphasis etc) Shakespeare seems to positively revel in the multifaceted.
wilsonfisk2@yahoo.com
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