When it comes to reading, I am definitely what you might call a completionist, and I’ve had the goal of reading every one of Shakespeare’s plays since I was in college. Haven’t made much progress, honestly. This has mostly resulted in me reading, seeing, and studying the ones I like over and over, and saying … Continue reading “Reading Shakespeare”
Tag: theater
“We catch our breath at the places where the breath was always caught.”
I was reunited last week, through happy collision on the library shelf, with Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love which is naturally posturingly brilliant. No one have I been more mouth-infected by than Stoppard save, perhaps, Beckett. One’s an aspiration, the other is a viral disease: it’s interesting to study and look at, but my … Continue reading ““We catch our breath at the places where the breath was always caught.””
Greek Theater Question
Here’s a question I don’t have an answer to: How did actors express emotion on stage in ancient Greek theater? This came up in part because I was reading Oedipus Rex and I realized I really don’t know anything at all about Greek prosody. I know absolutely nothing about the non-natural features of speech that were … Continue reading “Greek Theater Question”
Madcap Molière
One of the things I’ve noticed on my whirlwind tour of French theater, particularly in Molière, is that it really does seem like the thing we call humor has some sort of universal core. For example, on Sunday my insomniac double feature included Libeled Lady, which I really liked, and it’s just absolutely true that screwball comedies … Continue reading “Madcap Molière”
Reading Plays
As I was compelled to rid myself of a large number of dramatic works in my personal library, I resolved to read more theater this year which, for the most part, is something I’ve actually found really enriching. But I have just the damnedest time really reading plays. It’s easy for me to watch plays, … Continue reading “Reading Plays”