Don’t say Macbeth, or even quote that play, in a theater. Ever. Theater people believe it will bring disaster. In actual fact, Constantine Stanislavski, Orson Welles and Charlton Heston all suffered some catastrophe during or just after a production of “The Scottish Play.” In 1849, more than 30 New Yorkers were…
In Shakespeare’s Swan Song: The Tempest, was he saying goodbye to the theatre? SPEAKING AS SHAKESPEARE by Philippa Kelly, NapaShakes dramaturg Near the end of The Tempest, Prospero, former Duke of Milan and more recently commander of the unnamed island on which the play is set, says: the strong-based promontory Have I…
Our resident Dramaturg Dr. Philippa Kelly asks: WILL PASSION BRING OUT THE ASS IN YOU? The moment Bottom gets entangled as the object of Titania’s passion, he’s transformed into an ass (‘Oh Bottom, thou art translated.’) Does passion ‘translate’ people into their beastly selves, blunting their reason at the service of…
The Tumultuous Transformations of “The Green World”: A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an example of Shakespeare’s use of forested and wild settings referred to by scholars as the “Green World.” The principal characters converge in this Green World and, free of the constraints of the “Real World” can…
