Discussion Question #3

[Madison]

William Shakespeare

Is Helen just a fool for love, or is she just a gold digging social climber?

[Linda R,]

I watched two productions of this play on DVD. One was produced by the BBC and Time-Life Films is a dark and serious play in which all the lines are played as read straight forward.

The second was produced by The Globe Theatre on Screen with Sam Crane as Bertram, Ellie Piercy as Helena and Janie Dee as a wonderful Countess of Roussillon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLBY9...

In the Globe production the first scene of the first act, when the countess tells Helena to “go to” she slaps her. This makes the action different from what the words seem to say. When Helena begs a goodbye kiss from Bertram after the wedding, he plants a sensuous whopper on her lips. The actors are implying that there is more to the attraction between Helena and Bertram than the words on the page suggest. This production is comic and delightful and it’s meaning is so much different from the way the BBC acted the same play.

We need to remember that Shakespeare did not write for the page but for the stage. So much of communication is physical language. The whole tenor of the play can be changed by how the actors deliver the lines and accompany that with action.

The BBC version, like reading it straight from the page, makes this a tragedy where Helena is a manipulative gold digger and Bertram a hapless, and foolish dupe. But in the Globe production, the comic elements of all the characters are emphasized. Parolles is played as comic, as is the Fool. The feeling is light hearted and the impression is that Bertram is in love with Helena, but allowing pride of position to get in the way of making her his wife and Helena proves to be smart enough to overcome his rediculous objections. After all she has his mother’s blessings as well as the Kings.

So I say whether All’s Well That End’s Well is a comedy or a mixed tragedy depends not on what the playwright wrote, but on what the director does with the production. Only half of the story is on the page.

[Madison]

I agree that what the actors do on stage can make a big difference in how you feel about characters and the play in general.

I'm going to have to watch a production or two. I've never seen it performed.

I think Shakespeare would be appalled that we make students read his plays.

[Linda R,]

When I first started reading Shakespeare, in high school, I had so much trouble with the arcane language that I had trouble understanding the play. Then I went to a Shakespeare on Film Festival and watched Laurence Olivier's performance. That is when I began to love the language. Now that I am older, and arcane myself, I enjoy reading the plays first, but I always watch a performance afterward. If I can I watch two. Then I can really appreciate the bard's writing. With youtube there is usually at least one performance available online, but I borrow DVD's from my library too. And of course there is always Amazon videos which has the latest movie production.

[Madison]

I never had an problem understanding Shakespeare for some reason. If I'm going to see a production I usually read the play first. I think we get so much more out of seeing the plays performed.

A couple of years ago I was going to see a production of Coriolanus so I read the play for the first time. I didn't like it. I didn't like the main character, Coriolanus, and I didn't care what happened to him. When I went to the play I understood more of where the character was coming from and I was a little sad at the end.

I think the plays should be read but I don't think a reading should be the only way students experience the plays.