When people say Shakespeare isn't relevant to modern life it's good to have people like Sir Ian around to prove them wrong:
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@me As an aside - Shakespeare's plays are still often performed - there are many good companies who have actors and directors who know how to make the old language and action comprehensible to modern ears and eyes.
Seeing Shakespeare performed, live on stage, is usually better than seeing it on video or film - There is an actor-audience interaction that occurs with live performances that is lost on film.
My own suggestion is that Shakespeare nay-sayers go to any of the many summer festivals.
My favorite company is Santa Cruz Shakespeare.
@karlauerbach as a former resident of Ashland, Oregon I can only agree about seeing Shakespeare performed live.
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@me My takeaway from this is you do not piss off Gandalf.
@benjamincox only now figuring this out?
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@benjamincox only now figuring this out?
@me Just nice to be reminded. If only everyone took notice.
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J jwcph@helvede.net shared this topic
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When people say Shakespeare isn't relevant to modern life it's good to have people like Sir Ian around to prove them wrong:
@me "And thus I clothe my naked villany in old odd ends, stolen forth from holy writ, and seem a saint when most I play the Devil", meaning "I'm an asshole but I pretend to be a pious Christian" - seems pretty timely as well...
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When people say Shakespeare isn't relevant to modern life it's good to have people like Sir Ian around to prove them wrong:
@me I'd happily buy tickets to Sir Ian reading the phone book.
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When people say Shakespeare isn't relevant to modern life it's good to have people like Sir Ian around to prove them wrong:
@me So good.
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When people say Shakespeare isn't relevant to modern life it's good to have people like Sir Ian around to prove them wrong:
@me I have no doubt that there are people out there who say that Shakespeare is irrelevant to modern life. I cannot imagine there is a single person who says that who has an actual argument to put behind the statement.
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When people say Shakespeare isn't relevant to modern life it's good to have people like Sir Ian around to prove them wrong:
@me
This is amazing. -
@me I have no doubt that there are people out there who say that Shakespeare is irrelevant to modern life. I cannot imagine there is a single person who says that who has an actual argument to put behind the statement.
@Amoshias the "arguments" that I've heard usually revolve around the language being difficult.
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@Amoshias the "arguments" that I've heard usually revolve around the language being difficult.
@me @Amoshias Well, it is. That doesn't make the things the language conveys irrelevant. But if it fails to conmvey it, I guess it does become irrelevant. English being my second language I find it too hard (more like impossible) to understand what he was trying to say. No idea how it is for somebody from Ebgland. I find it interesting how I couldn't tell you the exact and complete meaning of a single sentence in this video. But I do understand the overall thing. That doesn't work when I try to read Shakespear. So probabaly good acting helps.
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@me @Amoshias Well, it is. That doesn't make the things the language conveys irrelevant. But if it fails to conmvey it, I guess it does become irrelevant. English being my second language I find it too hard (more like impossible) to understand what he was trying to say. No idea how it is for somebody from Ebgland. I find it interesting how I couldn't tell you the exact and complete meaning of a single sentence in this video. But I do understand the overall thing. That doesn't work when I try to read Shakespear. So probabaly good acting helps.
@steeph @Amoshias part of it has to do with American culture - anything with an English accent can often be considered "high-falutin" by some, and Renaissance-era English especially so. There's also the reality that most of us are exposed to Shakespeare first on the written page, where tone and fluency can't be conveyed. Hearing it spoken by good actors is a totally different experience.
I was lucky to have an enthusiastic and effective Shakespeare teacher in high school. He and I could barely stand to be around one another due to personality issues, but he did manage to convey to me a love for the form.
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@me @Amoshias Well, it is. That doesn't make the things the language conveys irrelevant. But if it fails to conmvey it, I guess it does become irrelevant. English being my second language I find it too hard (more like impossible) to understand what he was trying to say. No idea how it is for somebody from Ebgland. I find it interesting how I couldn't tell you the exact and complete meaning of a single sentence in this video. But I do understand the overall thing. That doesn't work when I try to read Shakespear. So probabaly good acting helps.
@steeph @me I mean, by that token, everything that has ever been written in Chinese is not relevant to me, because I don't speak Chinese. people don't understand the tax code but I promise that it is relevant to them
I'm not necessarily trying to argue with you - I'm trying to get to heart of "what would someone actually MEAN by that, though, when saying Shakespeare isn't relevant?"
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@steeph @me I mean, by that token, everything that has ever been written in Chinese is not relevant to me, because I don't speak Chinese. people don't understand the tax code but I promise that it is relevant to them
I'm not necessarily trying to argue with you - I'm trying to get to heart of "what would someone actually MEAN by that, though, when saying Shakespeare isn't relevant?"
@Amoshias @me Yeah, it seems it could mean different things.
But how can you not speak Chinese in this day and age?! … jk. Who does?
Another way to put it is to say that I'm ignorant of what Shakespear's work means to me because I don't understand it and therefore I live with the assumption that it is meaningless to me.
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T tokeriis@helvede.net shared this topic
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When people say Shakespeare isn't relevant to modern life it's good to have people like Sir Ian around to prove them wrong:
@me Ian McKellen is a god of acting
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When people say Shakespeare isn't relevant to modern life it's good to have people like Sir Ian around to prove them wrong:
@me
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@me "And thus I clothe my naked villany in old odd ends, stolen forth from holy writ, and seem a saint when most I play the Devil", meaning "I'm an asshole but I pretend to be a pious Christian" - seems pretty timely as well...
@jwcph @me McKellen played that part too, as Richard III.
What I love about that line is it exemplifies an interesting device of Shakespeare's where he plays with consonants and vowels. Actors that are making sincere, honest invocations were given words heavy with vowel sounds to open their face and make them appear more child-like an innocent. Villains by contrast, were given speeches with more consonants to close the face and seem more sinister.
Why write "To sssseem a ssssaint," when he could have wrote "to appear pious"? Because the first makes you sound like a villainous snake.
