Shakespearean adaptations became a whole lot better once directors & dramaturges started allowing the possibility that most of these roles are contemptuous — that the merchants, nobles, & machiavells they depict are fooling no one. They're role models for an empire developing around his ears: gauche, unprincipled, power-hungry, amoral but also so hungry for justifcation they'd see Shakes or Jonson or Webster & say "that guy gets it, give him an endowment."
Curses upon the tribe of English teachers for making us read these plays straight, patter-faced & plither'd...
An excellent review both of the play and the interpretation of the play. The Harold Bloom I knew (sitting in the auditorium while he labored to make us hippies appreciate Elizabethan theater) would approve - he wanted engagement, damn it, with ancient works! But now you get back to the news of the day: what will headliner Victor Orban say at CPAC and how will Dreher contain himself?
" Not really my cuppa. You know? Shylock and Portia were decent. There"'s some good laughs. The rest of the characters were stupid and racist as fuck. Mostly dogshit to be honest. "
In a pub just up from the Globe Theatre
April 1605 -
" What did you think.?"
"I'll be honest. I kept waiting for someone to take a pound of flesh. I almost fell asleep in the second act.
That Portia was a bad bitch though ."
" Shylock was pretty cool considering his -uh- background.If jew know what I mean .( hearty laughter) I'll tell you what. No way that Antonio guy wasn't queer for that clown Bassanio.".
I really enjoyed the street level Shakespeare review! There have been way too many 4 dollar words applied to the subject over the centurys , when phrases like "bad ass," or : Funny as fuck," do a better job describing the plays.
The first Shakespeare I saw live was Two Gentlemen of Verona and I thought it was funny AF.
My date was a theater major she thought it was funny I was so surprised it was so enjoyably accessible. She figured Shakespeare's plays were the Dynasty/Dallas entertainments of their day . That's why somebody gets knifed every 3 and a half minutes.
That's why we love Harold Bloom. We can understand what he's talking about. Bloom on" Blood Meridian "changed my life.
This—“it is an earned inversion — it applies the putative morality of the play to destroy it. I mean, fuck these people, they don’t deserve a happy ending, and our time is entitled to talk back to theirs”—is as insightful and as radical a claim as anything Bloom ever wrote.
Great stuff as always, Roy. You neatly summed up an argument I heard Jim Shapiro make years ago for why we should still see or read MoV, hateful warts and all.
I dipped briefly into the comments of that one review Roy referenced—the “cancel” one—and skimming three comments was enough. The amount of throat-clearing and shirt-tucking was off-putting. And the reflexive, vapid use of “WOKE” to mean “criticism of anything I like” is so damn stupid and childish, the minute I hear it I know it’s time to leave. (“But I *like* anti-semitism! How dare you bring your woke criticism of it here!”)
Goddammit, Edroso, why has nobody hired you to write criticism for the New Yorker?
And I don’t mean the diminished realexistierender New Yorker of the Tina-Brown-and-After era, I mean the full-on Harold Ross platonic-ideal New Yorker.
Although I’ve never seen it produced, I studied Marlowe’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘢 in school half a century ago, and boy-howdy, compared to its derangedly villainous protagonist, Shakespeare’s Shylock could have stepped out of the pages of a glossy B’nai B’rith brochure.
We had a long conversation last night with a friend of ours who is a theater expert and scholar of English lit. (retired head of the English Dept. of a nearby university). He saw the production about a week ago and while he was a bit put off by the thematic reset he finished by saying "I have to admit I was never bored."
We were forced to read that dreck Jr. High School, and I refused. Mostly because nobody could give me an answer when I asked, “What’s so GREAT about him?”
I explained that I didn’t relate to it, and that I’d rather read something by a Black woman. Thankfully, this was during the progressive ‘70s, and I was getting the best suburban education possible, thanks to the high taxes my parents were paying.
When in High School we were assigned the same standard works, and again i refused.
My fabulous English teacher, Mr. Porambo, who I loved, asked me why I would deny myself so much greatness.
I asked him if he read Iceberg Slim. He said no, then I asked him the same thing.
“Touché Durant - you get an automatic A for the class!”
I gave him my copy of the book. He read it, and while giving it back he said, “Thank you for the privilege of that education.”
He died a few year ago, and I was asked by his son to write and read a eulogy at his funeral, because he put that in his will. Needless to say, his family and assorted Klan member friends were gobsmacked…his son LOVED IT.
He was a cool dude, for a cranky, Preppy, uptight old White guy.
Shakespearean adaptations became a whole lot better once directors & dramaturges started allowing the possibility that most of these roles are contemptuous — that the merchants, nobles, & machiavells they depict are fooling no one. They're role models for an empire developing around his ears: gauche, unprincipled, power-hungry, amoral but also so hungry for justifcation they'd see Shakes or Jonson or Webster & say "that guy gets it, give him an endowment."
Curses upon the tribe of English teachers for making us read these plays straight, patter-faced & plither'd...
An excellent review both of the play and the interpretation of the play. The Harold Bloom I knew (sitting in the auditorium while he labored to make us hippies appreciate Elizabethan theater) would approve - he wanted engagement, damn it, with ancient works! But now you get back to the news of the day: what will headliner Victor Orban say at CPAC and how will Dreher contain himself?
Outside a theatre in Washington, April 2022-
"How did you enjoy the play, Mr.Rosso?"
" Not really my cuppa. You know? Shylock and Portia were decent. There"'s some good laughs. The rest of the characters were stupid and racist as fuck. Mostly dogshit to be honest. "
In a pub just up from the Globe Theatre
April 1605 -
" What did you think.?"
"I'll be honest. I kept waiting for someone to take a pound of flesh. I almost fell asleep in the second act.
That Portia was a bad bitch though ."
" Shylock was pretty cool considering his -uh- background.If jew know what I mean .( hearty laughter) I'll tell you what. No way that Antonio guy wasn't queer for that clown Bassanio.".
I really enjoyed the street level Shakespeare review! There have been way too many 4 dollar words applied to the subject over the centurys , when phrases like "bad ass," or : Funny as fuck," do a better job describing the plays.
The first Shakespeare I saw live was Two Gentlemen of Verona and I thought it was funny AF.
My date was a theater major she thought it was funny I was so surprised it was so enjoyably accessible. She figured Shakespeare's plays were the Dynasty/Dallas entertainments of their day . That's why somebody gets knifed every 3 and a half minutes.
That's why we love Harold Bloom. We can understand what he's talking about. Bloom on" Blood Meridian "changed my life.
This—“it is an earned inversion — it applies the putative morality of the play to destroy it. I mean, fuck these people, they don’t deserve a happy ending, and our time is entitled to talk back to theirs”—is as insightful and as radical a claim as anything Bloom ever wrote.
Great stuff as always, Roy. You neatly summed up an argument I heard Jim Shapiro make years ago for why we should still see or read MoV, hateful warts and all.
I dipped briefly into the comments of that one review Roy referenced—the “cancel” one—and skimming three comments was enough. The amount of throat-clearing and shirt-tucking was off-putting. And the reflexive, vapid use of “WOKE” to mean “criticism of anything I like” is so damn stupid and childish, the minute I hear it I know it’s time to leave. (“But I *like* anti-semitism! How dare you bring your woke criticism of it here!”)
Goddammit, Edroso, why has nobody hired you to write criticism for the New Yorker?
And I don’t mean the diminished realexistierender New Yorker of the Tina-Brown-and-After era, I mean the full-on Harold Ross platonic-ideal New Yorker.
Although I’ve never seen it produced, I studied Marlowe’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘢 in school half a century ago, and boy-howdy, compared to its derangedly villainous protagonist, Shakespeare’s Shylock could have stepped out of the pages of a glossy B’nai B’rith brochure.
Well, you certainly said a bardful in this!
Thanks for this, I was very curious about the production and really appreciate your insights!
Hey all –
We had a long conversation last night with a friend of ours who is a theater expert and scholar of English lit. (retired head of the English Dept. of a nearby university). He saw the production about a week ago and while he was a bit put off by the thematic reset he finished by saying "I have to admit I was never bored."
Wow, reruns already?!?! It's not even May!
Roy--somehow the Venetians piece got emailed again!
Shakespeare, oh barf.
We were forced to read that dreck Jr. High School, and I refused. Mostly because nobody could give me an answer when I asked, “What’s so GREAT about him?”
I explained that I didn’t relate to it, and that I’d rather read something by a Black woman. Thankfully, this was during the progressive ‘70s, and I was getting the best suburban education possible, thanks to the high taxes my parents were paying.
When in High School we were assigned the same standard works, and again i refused.
My fabulous English teacher, Mr. Porambo, who I loved, asked me why I would deny myself so much greatness.
I asked him if he read Iceberg Slim. He said no, then I asked him the same thing.
“Touché Durant - you get an automatic A for the class!”
I gave him my copy of the book. He read it, and while giving it back he said, “Thank you for the privilege of that education.”
He died a few year ago, and I was asked by his son to write and read a eulogy at his funeral, because he put that in his will. Needless to say, his family and assorted Klan member friends were gobsmacked…his son LOVED IT.
He was a cool dude, for a cranky, Preppy, uptight old White guy.