Technically the first would be Macbeth, although it was abridged and done by the year above me in primary school (so they'd be about 10). Then I went on to play Titania at the age of 10 (last year of primary school, we always did a Shakespeare play).
Then I saw Titus Andronicus in Japanese...the first straight professional Shakespeare performance I saw was Measure for Measure.
I saw Romeo and Juliet when I was nine or ten. I was told beforehand that it was a cheap production, but the fact that it lacked a budget didn't mean it lacked talent or effort. It was well done and served to turn me on for the rest of my life.
X
He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot. ~ Douglas Adams
I think I can say that most of the anglophone world watched some horribly minced version of R&J or the Dream at nine or ten. The first "real" production I witnessed was the first Shakespeare production in which I acted. A gloriously onerous run of 'King Lear', unabridged. I was 11 or 12.
Please, tell me you did not play the part of Lear? You sound like a young Edmond to me. ' God stand up for ', never mind. Seriously though, the first play I saw live was the 'Merchant of Venice'. The thing that struck me was it was never in the true Shakespearian context. Men originally played the part of females and even more confusingly, as Will points out in Hamlet, Ben Johnson only used adolescent boys in his plays. My point being that it is difficult to recreate the original plays in context. This may be heretical, but perhaps it is better just to read the plays and use your imagination, or recreate them properly.Originally Posted by Modigliani
Oh God, it was one of the greatest expereinces of my life, and yet it is so distantly locked inside my memory.
I was about six and we were going to go see Romeo and Juliet in the park at night. Oh it was so beautiful. I hardly understood much of it, but I was utterly entranced and fascinated.
I wrote a poem about it, but I lost it when my computer crashed.
The Moments of Dominion
That happen on the Soul
And leave it with a Discontent
Too exquisite — to tell —
-Emily Dickinson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVW8GCnr9-I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckGIvr6WVw4
Romeo and Juliet was the first one for me too, it seems to be a popular one with school groups.
Aha. Are you saying that I sound evil, arrogant and amoral?
In any case, no. The old fool himself is one of the few roles in 'King Lear' I have yet to portray. My first roles were the Gentleman-Knight (some of the best imagery in the play), the First Servant to Cornwall (O! I am slain!) and Burgundy (what a douche). I swear the play must be haunting me, because, years later, I did in fact play Edmund among a slew of others I won't take up space naming.
TANGENT! I wrote that quote on the floor of a cafe in a sculpture dedicated to chaos by a remote village in France once.
Last edited by Modigliani; 10-26-2009 at 01:01 AM.
I think the first proper, un-mangled Shakespeare I went to was a particularly wild rendition of Macbeth. It certainly got me interested!
"I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance. And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity- through him all things fall. Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity!" - Nietzsche
A professional production of King Lear, which I remember as being well done. I was seventeen and my literature class had just studied the play. My strongest memories: the final fight between Edmund and Edgar, and the fact that the Fool was conceived as a man who had lost both legs below the knee. He pushed himself around on a little cart, and after one scene, the wheels of the cart became stuck and he couldn't get himself offstage. He sat there a while struggling, until one of the actors realized he was still on stage and came back to help him. But of the great scenes and marvelous speeches I recall nothing . . . strange what the mind remembers.
Not at all, but that has got to be the finest definition of an artist it has been my pleasure to witness.
Macbeth I saw
“Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””
“If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.
Geez, I knew Will was universal but Kathmandu, you learn something new every day.
Last edited by jocky; 10-27-2009 at 10:44 PM. Reason: Rubbish syntax, continual spelling mistakes, textual misrepresentation, the list is endless.
Come on Danny boy, yer computer crashed, horse****. Queen Elizabeth: ' Will, how is Richard 11 going, you know the play about the overthrow of a legitimate monarch ? Will : ' Oh, mighty Queen, the candle went out at the critical moment, Essex has a lot to answer for: Queen: ' Will, you are not to be trusted, I command every intellectual of the age to take responsibility for your plays. Will : ' Madam, I bow to your superior knowledge, but please do not include Marlow, Raleigh, Bacon, James V1 etc. : Queen, ' I promise '.
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