There is a place for us, somewhere . . .

Okay, okay, I just had a (for me) holy experience: I just finished watching the 1961 film of West Side Story. I know, it's one of those films I should've seen long, long ago (if not in a land far away) and I have meant to for some time, but there are so many films to see, plays to attend, classical works to hear, books to read, visions to behold, and, well, roads to travel, that one can get downright boggled. But if one is to be perpetually distressed, better in this fashion than others.

What pressed me to view the film now was a wish to expose myself to "Shakespeare as musical." As mentioned in an earlier entry, one production of Twelfth Night I will be seeing will be staged as such. While West Side Story is more an adaption/ musical, I believed it still would begin to teach me how Shakespearean intersecting plotlines, themes, and characters (however translated) crop up in a world where individuals and groups express deepest sentiment in song and dance (plotlines, particularly, needing to be restructured to accommodate what is alternately known as the showcase, set piece, and - my favorite - number). My UNH mentor also recently suggested I might not only benefit from but enjoy the film, pressing me farther.

Now, if I were a religious man (particularly Jewish or Christian) I'd say it's a good thing God told all those Old Testament prophets exactly what to say to the Israelites after each grand appearance. In contrast, I am still awash in the experience of the holy and, frankly, at a loss for words. All I can truly say is that my theory panned out, I did gain insight into "Shakespeare as musical." My tongue and keyboard-hopping fingertips are only metaphorically bound from expressing precise examples. Thoughts to follow in the weeks to come!

I will, anyway, bring this film and a few others with me to London, if only because the authors of so many critical texts refer as (if not more) often to film productions as to those staged (I suspect the view is that film is a more fixed referent). To point, an article I read recently on the jazz-like rhythms of Twelfth Night referred as often to stage productions (and a few of these imagined) as to Trevor Nunn's film (the one with Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia). But, dagnabbit, I will only refer to these films to clarify an otherwise unclear argument, for illustration - my focus abroad will largely be on live performance (excepting recorded performances from recent history).

So I saw this Twelfth Night earlier today, too (it's been a day for movies, rainy and quiet). I didn't much like it. The only stand-out performance was Ben Kingsley's Feste (or Clown). Music was called upon much too much to generate, rather than enhance, mood (Kingsley's songs excepted). Other faults abounded. And anyway I've seen clips from it before and I thought I might not like it.

Why did I watch it, then? Well, because I might have liked it. But also, and primarily, as a test. Because I will be analyzing how cuts and transpositions of text affect performance, and because films of Shakespeare's plays so frequently cut and transpose, I thought I'd see how many I'd catch while seeing a new (for me) film. And boy, were there lots! (I watched the film without script in hand, a practice I will need to repeat in London, it being bad taste to watch a play with open script). About an hour in and I was a touch lost - so, so many alterations, but I caught most of the big ones and a number of the minor, too. Luckily, stage productions usually don't cut and transpose so darn much!

But, most importantly, the test was successful. I did catch many alterations and even formulated some thoughts on their effects, the (almost Victorian) domestication of Maria and the neutering of the curtain close threat of Malvolio being two key. (Any interested in what alterations did what comment and I'll comment back!)

I'm going to try to set up a couple polls or something like either right now or soon to learn what plays I'll be focussing on you all are familiar with. Basically I'm hoping to find out how much I can use my journal to inform you all on the progress of my research and to what extent I can go in-depth in my entries.

Six more days - well, considering the hour (note the fall in my prose's quality) - almost five! Yay! (And it looks like all you blogging IROPers will be almost halfway through your projects by the time I fly, sheesh! But anyway it's been great reading your blogs - very informative plus entertaining.)

Five more days, five more days!