Word: shakespearance
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Tradition demands that amateur theatre groups at some point in their careers, produce a play by Shakespear. Actually, no other plays are quite so unsuited to non-professional treatment, because the Bard's familiar plots cannot divert audience attention from the actors' shortcomings. Each viewer is sure that he can--or has--played the role to something near amateur perfection. And heaven help the wretch who falls below this often exaggerated standard...
...Like Shakespear I possess a mulberry...
...than Robeson's voice. Certainly it is majestic, especially in the fight scenes, and its softness when talking about the "gentle Desdemona" is almost saccharine in its sweetness. Yet there is still the "singing" quality in Robeson's voice that, while it surely months Shakespear's poetry to perfection, detracts from the presentation of the lines by making the audience unsure whether Robeson is singing or speaking...
Those best qualified to judge thought him the master versemaker in English of his generation. He lived in a decaying palazzo in Rapallo, on the Mediterranean shore near Genoa. Of his own greatness Ezra Pound had no doubt; he named his son Homer Shakespear Pound, so the story went, "for the crescendo effect." Writers whom he had befriended included a grateful exile, James Joyce, and a sportsman, Ernest Hemingway. His letters, jaggedly typed, jumpy with execrations and wit, walloped out in enormous numbers, were avant-garde currency for 20 years...
...film versions of Shakespear, Mr. Huston has liked them all, especially "Rome and Juliet." He hands plaudits galore to Norma Shearer for her performance. He might film "Othello", if there is a public reaction for it. This play is adaptable for the screen, and many of the wars and battles alluded to could actually be shown. It "Othello", is well received, he plans to go ahead with "King Lear", the "Tempest" or "Macbeth...