Hooray!! I'll be cheering you on all the way from up here. And if you get stuck for whatever reason - tho I really don't think you will - I'll be happy to chat and try and find answers.
Btw, this Arkangel audio production really is excellent. :D
Hah. ^^ That ^^ would have been pretty much my first question, too! :)
You're definitely going in on a high note, though. And the comedy I recommended was "Much Ado About Nothing"! (Preferably followed by the Branagh movie version. It's not perfect, but there's much to love about it ... particularly Emma Thompson as Beatrice.)
Yeah, so I gather, ... I can't say I look forward to it. All the better to know that you recommend Much Ado. I'll kept that for after Merry Wives....hopefully it will help to expunge all memories of Falstaff. I really don't like him.
I didn't, either, *until* I saw him played by Antony Sher in the 2016 RSC Henry IV double bill. Primarily because Sher did NOT play him for laughs -- which considerably changed my perspective; even to the point that I ended up buying Sher's book on the experience, "The Year of the Fat Knight". It's a tremendous read, even more so, obviously, if you've seen the end product in live performance, but enormously instructive even just taken on its own. Sher, incidentally, initially didn't want to accept the part when Doran asked him about it -- he felt it wasn't for him. Having seen him in the role, I very much beg to differ ... just *because* he's the first actor who actually made the part make sense for me. (Well, him and that tiny snippet in Henry V actually taken from H IV, part 2, which as used in the movie, however, still spoke way more to the character of Henry V than that of Falstaff.)
It is much my preferred way of "reading" the plays, only because I like to see the text, but also like to hear the rhythms spoken aloud. Watching the plays performed adds another dimension, of course, but it's also something quite different. As much as I love watching the plays, I can't watch and read at the same time. So, text+audio and then the performance is what works best for me.
Re - Falstaff & Sher. I bet Sher was excellent. If I see that performance anywhere I'll make sure to watch it.
I've got Sher lined up King Lear .... and I have also a dvd of the Sher/Walters Macbeth that I am looking forward to. ;)
If Falstaff works when he is played as something other than the intended funny man, then isn't it weird that he seems to have been written as the butt of jokes?
Re: Falstaff: That's just it -- he hasn't necessarily been written that way, or rather, there's a point beyond the jokes to be made in those scenes (if only you see it -- and it definitely took me until the Doran / Sher production to see it). The RSC production is available on DVD; I'm sure you'll be able to get a hold of it somewhere ... or, well, you would be under normal circumstances.
That said, he really is much more the butt of everybody's jokes in "Merry Wives" ... or at least, I've yet to see a production of *that* play where he's not. But then, that one is supposed to be a comedy ...
But maybe that is part of the problem I have with Falstaff, because there are serious scenes in H IV, particularly in Part 2, that are poignant - essentially everything between Hal and John leading up to the "I know thee not", and some of the scenes where Falstaff cannot pay his rent etc. because he has neither land (despite being a knight), nor trade, nor skill from which to derive an income, which even in Will's day must have been a strange situation. And more of course...
I think the library may have the dvd, but that is closed, and to be honest I am really not invested enough in either parts of Henry IV nor Falstaff to go and buy the dvd myself.
Yes, that's part of the point Sher and Doran made -- Falstaff is really rather a sad figure, all told, and not playing him for laughs really gets that point across (plus the fact that he's very aware of the whole situation, at least the way Sher played him). I get you won't buying the DVDs ... I wouldn't have gone near them, either (neither buying nor renting) without having seen the whole thing live first.
Btw, this Arkangel audio production really is excellent. :D
I´m just about to meet Lady Macbeth. I´m excited.
You're definitely going in on a high note, though. And the comedy I recommended was "Much Ado About Nothing"! (Preferably followed by the Branagh movie version. It's not perfect, but there's much to love about it ... particularly Emma Thompson as Beatrice.)
I really loved listening to Macbeth while reading the play alongside. I think I will do that for every Shakespeare from now on.
I've got Sher lined up King Lear .... and I have also a dvd of the Sher/Walters Macbeth that I am looking forward to. ;)
If Falstaff works when he is played as something other than the intended funny man, then isn't it weird that he seems to have been written as the butt of jokes?
That said, he really is much more the butt of everybody's jokes in "Merry Wives" ... or at least, I've yet to see a production of *that* play where he's not. But then, that one is supposed to be a comedy ...
I think the library may have the dvd, but that is closed, and to be honest I am really not invested enough in either parts of Henry IV nor Falstaff to go and buy the dvd myself.