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Shakespeare and Excess
"Shakespeare and Excess" was the theme of the annual congress of the SFS - the French Shakespeare Society. That's where I met Brian Cox, people. Who is an amazing person, on top of a fantastic actor, I cannot stress this enough. (Notice how I'm not capslocking? Go me.)
There were talks, lots of talks, more or less interesting, by more or less charismatic speakers. René Girard (quite a star among Shakespeare scholars) was supposed to give a talk on Romeo and Juliet, but was unable to fly over for health reasons and consequently somebody else read the paper he forwarded. As for other celebrities, we got a few actors from the production of Cymbeline currently playing in Sceaux, the director of the Midsummer Night's Dream that's also playing these days, and, of course, Brian Cox.
Brian Cox is not just talented, he's also wonderful, lovely, funny, giving, and not at all snobbish. Brian Cox has that same voice of his I do so love to hear in real life. Brian Cox is everything but a snobbish prat. Brian Cox is wonderful. And Brian Cox recommends the book The Reckoning is based on, "Mystery Play". Brian Cox says it has a much wider range than the film managed. Brian Cox mentioned Deadwood during his talk, and that gives him a lot of points in my book. Brian Cox would like to play Othello. Brian Cox knows what an apostrophe is.
Now, for theone few of you on the flist who care about Shakespeare, here are the talks I went to and took substantial notes on. Just say the word, and I'll type up my notes and get them to you and then we can chat Shakespeare a lot. It's a bit insane how much I enjoyed myself. Three days of Shakespeare classes and it seriously kicked ass. I embrace my scholarly geek fully. Anyway, the talks!
- René Girard's paper The Passionate Oxymoron - on the stylistic excesses of Romeo and Juliet. Which in fact means that he takes his theory of mimetic desire and sees if it applies to the so-called true love of the two star-cross'd kids. Fascinating, but then again I have a thing for Girard.
- Michèle Willems' paper on the reception of Shakespeare in France - Excess vs. Good Taste; the reception of Gilles-Shakespeare from Voltaire to Hugo. Far from my favourite paper.
- A very few notes on Ton Hoenselaars' paper Azincourt Revisited. This deals with European Shakespeare, as in the study of the relation between Shakespeare and European identity. Civilisation more than literature. However, if you're interested in this branch of study, go visit the site of the European Shakespeare Research Association: http://www.um.es/shakespeare/esra/
- Josée Nuyts-Giornal's paper on 'Images of Excess: Shakespeare and the visual art of the Northern countries'. Although notes on this would not be that helpful, as I do not have the slides she showed us to illustrate her work.
- Estelle Rivier's paper on Excess in the Art of Scenographic Representation, which took a look at the stagings from Victorian times through the XXth century. Very interesting, imho, but then again I'm all about theatre.
- Yan Brailowsky's paper on Julius Caesar - From anecdotes to interpretative frenzy: figures of excess in Julius Caesar. Fascinating! About how the gods are always brought up but never specificaly referred to, and what to make of the auguries, and the lupercal festivals, and and and. Fas-ci-na-ting. One of my favourite talks.
- François Laroque's paper on The Figures of Excess in Antony and Cleopatra. Not quite as wonderful as the previous one, but if you like the play... The speaker wasn't as charismatic, so my notes aren't nearly as plentiful.
- Sarah Hatchuel's paper on "Overflowing the measure", Antony and Cleopatra on screen: from visual abundance to an excess of images? Quite fascinating as well, although I meant to corner her and ask her if she'd ever had a look at Rome and never managed. Instead, her paper focuses mostly on Charlton Helston's 1971 "Antony and Cleopatra" and Mankiewicz's 1963 "Cleopatra". It's more about how to bring their story to screen, and the relation between that and the Shakespeare play.
- Peter Holland's paper on "Musty Superfluity", Coriolanus and the remains of excess. I've never read the play (or maybe once, I think, maybe, and promptly forgot it), but I still found it quite interesting. It exposes the excesses in Coriolanus and then focuses on how they are expulsed, vented, what happens to the waste.
- Pierre Iselin's paper on "If music be the food of love, play on / Give me excess of it." From excess to intoxication: reflexions on the musical posology in Twelfth Night. Quite an interesting paper on the complex relation of Elizabethans to music, and how it relates to its place in Twelfth Night.
- Gisèle Venet's paper on Falstaff, from the "stuffed deer" to the "doublet padded with straw". I took very few notes on this one, as I did not find it all that terribly interesting. There were a few good points, however, about Falstaff's nature and role.
- Michael Hattaway's paper on Falstaff and Excess: Morality and Structure. A much more compelling talk, if only because that man rocks at reading Shakespeare. (He even took on a Cockney accent to read Doll's part.) A paper that heavily relies on quotes, and is quite well articulated, and an approach to Falstaff I entirely preferred to the previous one.
- Selima Lejri's paper on Dionysism and Diabolism: Macbeth and excess. I missed the first half of the talk, but what I did catch was quite interesting, about madness, and Dionysian frenzy.
- Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin's paper on Honey and bile: excesses of language in Timon of Athens. I've never read Timon, and yet I was fascinated by the charisma of the speaker, and completely taken in by her demonstration, which centers around the view the Elizabethans had of the mouth/tongue, and how everything in Timon is about this organ, until he himself eventually becomes nothing but this mouth, as he regurgitates all the flattery he had previously swallowed.
So this probably won't interest anybody but me. Oh well!
There were talks, lots of talks, more or less interesting, by more or less charismatic speakers. René Girard (quite a star among Shakespeare scholars) was supposed to give a talk on Romeo and Juliet, but was unable to fly over for health reasons and consequently somebody else read the paper he forwarded. As for other celebrities, we got a few actors from the production of Cymbeline currently playing in Sceaux, the director of the Midsummer Night's Dream that's also playing these days, and, of course, Brian Cox.
Brian Cox is not just talented, he's also wonderful, lovely, funny, giving, and not at all snobbish. Brian Cox has that same voice of his I do so love to hear in real life. Brian Cox is everything but a snobbish prat. Brian Cox is wonderful. And Brian Cox recommends the book The Reckoning is based on, "Mystery Play". Brian Cox says it has a much wider range than the film managed. Brian Cox mentioned Deadwood during his talk, and that gives him a lot of points in my book. Brian Cox would like to play Othello. Brian Cox knows what an apostrophe is.
Now, for the
- René Girard's paper The Passionate Oxymoron - on the stylistic excesses of Romeo and Juliet. Which in fact means that he takes his theory of mimetic desire and sees if it applies to the so-called true love of the two star-cross'd kids. Fascinating, but then again I have a thing for Girard.
- Michèle Willems' paper on the reception of Shakespeare in France - Excess vs. Good Taste; the reception of Gilles-Shakespeare from Voltaire to Hugo. Far from my favourite paper.
- A very few notes on Ton Hoenselaars' paper Azincourt Revisited. This deals with European Shakespeare, as in the study of the relation between Shakespeare and European identity. Civilisation more than literature. However, if you're interested in this branch of study, go visit the site of the European Shakespeare Research Association: http://www.um.es/shakespeare/esra/
- Josée Nuyts-Giornal's paper on 'Images of Excess: Shakespeare and the visual art of the Northern countries'. Although notes on this would not be that helpful, as I do not have the slides she showed us to illustrate her work.
- Estelle Rivier's paper on Excess in the Art of Scenographic Representation, which took a look at the stagings from Victorian times through the XXth century. Very interesting, imho, but then again I'm all about theatre.
- Yan Brailowsky's paper on Julius Caesar - From anecdotes to interpretative frenzy: figures of excess in Julius Caesar. Fascinating! About how the gods are always brought up but never specificaly referred to, and what to make of the auguries, and the lupercal festivals, and and and. Fas-ci-na-ting. One of my favourite talks.
- François Laroque's paper on The Figures of Excess in Antony and Cleopatra. Not quite as wonderful as the previous one, but if you like the play... The speaker wasn't as charismatic, so my notes aren't nearly as plentiful.
- Sarah Hatchuel's paper on "Overflowing the measure", Antony and Cleopatra on screen: from visual abundance to an excess of images? Quite fascinating as well, although I meant to corner her and ask her if she'd ever had a look at Rome and never managed. Instead, her paper focuses mostly on Charlton Helston's 1971 "Antony and Cleopatra" and Mankiewicz's 1963 "Cleopatra". It's more about how to bring their story to screen, and the relation between that and the Shakespeare play.
- Peter Holland's paper on "Musty Superfluity", Coriolanus and the remains of excess. I've never read the play (or maybe once, I think, maybe, and promptly forgot it), but I still found it quite interesting. It exposes the excesses in Coriolanus and then focuses on how they are expulsed, vented, what happens to the waste.
- Pierre Iselin's paper on "If music be the food of love, play on / Give me excess of it." From excess to intoxication: reflexions on the musical posology in Twelfth Night. Quite an interesting paper on the complex relation of Elizabethans to music, and how it relates to its place in Twelfth Night.
- Gisèle Venet's paper on Falstaff, from the "stuffed deer" to the "doublet padded with straw". I took very few notes on this one, as I did not find it all that terribly interesting. There were a few good points, however, about Falstaff's nature and role.
- Michael Hattaway's paper on Falstaff and Excess: Morality and Structure. A much more compelling talk, if only because that man rocks at reading Shakespeare. (He even took on a Cockney accent to read Doll's part.) A paper that heavily relies on quotes, and is quite well articulated, and an approach to Falstaff I entirely preferred to the previous one.
- Selima Lejri's paper on Dionysism and Diabolism: Macbeth and excess. I missed the first half of the talk, but what I did catch was quite interesting, about madness, and Dionysian frenzy.
- Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin's paper on Honey and bile: excesses of language in Timon of Athens. I've never read Timon, and yet I was fascinated by the charisma of the speaker, and completely taken in by her demonstration, which centers around the view the Elizabethans had of the mouth/tongue, and how everything in Timon is about this organ, until he himself eventually becomes nothing but this mouth, as he regurgitates all the flattery he had previously swallowed.
So this probably won't interest anybody but me. Oh well!
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Awww...
Brian Cox recommends the book The Reckoning is based on
Um, you mean "Morality Play"?
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I need to read more Shakespeare. (and I don't know who Brian Cox is)
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You so need to. Everybody needs to. Including me. Hee!
Brian Cox (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004051/). You just don't know you know him, but you know him from somewhere. You have to. Everybody does.
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Oh yes, I've seen... one movie I think ! ^^;
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I've never read Timon of Athens either, and that talk you mentioned sounds interesting. Ah, it's been so long since I read any Shakespeare that wasn't just for teaching reasons. In fact, it's been a long time since I read anything.
*kicks reading muse up its arse*
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I'm in the middle of typing up the Girard, I'll get on Timon afterwards. I LOVE SHAKESPEARE DISCUSSION oh god I'm such a geek. *squishes*