My muse led me many places recently on a research trip regarding
Shakespeare and his plays.
Suppose
a future archeologists in five hundred years come across a DVD collection of
cartoons among ruins, mostly Disney stuff, and in the beginning phase of
understanding of the cartoon genre, where Snow White, Cinderella, Fantasia get
lumped together with Shrek and
other minor works like Popeye the Sailor and Bugs Bunny and let’s not forget
Daffy Duck.
The burning questions of scholars in the future, not familiar with
cartoons for hundreds of years since the collapse of civilization in the late
21st century might be – Who really wrote Disney? – this body of
cartoonic art and entertainment.
That
is a good question. Over time, analysis and opinion will render no definitive
answer unless someone digs up a download on DVD of Wikipedia on the topic of
Cinema of ancient mankind.
In
a certain niche capacity for comparison, Walt Disney had over 650 credits for
producer, 125 credits as actor, mostly as a voice, and 11 credits as writer.
That
more than anything, Disney is manager, Disney is Producer. He is author of the
finished work whether his ideas were ever actually written down on paper on in
a word processor etc.
Ben
Jonson in the First Folio names William Shakespeare as author of the works in
that folio. For lack of a better word or understanding of the times, author is
as good a word as any in a limited lexicon.
If
anything I believe that Shakespeare started out holding a spear in the
background of some obscure theatre of the late Elizabethan period. He also
depending on his youthful build and stance played some female roles in theatre,
when it was illegal for anybody but men to act upon a stage.
I
think that being in a female role or a usual spear holding minor supporting role would give a young actor a unique vantage point along with a lyric ear or a good memory for an instant or long standing analysis of the
best actors on stage in what he saw up close and personal both on stage and behind stage as well.
And there are the teaching moments where a good actor or manager or producer
gives valuable tips on how to improve the delivery of the product.
That
Shakespeare’s last will and testament does not make mention of the plays is
reflected more in the lack of the concept of copyright laws equal to assets or
creative abstract property, an idea that did not take hold until the Victorian
age.
That if you have the experience of Bill Shakespeare, how do you leave your
knowledge and experience in a will to heirs that have no use of it or
understand it. That to produce and make a play, gather the actors, rent the
theatre, make the costumes, hire the writer or writers, re-writers, is the person who will
make the hog’s share of the money take from the box office along with credit for the whole of the production and or performance.
That
and I have to think that in a time with expensive paper that much of what was
in the portfolio was likely put down on paper for the first time from the oral
tradition of some actors, some of whom may not have been able to read and write that
well.
And over time, the memory of lines might mutate or even improve with the
input of newer younger actors talking the same lines and delivering them in a
way that gets reaction from an audience every time they are delivered. That and
the lyric ear of an actor who may actually change and add great beauty to the existing
lines and as finally recorded.
I
cannot help but think how the King James Bible of the same age was a work of
dozens of translators and theologians but it is packaged under the title and or
authorship? of King James.
An
excellent article here below citing a debate of sorts between director Trevor
Nunn and actor Mark Rylance on who really wrote one part of Shakespeare.
.
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