All is well Judy thanks. Jessica has 2 kids! I'm really excited for you in this substack. And the opportunity to interact with you in this format is really something special for your troops. Big hug, Will
Thank you for this! I love bringing Vladimir and Estragon to The Banshees of Innisherin. The movie has a quality of timelessness and time-fullness and their friendship has both incredible specifity and a sort of mythological dimension. Waiting for Godot is such a rich point of comparison. 💚
Thanks for making the connection. I feel that Banshees of Innisherin is a special film. I think your diea is part of the reason. Their relationship is just so much bigger than then movie itself for me.
I agree! I think it’s an important film, subversive in the good way. By questioning our easy assumptions about friendship, it allows us to face our anxieties over the meaning of life. Like Waiting for Godot. Plus it’s funny. Also like Godot.
Yes Hamlet's schizophrenic hallucination seems a viable choice - except perhaps for that scene where Hamlet stabs Polonius (thinking its Claudius) behind the curtains - this seems unavoidably real life right? But this approach to Hamlet has some boundaries: Shakespeare's intention (and this inciting incident) are capable of a few choices. But, hallucination or not, the Ghost is a GHOST!
Godot on the other hand . . . we'll never know who's who or what's what ! We can subjectively make our own choices - but yours are just as good as mine (well, actually, yours would be much better).
That is fascinating and certainly helps a simple man with Godot. I was in a class when we did that exercise with Shakespeare. I kept my pedestrian opinions to myself, but I didn't find the exercise useful. My scene partner was a nice woman who kept grabbing my face in some inane interpretation that had nothing to do with the real characters or the play. I also wouldn't paint over a Picasso. Sure - the words may have universality - BUT THE PLAY, and THE CHARACTERS THE AUTHORS CREATED - are unique of course. When I played Godot scenes in your class, I researched too. I found a recording of Beckett himself talking about the Play. I heard him pronounce "Godot" so I know for sure how he says it (not goodoh)! But isn't the article you read, that Godot is born of Sam's anti-fascist activities - just another subjective interpretation? I mean - you can read practically anything into Godot. But Hamlet - I don't think so. You may remember I sent you a short report years ago when I saw Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in Godot on Broadway. It was truly spectacular. I'll never forget it. And my Saturdays mornings were often spent with Abbott and Costello when I was a kid - laughing and squirming around with joy. Thanks Judy.
I had a student once in a Hamlet class who insisted that a person who didn’t believe the Ghost was real was disqualified from working on Hamlet. And I guess I just disagree. Did Shakespeare believe in ghosts? Or did he think of the Ghost as a metaphor? Or could the appearance of the Ghost be a hallucination brought on by Hamlet’s schizophrenia? (I mean, even though teenage schizophrenia was not named or diagnosed in Shakespeare’s time, that doesn’t mean it didn’t exist.) OR--is it possible that ghosts (and witches) existed in Shakespeare’s time but not in our time?
I've seen Banshees 4 times so far and can't get enough. I simply posit that Art requires much more than somebody throwing something up on a wall, and people\audiences doing whatever they want with it. The acting exercises were of course very useful as training. Thank God for Judy and her exercises. Now - moving to the plays themselves - don't words have meaning? Shakespeare and McDonagh are great Artists - among the greatest ever. I think the Ghost was a ghost, and the other options are infinitely unlikely. With Beckett, anything is likely. And thus arguably meaningless.
OK let me try to supportn this wonderful substack and bumble forward humbly with this comment:
For me, true art is not 100% subjective. For me, art is comprised of the artist's skills and the artist intention. What happens when the viewer completely misses the artists intention, substituting the viewers own subjective interpretation? This is one diference between Shakespeare and Becket. Shakespeare writes with clear intentions. Becket has no boundaries and relies on the viewer to speculate about ambiguities.
Are you saying that my Masters Class exercise only worked with Beckett because Beckett, unlike Shakespeare, wrote without clear intentions? Actually I used Shakespeare all the time. One student pairing did the Hamlet & ghost scene like it was a zombie flick. Another two actors set the R&J balcony scene in a bar just after closing (with Juliet as the bartender and Romeo the guy who won’t leave). It was all meant to be illuminating of the universality of both these dramatists. BUT now I must add that I’ve read that Beckett wrote Godot with fairly clear intention born of his anti-fascist activities in France during Second World War. Of course he was also inspired by Abbott and Costello.
All is well Judy thanks. Jessica has 2 kids! I'm really excited for you in this substack. And the opportunity to interact with you in this format is really something special for your troops. Big hug, Will
Thank you for this! I love bringing Vladimir and Estragon to The Banshees of Innisherin. The movie has a quality of timelessness and time-fullness and their friendship has both incredible specifity and a sort of mythological dimension. Waiting for Godot is such a rich point of comparison. 💚
Thanks for this, Beth! I’m so pleased that you engage with this idea like I do! 💚
Thanks for making the connection. I feel that Banshees of Innisherin is a special film. I think your diea is part of the reason. Their relationship is just so much bigger than then movie itself for me.
I agree! I think it’s an important film, subversive in the good way. By questioning our easy assumptions about friendship, it allows us to face our anxieties over the meaning of life. Like Waiting for Godot. Plus it’s funny. Also like Godot.
Yes! I also think there's an interesting communal/political aspect to this illuminating central relationship. And yes, funny & dark. My faves! 💚
"Enter Ghost"
Possibly the greatest stage direction ever.
Yes Hamlet's schizophrenic hallucination seems a viable choice - except perhaps for that scene where Hamlet stabs Polonius (thinking its Claudius) behind the curtains - this seems unavoidably real life right? But this approach to Hamlet has some boundaries: Shakespeare's intention (and this inciting incident) are capable of a few choices. But, hallucination or not, the Ghost is a GHOST!
Godot on the other hand . . . we'll never know who's who or what's what ! We can subjectively make our own choices - but yours are just as good as mine (well, actually, yours would be much better).
That is fascinating and certainly helps a simple man with Godot. I was in a class when we did that exercise with Shakespeare. I kept my pedestrian opinions to myself, but I didn't find the exercise useful. My scene partner was a nice woman who kept grabbing my face in some inane interpretation that had nothing to do with the real characters or the play. I also wouldn't paint over a Picasso. Sure - the words may have universality - BUT THE PLAY, and THE CHARACTERS THE AUTHORS CREATED - are unique of course. When I played Godot scenes in your class, I researched too. I found a recording of Beckett himself talking about the Play. I heard him pronounce "Godot" so I know for sure how he says it (not goodoh)! But isn't the article you read, that Godot is born of Sam's anti-fascist activities - just another subjective interpretation? I mean - you can read practically anything into Godot. But Hamlet - I don't think so. You may remember I sent you a short report years ago when I saw Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in Godot on Broadway. It was truly spectacular. I'll never forget it. And my Saturdays mornings were often spent with Abbott and Costello when I was a kid - laughing and squirming around with joy. Thanks Judy.
I had a student once in a Hamlet class who insisted that a person who didn’t believe the Ghost was real was disqualified from working on Hamlet. And I guess I just disagree. Did Shakespeare believe in ghosts? Or did he think of the Ghost as a metaphor? Or could the appearance of the Ghost be a hallucination brought on by Hamlet’s schizophrenia? (I mean, even though teenage schizophrenia was not named or diagnosed in Shakespeare’s time, that doesn’t mean it didn’t exist.) OR--is it possible that ghosts (and witches) existed in Shakespeare’s time but not in our time?
I've seen Banshees 4 times so far and can't get enough. I simply posit that Art requires much more than somebody throwing something up on a wall, and people\audiences doing whatever they want with it. The acting exercises were of course very useful as training. Thank God for Judy and her exercises. Now - moving to the plays themselves - don't words have meaning? Shakespeare and McDonagh are great Artists - among the greatest ever. I think the Ghost was a ghost, and the other options are infinitely unlikely. With Beckett, anything is likely. And thus arguably meaningless.
Thanks for engaging. I know I’m a nerd about Beckett 🤓 His plays have deep personal meaning for me. It’s okay with me if you don’t feel the same way.
Hamlet is in his head.
Didi and Gogo are in Beckets head.
Hmmm. Thanks for reading. Hope all is well with you and your family!
OK let me try to supportn this wonderful substack and bumble forward humbly with this comment:
For me, true art is not 100% subjective. For me, art is comprised of the artist's skills and the artist intention. What happens when the viewer completely misses the artists intention, substituting the viewers own subjective interpretation? This is one diference between Shakespeare and Becket. Shakespeare writes with clear intentions. Becket has no boundaries and relies on the viewer to speculate about ambiguities.
Whew. . .
Thanks for engaging and supporting, Will!
Are you saying that my Masters Class exercise only worked with Beckett because Beckett, unlike Shakespeare, wrote without clear intentions? Actually I used Shakespeare all the time. One student pairing did the Hamlet & ghost scene like it was a zombie flick. Another two actors set the R&J balcony scene in a bar just after closing (with Juliet as the bartender and Romeo the guy who won’t leave). It was all meant to be illuminating of the universality of both these dramatists. BUT now I must add that I’ve read that Beckett wrote Godot with fairly clear intention born of his anti-fascist activities in France during Second World War. Of course he was also inspired by Abbott and Costello.
Rosin on the bow
Auntie B!