Can You Be 42 and Play Romeo?

http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/performing_arts/story/151113.html

I like this article for not just commenting on the respective ages of Romeo (around 17) and Juliet (13) and how you have to cast those roles relative to the actors' ages, but for going into a pretty cool history about how other famous actors have played the roles.

Basil Rathbone?  42 when he played Romeo.

Orson Welles was a 19yr old Tybalt, which the article comments "must have looked a little out of place."

Norma Shearer was a 34yr old Juliet, alongside John Barrymore's 54yr old Mercutio.

But who's the goofball quoted near the end who says that some people might call Romeo and Juliet one of the "lesser" plays?  It's no King Lear, but it's no Timon of Athens, either, people.

Meant To Be Performed, Not Read? Nonsense.

For the umpteenth time today I saw that old cliche about how Shakespeare's works were intended to be performed, not read.

I don't, quite frankly, care a whit was Shakespeare intended.  He's long dead.  So, newsflash.  Every performance of Shakespeare does not imply that he intended it to be performed in that particular way. Do we think that he intended Oberon to speak in Klingon?  Or Lady Macbeth to drag Macbeth across the stage by his ear?  Or Hamlet to jump in a child's wading pool, complete with goggles and swim fins?  Yes, I've seen productions that included all those things. 

When you see a performance of Shakespeare you are separating yourself from the original (what Shakespeare did actually mean, to the best of our ability to figure it out) by a few dozen other people's opinions - the director, the actors, the costume designers, the set builders, the production company...  At any time, any of them could make a decision that would have Shakespeare spinning in his grave.  You could see ten productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, each substantially different from the rest, and have no closer clue about what Shakespeare intended for you to take away from it.

That is unless, of course, you read the play.  Even then you'll have no idea what Shakespeare meant, but at least you'll be able to make up your own mind.  Then, go see it.

Speaking of Amazing Anagrams

I'm always flattered when ShakespeareTeacher takes one of my posts and runs with it.  I've been away for a few days so I didn't even notice at first that he'd spotted my "Amazing Anagram" note and had a virtual field day with it!  How in the world do you come up with such things???