This afternoon...
This evening...
And let's skip over the fact I managed to misspell not only "definitely" but "just". Don't worry, Act Five of Richard II is still on its way, even though I don't know how to stop iMovie having a maddening twiddle with the exposure every cut, but it doesn't matter any more because it turns out those recordings were just a dry run and yes, I'm going to do it all over again. That is how I've decided to solve the problem posed in the last post. I'm not sure the decisions I've been making have been the right ones, but at least they were big, and that means I can make another performance with all different decisions and, I don't know, people can pick their favourite. Not that I expect anyone to watch both (Act Four currently has fourviews), but they can choose between a shouty one or a recite-y one. I mean if the Clarenden Press, Oxford can have two King Lears in their complete works, I can have two Richard IIs, and maybe that's how I'll learn something. I've just finished re-recording Act One this evening on the old phone, with - I think - a very different playing of the King, and just a little more care over what's being said and a bit more stillness. And maybe this one won't be as good, but that doesn't really matter as I'm excited about the project again, excited by the freedom of it again. And, most importantly for me, I'm showing off again.
Ambassador, you're really spoiling us.
ReplyDeleteSo long as you're enjoying the re-recording, that's excellent news.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, I am intrigued by the possibility that the key to understanding the play itself is that it may or may not have played a role in Essex's Rebellion. If there is indeed a parallel between Richard vs. Bolingbroke / Elizabeth vs. Essex, then I can sort of see what Shakespeare was aiming for. Possibly. (With the notable difference, of course, that Devereux was executed for treason in the end. I must find that old film with Bette Davis and Errol Flynn again, though I suspect it might not be much more historically accurate than Shakespeare's own plays.)
The new Richard will be a LOT more Elizabeth-y.
ReplyDeleteelizabethy richard - that's my kind of bard-work
ReplyDeleteafter hassling you for the next play, i have been having an unusually 'busy' week. the result of which is this: i have only watched act one. i'm going to wait for this act one to come out, and then i'm going to treat it as a choose-your-own-adventure experience. when i decide which act two to move on to first. now. if you really want to go to town, you could play norfolk differently and then have alternative versions of that etc.et.ctt..e i think this might be a new way of watching. congratulations simon! you have won the 'invent a new art form for covid' prize! x
ReplyDeleteThank you you (I played Mowbray pretty much the same I'm afraid but everyone keeps a lid on it a bit more. Did you mean Northumberland?)
ReplyDelete