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Show His point is not that British stage speech is Elizabethan but that it has developed over the centuries to the point where it fits Shakespeare as no other speech does. And that British actors are trained to speak it as no one else can. Is there a chance that such a vast outpouring of Shakespeare could discourage other Shakespeare productions for some on the stage or screen time to come? Messina says this reflects an attitude that he likes to tease his American friends about that many Americans go to the theater for the plot and lose interest once they learn, say, that Romeo and Juliet die. This, he explains, is why there are fewer rivals in America than in Britain, where its understood that different interpretations keep these works going. : he is not taping the metropolitan these plays for London theater audience who frequent revivals. ALL THE SAME, These days, the British themselves can hardly afford to go to the theater. I just think all the plays should be available (on tape) as a library, as a reference. A lot of students havent the capacity to invest the lines of Shakespeare with characters in the mind. A lot of people cant read plays thats why they seldom sell well. Messina says his versions will be simple and straight and accessible. The most obscure jokes and references will be cut, but there will be no updating or personalizing. Macbeth Continued From Page 8 America and Messina says he is concerned with all of his viewers, whether theyre in Perth, Los Angeles, Peking or South Africa. MESSINA HIMSELF grew up in South Africa, the son of Welsh mother and an Italian father. He first encountered Shakespeare in readings of A Midsummer Nights Dream at high school and then in the movie with Mickey Rooney. He has never worked in the theater. Im a media man, he says, and he has been one for decades in radio and TV, primarily with the BBC. He thinks televised Shakespeare has some advantages over staged Shakespeare. You cant see peoples expressions in the theater, he says. On TV, you can watch their brains working. He says that Americans who might have trouble with British accents in theaters will understand the words better when they hear them on TV. T-1- make all the difference to He carefully avoids saying that the British inherently do Shakespeare better than other actors (while nevertheless maintaining that Americans do American plays infinitely better than we do). But he will go so far as to say that American actors are less likely to do Shakespeare well, and its because of the words. Shakespeare wTote in verse, says Messina, and the sound of the words brings forth the meaning of the sentences, enhanced by the accent of the actor. ITS MENTIONED that some students of speech believe that certain in the mountains American accents of Kentucky or New England, for resemble the speech of example Shakespeares day more closely than current British stage speech does Messina is not impressed. The BBC Most of the plays will be kept to 2 Vi hours, though Hamlet will be longer and The Comedy of Errors shorter Were not doing them for experts, and Im sure a lot of purists wont like the way particular plays are done, but maybe they'll like the one next week. Many of the actors will be unknown to Americans, though Michael York is in Much Ado About Nothing, Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius") is Richard II. and supporting roles are taken by John Gielgud, Celia Johnson and Cyril Cusack in "Romeo and Juliet and by Gielgud, and Wendy Hiller in Richard II Messina hopes Robert Shaw will be his King Lear. Messina says he hasnt ruled out using Americans, but none has been cast so far He would prefer an cast to a mixed cast, he says, but obviously an cast is a remote possibility in a BBC production. Nevertheless, American, take heart Messina says were not using any Turkish or Martian actors. British-America- IT WOULDNT BE completely n accu- rate to say that Messina has used no Americans in The Shakespeare Plays. On the day he was making these remarks there was one American serving as an extra with all the Glamis folk, dressed in jerkin and tights and sweating under the Scot sun He was Bruce Roberts, vice president of Morgan Guaranty Trust, one of three American companies that is providing million each for The Shakespeare the others are Exxon and Plays Metropolitan Life Insurance). Roberts happened to be passing through the area and thought he would take a look at what his corporations dollars were supporting. When he heard that extras were being cast and someone suggested he might like to try it, he said yes, he $1.2 would. Roberts was convinced his company has made a sound investment. The rest of America will find out in February. Words Messina. The Salt Lake did some Shakespeare with Elizabethan accents once, he recalls. It drove everybody potty. July 16, 1978 Tift |