Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Much Ado About Something

I know I pooh-poohed the idea of the University of Oregon men playing ultimate frisbee in the somewhat altogether state. It wasn't exactly the Full Monty treatment on campus (streaking is out, by the way), but it wasn't plagiarism, either; perhaps I'm a little more tolerant as an older person...or one whose done plenty of dumb stuff in my life...or maybe just because I'm a guy it didn't seem worthy of double-secret probation to me. I mean, I still watch "Soth Park" on occasion and laugh...loudly. Heck, if I were a young man (OK, just dreaming here)thinking about a college, I might just pick Oregon as a result of that stunt. I mean, if students are that madcap on the ultimate frisbee team, how cool must the school be?( nobody mentions the constant rain) The references to Animal House make it all the more appealing. However, it's one thing for students to veer from the straight line of academia; it's quite another thing for professors.
Let's just call this professor...Jeff, as a pseudonym. Jeff teaches Introduction to Theater at an unnamed university...let's just say, oh, UW-Green Bay. Being an innovator of sorts, Jeff gives students an in-depth look at the world of theater: designing and building sets, developing visual aids for promotion, designing costumes, AND performing...the whole deal. It would appear to be a thrill-a-minute introduction to treading the boards (or tripping the light fantastic for the more ambulatory-challenged). Groups are set, and each group is assigned a scene from a Shakespearean play...very noteworthy since the University Theater players just did a rendition of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." I got really excited as a student of mine, let's call her...Anna... described how her group will "perform" their selection on Thursday. I'm checking my 9:30 appointments, disappointed that I have one but still getting quite ennervated about the potentially of going to watch, and then she says,
"Yeah, and each group is supposed to do a modern interpretation so WE'RE doing a scene between Benedick and Beatrice like it was...(wait for it) High School Musical." Her nearly breathless eagerness as she described the transformation sent rockets shooting inside my head...my stomach began to churn, my blood pressure ratcheted up, and I could feel my gorge rising quickly. It was all I could do to minimize my reaction by screaming, "NOOOOOO!" so loudly that security was called. The echo peeled paint from the walls. Barely breathing, I managed to defibrillate myself (no easy task) and return to the land of the living.
Anna was totally nonplussed and began edging her way to the door. "How DARE you transpose the beauty of the Bard!" I rasped. "Whose idea WAS this?" Seems we were back to Jeff.
Imagine...a theater person...allowing, no, encouraging the juxtaposing of some of the greatest works ever written. Flashes of "O" caromed off my cranium, Franco Zeffirelli came unbidden to my brain. It was all too much. As I say, it's one thing for students (whose right it is to reestablish norms because they don't know any better) to drift off course, but a professor? OK, I get making it relevant, but not by making an abomination from what was once an icon.
Such a travesty would be like Brett Favre playing for the Vikings, for God's sake.
What? He what?
Never mind. I'm going for my frisbee.

1 Comments:

At 8:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ahhh, dp we argued this back when Romeo+Juliet came out back in my freshman year of college. Shakespeare is great but unless you have a great teacher the original can seem...stuffy. Modern interpretation is what it is - a hope that people will get turned into his THEMES and recognize his greatness for what it is. "O" wasn't all that bad either...Sorry.

 

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