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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help
The nature of plays is contraction: time, place, character. In Henry V, for example, the Chorus asks the audience to consider that "this wooden O" or the Globe could hold the fields of France and that they imagine the battle at Agincourt. In The Winter's Tale, there is a gap of sixteen years between Perdita being left to die on the shore and the next act, all connected by the Time Chorus. Characters' thoughts in plays are relayed through soliloquy: Hamlet "that this too too solid flesh would melt";Macbeth:"is this a dagger I see before me..."; The Taming of the Shrew- Petruchio - all will be done in good care of her.
On the other hand, films expand. See Olivier's Henry V and compare to Branagh's; Olivier's Hamlet, Zeffirelli's Hamlet, and Branagh's Hamlet (which uses the full text as well as expanding visuals.) One good example of this expansion is Zefirelli's Taming of the Shrew (Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton): the wedding scene is only described in the text. Zeffirelli takes the audience inside the church and dramtizes the text in detail.
Possible helpful sources:
Shakespeare and the Moving Image. Anthony Davies and Stanley Wells.
Shakespeare on Screen. Rothwell and Menzer.
Good luck. If you need more, just shout.
JC
Posted by Help on the way... on April 09, 1997 at 10:53:53
In Reply to "What are some problems adapting plays to film? How are they solved?" posted by Jon Ward on April 09, 1997 at 07:30:01
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help