I love writing. Hopefully I’ll go off to grad school next year, get an MFA, and write contemporary fiction like Mark Haddon or Jonathan Safran-Foer. Who knows?
At the moment, however, I occupy most of my time writing, directing, and performing in the BYU Premier Sketch Comedy Troupe: Divine Comedy. We write short sketches and long parodies to perform three times a semester and it’s pretty much the best experience I’ve ever had so far in life.
Being in this group, I’ve come to look for comedy everywhere. Life is one big comedy, I think. Even the sad parts. Those are just darker comedy. (: So in this Shakespeare class, these are my learning outcomes, black and white:
I want to understand Shakespeare. I want to “get it.” I want to grasp the nuances, know the cultural and social implications he writes into his work, and feel what his audience felt when seeing it for the first time. This will come after reading many of Shakespeare's works (gaining the breadth of Shakespeare's works) as well as understand in depth what his works meant to his audience at the time.
I can also gain this literacy by seeing other performances of Shakespeare. See how they interpret his writing and what they thought of his intentions. Then I can compare and contrast their interpretations and my own and come up with an academic understanding of Shakespeare's intentions and the meaning behind his works.
From the standpoint of finding comedy in Shakespeare, I'll find any tidbit I can from Shakespeare's works. You'll note that I've taken the comedic scene from Hamlet in my last post and analyzed it by the 4 foundational types of comedy. Hopefully I'll find the comedy in every one of Shakespeare's plays. And we can talk about it. Because comedy brings people together in a sense of the Human Experience. And Shakespeare is so engrained in our history, I can only nod my head to him in this blog through the comedic human experience.
2. Analyze Shakespeare Critically
After grasping these things, I want to see how Shakespeare has translated into society today. Why are we still talking about him? Why do we make and remake and re-remake movies, plays, books, and poems after his work? I want to understand what everyone else understands about Shakespeare. Today.
This will probably be accomplished through different theories on Shakespeare. Different literary and theatrical criticism that can show me what has passed down from Shakespeare's time and survived now that remains the most important themes Shakespeare has communicated to our day.
3. Engage Shakespeare Creatively
I think this will be the *funnest* part. Funnest is a word on this blog, mind you. This will probably be accomplished in a writing aspect. I love writing parodies. It's what I do every month for our shows in Divine Comedy. Thus, I will probably write Shakespeare in parody, or in new perspectives (most likely from a comedic standpoint) and engage in the text in that transformation.
I'll probably record a few videos of me reciting some dialogue in Shakespeare's plays as well. Just because Shakespeare needs to be read aloud, right? In fact, I might perform my renditions of these works that I've just mentioned. Don't judge. I'm no historian, and I'm only an amateur actor. (:
4. Share Shakespeare Meaningfully
That's here. You are in my meaningful sharing world of Shakespeare. Congratulations. You'll see videos, writing, academic thoughts, and confused questions. Lemme know what you think.
Finally, I want to know why Shakespeare is funny. That’s the biggest goal that I’ll hopefully reach after moving through the first two motives. What makes his comedies comedies? What makes his jokes land? What makes his writing so close to life that people can recognize what he’s doing and say, “He gets it”?
These are my goals. Bear with me. It won’t be a straight road. But for now, let’s press forward.
