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A Playwright and his Tricks
Mar. 23rd, 2010 11:11 pmI know you've all been waiting on tenterhooks for my judgment on this matter, so at long last I can finally announce that after much diligent research* I have decided on my favourite audio recording of Othello. ( Details (rambling) )
So ... I've listened to it a few times now ... and in doing so I've picked up some subtler things in the plotting which get missed the first time through because it's hard enough to keep up with the language. The cool things will be discussed later; tonight is for frivolity!
There are quite a few moments of what would probably be considered lazy storytelling by today's standards. A boatload of expository dialogue, for one (which suits it for radio dramatization), and things like people coincidentally wandering into the scene right when they're needed, etc. One of the more amusing examples of this appears to be Shakespeare writing himself into a corner and then using a cutaway scene to weasel his way out of it. I call you out, William Shakespeare:
( An Illustration of Mr Shakespeare's Creative Process )
Anyway, this (and the other episodes like it) just goes to show that you can have moments of inelegant writing, bits where the story 'math' doesn't add up as nicely as it should, but if you're bang on the money in the Human Truth and Emotional Resonance departments, your story will still be enjoyed four hundred years later.
So ... I've listened to it a few times now ... and in doing so I've picked up some subtler things in the plotting which get missed the first time through because it's hard enough to keep up with the language. The cool things will be discussed later; tonight is for frivolity!
There are quite a few moments of what would probably be considered lazy storytelling by today's standards. A boatload of expository dialogue, for one (which suits it for radio dramatization), and things like people coincidentally wandering into the scene right when they're needed, etc. One of the more amusing examples of this appears to be Shakespeare writing himself into a corner and then using a cutaway scene to weasel his way out of it. I call you out, William Shakespeare:
( An Illustration of Mr Shakespeare's Creative Process )
Anyway, this (and the other episodes like it) just goes to show that you can have moments of inelegant writing, bits where the story 'math' doesn't add up as nicely as it should, but if you're bang on the money in the Human Truth and Emotional Resonance departments, your story will still be enjoyed four hundred years later.
