Shakespeare Master Class
Well, the conference is over and it was fantastic. We focused mostly on pedagogy today, so I felt a lot more in my element. We also talked about the changing nature of the canon. Yesterday we did a lot of 19th century historical analysis of Shakespeare instruction, which was fascinating, but made me feel like I had a lot of catching up to do. (And when I do that catching up, I now know to start here.)
Anyway, I’m still processing it all. I’ll probably blog more on the conference when I return to NYC, but until I get back, please enjoy this video. In line with the theme of the Shakespeare classroom, here are a very young Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie showing us how it’s done:
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
March 20th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Have you seriously really never seen BlackAdder? It just seems MADE for you. This exact segment is refined and done even more beautifully (again by Hugh Laurie - now playing the Prince Regent) in the Third series (British shows have 6 episodes a series/season). Local actors teach the Prince to give a speech. The episode is called Sense and Senility and also features a BRILLIANT parody of actors fear of the “curse” of Macbeth….
March 20th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Also - check THIS out (features Hugh Laurie as William Shakespeare and Blackadder’s Rowan Atkinson as a producer): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwbB6B0cQs4&mode=related&search=
March 20th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
I agree with DeLisa’s BlackAdder recommendation; filled with brilliant acting and writing, gratuitous Shakespeare references in the first two series, and plenty of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry . . .
March 21st, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Yeah, I’ve seen Blackadder a few times The episodes I saw were from the season when Hugh Laurie was playing Prince George, and I liked them well enough. I must have missed the one with this skit.
At some point, I’m sure I’ll want to see all of them.