Knowing aforehand: Audience Preparation and the Comedies of Shakespeare | Ejner J. Jensen, University of Michigan
Ejner J. Jensen, University of Michigan
Some years ago at Ontario's Stratford Festival, I attended a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. At the close of the performance, two spectators seated a row or two behind me rose from their seats still applauding and, moved by the play's comic energy, launched into a celebration of the skills of its author. At a pause in this chorus of praise, one suddenl y asked the other, "When did Shakespeare live?"
Her friend replied, "In the fourteenth century, I think."
"No," said the first, "I think it was the fifteenth." After a series of such assertions, queries, and guesses, the initial poser of the question brought such irrelevancies to an end by cutting through to the key matter. "Well," she said, "it doesn't matter; he's still as funny as he always was."
On that matter, my fellow spectator was, I think, on target. Shakespeare is still as funny as he always was. Sometimes, though,...
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