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proximoception) wrote2011-10-13 07:05 pm
proximoception) wrote2011-10-13 07:05 pm
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59. Danton's Death (2nd)
I'm sure there's thousands of examples left deservedly in manuscript, but this is the only play I know of that tries to imitate Shakespeare closely, rather than adopt a few features but otherwise veer away, like Webster, Chekhov, and Buchner's fellow Romantics, even Musset, all did. Basically he's playing with Hamlet and with fire, and a lot of moments do end up feeling just weird, or too slavishly copied, or pasted onto someone else's posterboard. But overall it works. It's not a new Shakespeare play, but it's a hybrid with some life in it, maybe even fertility.
Can't compete with Carpentier as a post-mortem on the Revolution, though.
I'm sure there's thousands of examples left deservedly in manuscript, but this is the only play I know of that tries to imitate Shakespeare closely, rather than adopt a few features but otherwise veer away, like Webster, Chekhov, and Buchner's fellow Romantics, even Musset, all did. Basically he's playing with Hamlet and with fire, and a lot of moments do end up feeling just weird, or too slavishly copied, or pasted onto someone else's posterboard. But overall it works. It's not a new Shakespeare play, but it's a hybrid with some life in it, maybe even fertility.
Can't compete with Carpentier as a post-mortem on the Revolution, though.