A large part of what I would like to talk about tomorrow will involve genre. I know so little about Early Modern drama, and yet there is something so recognizable to me about A Woman Killed with Kindness. I could easily see this play as if it were written and performed in the 19th or early 20th century. In some ways it is a bourgeois play about morality, marriage, domesticity, new money, class, and a woman’s body. I’d like us to start thinking of the large generic differences between this play and Edward II and Galatea, and its variation from a traditionally comic tale of cuckoldry (Chaucer and a bearded lady first come to mind). I would also like to talk about how the play constructs emotions, interiority, and playfulness, particularly in the card game in scene 8.
A performance of A Woman Killed with Kindness was just staged over the summer (it just ended last week) in England. This version of the play takes place in 1919. Below are two links. One is for an advertisement for the play which presents an interpretation of Anne’s starvation as disappearance, something which may be at odds with Frey’s interpretation of Anne in his article. I think it is worthwhile to consider how much our interpretation of Anne depends on how the character is performed (I’m thinking of Rutter here). While we haven’t read the starvation scene yet, and I don’t want to impinge on next Thursday’s discussion, I think it’s worthwhile to add this contemporary performance to our understanding of Frey’s article.
The second link is a review of the performance, which interprets Anne’s starvation as disappearance. Check out the affective overload of Anne’s guilt. I’m not sure how Frey would take this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMpmLnPcHgUhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/jul/20/a-woman-killed-with-kindness-review
No comments:
Post a Comment