| Shakespeare: "Macbeth" (Judi Dench) - sleepwalking scene |
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Judi Dench ... Lady Macbeth
Denyse Alexander ... Gentlewoman
John Woodnutt ... Doctor
from the 1979 TV version of the Trevor Nunn
production by the Royal Shakespeare Company
from "Shakespeare's Work" (1847) by Gulian
Crommelin Verplanck:
It was, I believe, Madame de Staël, who
said, somewhat extravagantly, that the smell
is the most poetical of the senses. It is
true that the more agreeable associations of
this sense are fertile in pleasing
suggestions of placid, rural beauty, and
gentle pleasures. Shakespeare, Spencer,
Ariosto, and Tasso abound in such allusions.
Milton, especially, who luxuriates in every
variety of "odorous sweets" and "grateful
smells", delighted sometimes to dwell on the
"sweets of groves and fields", the native
perfumes of his own England--"The smell of
grain, or tedded grass, or kine, Or Dairy"--
and sometimes pleasing his imagination with
the "gentle gales" laden with "balmy spoils"
of the East; and breathing--"Sabean odours
from the spicy shores of Araby the blest".
But the smell has never been successfully
used as a means of impressing the imagination
with terror, pity, or any of the deeper
emotions, except in this dreadful
sleep-walking scene of the gulty Queen, and
in one parallel scene of the Greek drama, as
wildly terrible as this. It is that passage
of the 'Agamemnon' of Aeschylus, where the
captive prophetess, Cassandra, wrapt in
visionary inspiration, scents first the smell
of blood, and then the vapours of the tomb
breathing from the palace of Atrides, as
ominous of his apporaching murder.
go here to see that scene of Cassandra from
'Agamemnon' (the chorus speaks of her
smelling):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPikNIfBGIo
Tags : Macbeth Shakespeare Dench LadyMacbeth |
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Affichage : 55359
Durée : 392 s |
| Judi Dench , "The Cherry Orchard", 1962 - part 1 |
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A brilliant interpretation of Chekhov's
"Cherry Orchard", acted by a cast of
incomparable artists. John Gielgud (Gaev),
Peggy Ashcroft (Mdme Ranevsky), Dorthy Tutin
(Varya), Judi Dench (Anya), and talented
others make up this cast. Directed by Michel
Saint-Denis. Mr. Saint-Denis was noted as a
director that worked by way of humiliation.
In this case, Ms. Dench was known to be
chosen as this productions "humiliation
guinea pig". Trumphantly overcome are all
traces of directorial humiliation tactics.
Brillantly developed and acted by all.
Tags : Judi Dench Cherry Orchard John Gielgud Peggy Ashcroft Dorthy Tutin Chekhov |
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Affichage : 17905
Durée : 416 s |
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