Shakespeare the Comedian 喜剧作家

Nancy Carroll plays Viola / Cesario in Greg's current production of Twelfth Night in London

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本集内容

莎士比亚的喜剧对当代的戏剧爱好者和好莱坞仍然具有一种之久不衰的吸引力。今天我们将探讨一部深受欢迎的莎翁喜剧 Twelfth Night.

Yang Li and William Kremer speak to the well-known British theatre director Gregory Doran. Greg is Chief Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His current production of Twelfth Night is playing in London's West End 伦敦西区。

In the programme, Greg explains how he thinks Twelfth Night differs from Shakespeare's earlier comedies. He also discusses the significance 意义 of twins 双胞胎 and cross-dressing 女扮男装/男扮女装 in Shakespearean comedy.

Yang Li and Greg Doran

As you listen, try to answer these questions. The answers are at the bottom of this page.

1. What play does Greg think Shakespeare wrote immediately before Twelfth Night?

2. What is Greg's simple definition of Shakespearean comedy and tragedy?

3. Why does Greg find the end of Twelfth Night very moving 动人的?

莎翁名言

Twelfth Night has a very famous opening speech from Duke Orsino, which perfectly captures 抓住了 the play's themes of love and obsession 沉湎/迷恋. You can listen again to this speech by clicking on the audio link to the right.

You will also hear Greg quoting 援引/引述 one of his favourite lines from A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as the excerpt from this week's S Words clip. The bbcukchina actors are Amy Ewbank and Benjamin Scheck.

Click on the pdf link to read the excerpts 选文。

下集预告

Next week we complete our focus on Shakespeare's genres 文体风格 with a look at his tragedies. Yang Li and William discuss one of the Bard's shortest and darkest plays – Macbeth.

Answers to the quiz:

1. Hamlet.

2. "At the end of tragedy people die and at the end of comedy they tend not to!"

3. Shakespeare's son Hamnet was a twin. Sadly he died when he was eleven. However, Shakespeare was able to reunite 团聚 his twins on the stage 在舞台上。

Greg, who is a twin himself, finds that very moving.