Friday 13 December 2013

"Come, lead me to the block; bear him my head"

Back in 1991 I was privileged to see Sir Ian McKellen give his Richard III at the National Theatre. The renowned Richard Eyre production translated the action to the 1930s with the king as a Mosley type fascist - only somewhat more successful than the leader of the Blackshirts.




I mention this because recent events in North Korea naturally remind me of Act 3 (one of the most historically accurate elements of that play), and the peaked caps point directly to the McKellen version. One can imagine Chang Song-thaek calming his associates with words similar to those of Hastings:

"Where nothing can proceed that toucheth us
Whereof I shall not have intelligence
Tell him his fears are shallow, wanting instance
And for his dreams, I wonder he is so fond
To trust the mockery of unquiet slumbers"




Later of course,as he is being dragged away by the guards, he reflects (in Korean one must assume):

"O momentary grace of mortal men
Which we more hunt for than the grace of God!
Who builds his hope in air of your good looks,
Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast,
Ready, with every nod, to tumble down
Into the fatal bowels of the deep."

The rest of us might be somewhat taken aback by the goings on of the family Kim, but Shakespeare wouldn't have been. Now that's art.

1 comment:

  1. I once saw a production of Macbeth in the Edinburgh Fringe in which all the cast rode motor cycles throughout. It was dreadful. Even if you liked motor cycles, I think it would still have been dreadful.

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