I shouldn't admit this. Let's hope neither the headmaster nor any deans or deanlings are reading.
I don't get Touchstone.
I don't find the part very funny. Yes, I understand and can process the jokes, adequately, I think. They just don't seem really funny overall.
But I don't know quite what to make of Touchstone and Audrey. Is she as horny for him as he is for her? And how horny is he for her? Does his horniness level change?
I'm hanging my head, clearly an inadequate Shakespeare person.
I try to imagine what William Kempe would have done with the role. (If you click on the link, they have a reproduction of a woodcut of Kempe's famous Nine Days Wonder. It's like an early modern YouTube. /nod.)
I also don't find the songs very compelling. Yes, I get how they comment on the action, sort of. But horn and cuckoldry songs just don't work in performance that I've seen.
Touchstone is, to me as to you, the least compelling of Shakespeare's clowns--I'll take Feste any day. Of course, any time Shakespeare has an unconvincing character, I wonder if there's a reason the character falls flat, like the character is a comment on something that I just don't have the context for...
ReplyDeleteBut Touchstone remains a riddle...
I agree that Touchstone is a puzzle, but as far as the songs go, I think their impact has to do with each individual performance. I've seen performances where the songs seemed out of place and odd, and other performances--like the 2005 West End production--where the songs fit incredibly naturally.
ReplyDeleteI always feel a little sorry for Audrey, because she is so simple. Does she really understand everything that's going on around her?
I'm with you and the others here. I don't get him, either. especially when you add audrey, i really don't get it. then again, this is not exactly my favorite play, either.
ReplyDelete