Finding Shakespeare

De: Daniel Fromson

Narrado por: Daniel Fromson

In 2008, a troubled Vietnam veteran turned struggling actor named Hamilton Meadows became obsessed with a question: What did William Shakespeare's English sound like when the Bard and his actors spoke it? Others had asked the same thing before - the quest to piece together the pronunciation of Elizabethan English, the language as it was spoken during Shakespeare's lifetime, has captivated English scholars, theater directors, and romantic adventurers for two hundred years.

But if Meadows wasn't the first such seeker, he was undoubtedly the least likely among them. Thrice-divorced and drinking too much, he was living off of military disability checks aboard a derelict yacht. For Meadows, staging the first-ever professional "original pronunciation" production of Shakespeare's work in New York City would become one last shot at redemption after a lifetime of tragedy.

©2013 Daniel Fromson, The Atavist (P)2013 Daniel Fromson, The Atavist

not what i thought

it's billed as a search to discover what actual Shakespearean language sounded like, and while there is a small bit of it, in actuality it is more a short bio of this Fromson and his attempts to put on plays in the original. while it is interesting regarding that, and in the right hands might make an interesting documentary, that is not why i got it, and there is actually very little of the recreated "sound" of the dialogue. and no large scenes from the plays or speeches at length for comparison.