Comments on: ibid http://weinberg.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/ibid/ In a few words, explain what this blog is about. Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:04:58 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: zwol http://weinberg.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/ibid/#comment-37 zwol Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:35:24 +0000 http://weinberg.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/ibid/#comment-37 It seems to me that in a performance setting it's going to be very hard to do more than one "track" of presentation at once, no matter how it's done. And if you want to get the sort of layered commentary-on-commentary-on-... effect that is the experience of reading Jewish theology, it's going to be even worse. Perhaps instead what one wants to do is have a base scene and then those actors freeze while other actors step out from the wings and discuss what just happened. (My brain is helpfully trying to envision this done to <i>Tartuffe</i>.) An alternative, which I think I've even seen done -- <i>Into the Woods</i> for example -- is to have some of the actors switch back and forth between meta levels, but that doesn't feel like footnotes to me. (I've just flashed back to fall of last year when someone gave a presentation at CSDL about Antoinine Maillet's <i>Pelagie-la-Charrette</i> which, at least according to the presentation, features three layers of narrative each of which is aware of and interacts with the other two. I've been meaning to get the English translation out of the UCSD library ever since. I am going to do that tomorrow.) It seems to me that in a performance setting it’s going to be very hard to do more than one “track” of presentation at once, no matter how it’s done. And if you want to get the sort of layered commentary-on-commentary-on-… effect that is the experience of reading Jewish theology, it’s going to be even worse.

Perhaps instead what one wants to do is have a base scene and then those actors freeze while other actors step out from the wings and discuss what just happened. (My brain is helpfully trying to envision this done to Tartuffe.) An alternative, which I think I’ve even seen done — Into the Woods for example — is to have some of the actors switch back and forth between meta levels, but that doesn’t feel like footnotes to me.

(I’ve just flashed back to fall of last year when someone gave a presentation at CSDL about Antoinine Maillet’s Pelagie-la-Charrette which, at least according to the presentation, features three layers of narrative each of which is aware of and interacts with the other two. I’ve been meaning to get the English translation out of the UCSD library ever since. I am going to do that tomorrow.)

]]> By: weinberg http://weinberg.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/ibid/#comment-36 weinberg Mon, 01 Oct 2007 10:13:02 +0000 http://weinberg.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/ibid/#comment-36 Yes, of course!!! I read it on a plane flight and it was fabulous. The thing is, I don't really like ACTUAL footnotes because you have to look away from them, down to the bottom of the page. I like VH1 popups, I like sidenotes (margin notes) or side-by-side - and I especially like the idea of an actor jumping in with them. Yes, of course!!! I read it on a plane flight and it was fabulous. The thing is, I don’t really like ACTUAL footnotes because you have to look away from them, down to the bottom of the page. I like VH1 popups, I like sidenotes (margin notes) or side-by-side – and I especially like the idea of an actor jumping in with them.

]]> By: zwol http://weinberg.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/ibid/#comment-35 zwol Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:56:56 +0000 http://weinberg.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/ibid/#comment-35 Have you read <i>Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell</i>? Have you read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell?

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