Two years ago I was fortunate enough to be cast as King Lear for the 2005 season of the Montana Shakespeare Company. Not for nothing is this considered one of the Great Roles for an actor to play. (BTW, the photo is from directly after the show...duh.) It was demanding, frustrating, exhausting...and the best time I've ever had playing a part. (And yes, I bleached my hair and would dye the beard white before a show---I'm getting older, but I'm not that old yet!)I really don't have a reason to post this other than I want to post it.
I was thinking I could try and find comparisons between Lear and LOST--mostly because of the nature motif of the play, as well as Daddy Issues being a HUGE aspect of both works--but ultimately, if there is any one of Shakespeare's plays that has even the remotest resonance with LOST, it would be The Tempest.
Both take place on a strange mystical island. Castaways wash up on both islands (perhaps brought there by magic?). The castaways are connected to the people already on the island. There is a struggle between black and white (like Locke's backgammon example) exemplified in The Tempest by Ariel and Caliban, and on LOST--well, you can pretty much take your pick: is Rousseau like Caliban? Or, are the Others like Caliban, and is the Dharma Initiative like Ariel? Or is it the other way around? If you really sit around and ponder it, I'm sure there would be all kinds of interpretations you could make. Anyway, there is also a mysterious sorcerer at the middle of events (Prospero--Jacob). And comic relief; Trinculo in one, Hurley in the other.
The point is, LOST is at that level of artistry--yes, Shakespearean-- and is something I enthusiastically declaim to any of my friends who are unfortunate enough to say in my presence, "It's a stupid show." WOW, do they get a verbal landslide from me!!
The world of LOST is indeed a brave new world, that has such people in it.
1 comment:
You convinced me. LOST episodes are on my DVD list. Hey, the last show you told me I had to watch was the X Files and look how that turned out. *g*
Interesting that you compared LOST to Shakespeare, I was thinking about The Bard this morning. How many levels there are to the stories, literary and yet accessible as popular entertainment. I think that's what every writer aspires to.
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