Yesterday, I saw the recent Stratford Festival production of Camelot at the Festival Theatre. Clicking on the link below or the picture above or link below will take you to a real review of the show that I agree completely with, so I’ll just skip to my personal comments.
For some reason, the whole King Arthur legend has always left me cold. It’s an odd thing, because while I love historical fiction, enjoy fantasy, and devour period pieces whenever I get the chance- I just can’t get into the whole King Arthur mythos or story. Even this play, which I greatly appreciated, still didn’t make me like the idea of the King Arthur legend that has entranced so many any more than I did before. (Although I’ll confess the ending did leave me a little misty-eyed, but that I credit more to the actors than the story.)
I guess perhaps it’s the un-reality of it all. The whole thing seems more like children playing at a game than a real piece of historical or fictional drama. The inclusion of magic with Merlin and Morgan le Fey makes it even worse, as we have a bunch of children playing with swords and a couple magic-users manipulating them. It never feels like a real story about real people, and I find no-one in this tale with whom I can connect emotionally.
Then again, maybe I just haven’t read or seen the right version.
Do you feel the same way about this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fengshen_Yanyi
Never heard of it before, but I shall find out! 🙂 Thanks!
You just hurt my soul man. My very soul. I did my undergraduate thesis on King Arthur. I recommend going back to the origins and looking through them. It won’t leave you as cold.
Personally I haven’t even WATCHED Merlin or Camelot (the TV series) because I’m so sick of people destroying the Arthurian Cycle.
You have to understand that I’m not a big Fantasy fan, at least not European Fantasy.
I did try watching Camelot (the TV series) on CBC a while back, but didn’t get past the first episode. It was well produced, but not my cup of tea.
Have you ever read a version of the story by a Canadian writer named Jack Whyte? I heard an interview on a podcast with him recently, apparently his is considered one of the more successful versions.