Shelley and Godspell

Perhaps this will be somewhat of a stretch, but I just saw Messiah's production of "Godspell" last night, and since I am still wrapped up in the production, I thought I'd share some thoughts that actually may have something to do with literary criticism. One of the big questions we've asked is "what is literature," and obviously, in its written form, a play is literature. But, once it hits the stage, does it cease being literature and become something else? Does the word not only become an action, but also cease from being a word? Obviously, at the basest level, the word does become an action, for it comes to life. And they still speak (or, in much of last night's production, sing) the words. Is that therefore still literature, or do we classify that only as "theatre" or "music"?

I knew the premise of "Godspell" before I went to see it, but knew nothing else of what I was going to see. I was told that Messiah's theatre department changed and updated many aspects of the musical (can you do such a thing with literature?). But, the synopsis of the production on the inside of the program actually pointed to some type of "theatrical criticism", if you will (I am sure there is such a thing, but is that the same type of criticism we do for literature? And if a play is literature, what would be the differences in criticism?)...

Dr. Ed Cohn's synopsis said (perhaps in a postmodernist way?):

"If this play had not been created until 2008, what would it be? The theatricality would most likely reflect a post-"Rent", post-"Tommy", post-modern approach, breaking the rules of the world of the drama with media and images. But more than that, a post-modern approach would focus more on the impact of the story on the characters who hear it than the story itself. "

The part that stuck out to me most in regards to literary criticism can be seen in this picture.



On the far left, there is a verse from the Bible. Written words were transported into the spoken and sung aspects of the play, making for a multi-media presentation. Now, if we did not feel that the musical itself was literature, should we also say that the use of the written word (in this case, the Bible) is not literature either, since it is presented in this format? For the Bible is written word, whether or not it has any other other meaning for someone. It is literature, and that literature was brought into this play.

I want to tie into Shelley's "Defense of Poetry" for a moment. Shelley's big question in his Defense asked, "Does poetry improve society?" From class, we established a "yes" to that question, saying that poetry (literature) enlarges the mind, or in Shelley's words, "lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world... [and] enlarges the circumference of the imagination by replenishing it with thoughts of ever new delight." This happens because (1) imagination is the foundation of ethics; (2) reading poetry (is seeing a production such as "Godspell" the act of reading??) develops imagination, and (3) therefore, imagination is the basis of good relations among humans. From seeing the play last night, it made me think of all of this, especially when I saw the multi-media approach that they used.

I do not know the answers to my questions. But really, is watching a play a form of "reading" (and if it is, how does that change our definition of reading in this multi-media age of ours?)? And does watching something that is literature (or reading literature on a screen during such a presentation of a play, musical, concert, etc.) improve society? Shelley spoke much of drama in his "Defense"... "Godspell," being a play, may be classified broadly under the term of "drama." Because of the nature of the message last night in the play - that of a Christian message - I thought a lot about my own life and actions and decisions. That play did have an impact on me, far beyond the laughs and the great music. Can I call that literature, or reading? Would Shelley have anything to say against this? Does watching a play fall in a different category for Shelley in regards to the impact literature has on society? After all, a play or a musical really is just words acted out in present time........