tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21069247108610126012024-03-13T21:10:23.835-07:00What Shall Shakespeare Say TodayShakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-58246287978349642682011-11-05T12:27:00.000-07:002011-11-05T12:27:54.499-07:00Portland Shakespeare Events THIS WEEKENDLast-minute announcement for Shakespeare opportunities in the Portland area Nov 5-6!<br />
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<a href="http://portlandplayhouse.org/fall-festival-of-shakespeare">Fall Festival of Shakespeare -</a> area High Schools coming together to share their productions.<br />
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<a href="http://www.nwctc.org/season.html">King John at Northwest Classical Theater Company</a> - plays next weekend as well. <br />
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<a href="http://www.portlandactors.com/">Richard III</a> from the Portland Actors Ensemble, the folks who bring us free Shakespeare in the Park - only this play is performed inside a building! <br />
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Looks like it'll be a fun weekend!Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-1885813717742928112011-10-31T23:27:00.000-07:002011-11-01T00:15:57.047-07:00Production Review: RSC Macbeth, part 3 of 3; In Which the Production is Actually Reviewed<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Macbeth </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">or </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">(Shakespeare Girl's title)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Trouble in Stratford</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Royal Shakespeare Company</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Seen Tuesday, July 26, Stratford-Upon-Avon</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Directed by</span></span> Michael Boyd<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;">, featuring </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Jonathan Slinger as Macbeth and </span>Aislin McGuckin as Lady Macbeth</span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">In <a href="http://whatshallshakespearesay.blogspot.com/2011/09/production-review-rsc-macbeth-part-1-of.html">Part 1</a> and <a href="http://whatshallshakespearesay.blogspot.com/2011/09/production-review-rsc-macbeth-part-2-of.html">Part 2</a> of this fine review, I spend a lot of time complaining about the RSC building. But does any of that stuff really matter? Well, I think so, because if I had loved the production - if it had made me feel the way that truly good Shakespeare performances can make you feel - I would not remember the building's problems at all! Nor would my favorite part of the playgoing experience have been watching the swans on the Avon after the play was over. Frankly, if brainless swans, lovely as they are, seem more interesting than a Shakespeare play, there is a real problem. Unfortunately, the performance seemed a little like a mirror of the building -<span style="line-height: 115%;"> a little rough, unfinished, with some elements that seemed incomplete and inadequately thought through.</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Alas, where to begin? The production seemed to be aiming for a creepy, gruesome interpretation, with plenty of blood, ghosts, and gore. All to the good – elements in any <em>Macbeth </em>that I would be strongly in favor of. I also had few complaints with the set; the Macbeths plot their wickedness in a church ruined by iconoclasts, no doubt a representation of their evil reign of Scotland as a similar desecration of all that is holy and right. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">A choice that started (in my mind) to veer a little off from the straight and narrow was an absence of Witches; no bubble, bubble, toil and trouble for us. Instead, three female cellists who sat on a platform above the stage throughout the show provided a sort of three-woman mystical presence-thing through dramatic classical music, while the actual lines the witches say (Hail, Thane of Cawdor! etc.) were taken by three creepy little children. While certainly creative, this choice seemed to me to take away the sense of pure evil that the witches bring to the play; the three female musicians mostly played music that evoked feelings of grief and mourning, making their role as commentators more profound and sympathetic than the malicious witches of the text. And weird children of 8 or 9 years old can seem grotesque and macabre (or just annoying), but simply cannot project the same kind of menace that ADULT weird sisters could<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bring. This choice served to make the Macbeths seem even more evil without the weight of other wicked characters. It also created strange questions about the time and space continuum within the world of the play– the same three young actors that played the “weird children” later played the MacDuff children IN THE EXACT SAME COSTUMES that they wore as spirits(?) in the forest; they then re-appeared as the GHOSTS of the MacDuffs looking exactly as they did at the beginning….So were they ghosts before they were murdered? What’s the deal?</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johann_Heinrich_F%C3%BCssli_019.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220px" ida="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-izFb_zO_0V8/Tq-OS3wRLNI/AAAAAAAAAIw/KGRDpnt465U/s320/three+witches" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Witches are scary even when they are not kids</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Starting to get the picture about how this production was jumbled and confusing? But the biggest problem of all was not that the actor who played Ross also stalked around singing Catholic liturgical chant at surprising moments in a remarkable and piercing counter-tenor; nor was it even that the actor portraying Malcolm never diverged – in the whole arc of his development - from a remarkably monotonous tone of slightly deranged despair. This was a big, big problem, as was the depiction of the Porter as a pyromaniac demon of some sort (not kidding). When the director made choices like this, sure, they were weird choices. But the worst affliction of all was that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not enough actually happened on stage. </i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Events and actions moved slower than the viewer’s mind. We looked at the set before the actors even came out and got that message; we picked up a sense of the tone of the production within a few minutes; now give us something else to think about! But no, this didn’t happen, because there was too little action to complement the spoken word. Instead, for the most part the actors seemed to be left to their own devices, perhaps “directed” in this manner: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">OK actor, at this point I’m going to leave you alone on a bare stage with no props and I just want you to stand there – don’t move around or anything – just stand there talking. It will be really interesting! </i>Note to anyone who ever has or ever will direct a play: this doesn’t work. It’s mean to your actors. Don’t do this. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">On the positive side, whenever actual action<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- ie planned movement that illuminated the dialogue, meaningful interaction, etc, - did take place on stage, it was often very good (plus the audience would always perk up a bit and act really grateful). The slaughter of the MacDuff family was performed with energy and dispatch, and the Macbeth’s state banquet where Banquo’s ghost returns as a featured guest was also a highlight. That scene was actually directed very cleverly, as it was performed twice: once before the intermission with an actual blood drenched Banquo appearing before Macbeth’s horrified eyes, and again after the interval from the perspective of the banquet guests, with Macbeth gibbering away at something invisible. (Hilariously, the scene involved Banquo stabbing Macbeth with a ghostly sword, causing Macbeth to react as if he were dead. As this took place just before the lights came up for the intermission, a young lady sitting near me, no doubt unfamiliar with the play, took this to mean that the show was over: “What a strange ending!” she exclaimed.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">These were not the only bright spots in an otherwise somewhat dull production; most of the actors (with the exception of the wretched Malcolm) were first-rate, especially Jonathan Slinger as a young, energetic and somewhat insecure Macbeth, and </span>Aislin McGuckin as a beautiful, captivating and ultimately shatteringly fragile Lady Macbeth. This production had so much potential, yet fell short. - In this way, it reminded me of Lady Macbeth's shaming charge to Macbeth: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Art thou afeard<br />
To be the same in thine own act and valour<br />
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that<br />
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,<br />
And live a coward in thine own esteem,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would,"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like the poor cat i' the adage?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">(1.7.39-44)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Basically, what I (and Lady Macbeth) are getting at here is that if you're going to do Shakespeare - if you're going to create theater - then go for it with all your might! I'd rather see a production go all out and "shoot [its] arrow over the house" than hold back or be careful and do nothing and fail in that way. <span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>Macbeth </em>is cool. It can be done better. "<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Screw your courage to the sticking place!" </span></span></span></div>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-71996822446727461562011-09-25T00:35:00.000-07:002011-09-25T00:37:09.598-07:00Fun Shakespeare TimewasterEver wondered exactly what percentage of words in your prose match up with the vocabulary used in Shakespeare's plays? Well, fear not - the indispensable Oxford Dictionary people have created a way to help you answer this burning question! Go to this link - <a href="http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/08/how-shakespearean-are-you/">http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/08/how-shakespearean-are-you/</a> - paste your text into the little box - and wait anxiously for your Shakespearean percentage verdict to come up. I'm still not sure exactly how this is relevant to anything in my life or writing, but it's oddly fascinating - plus the program gives you cute little notes of encouragement that liken you to Shakespeare when you get a high percentage. Come on, you know you want to try!Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-81318057298587644752011-09-24T12:03:00.000-07:002011-09-25T00:28:07.594-07:00Production Review: RSC Macbeth, part 2 of 3; In Which Shakespeare Girl Takes Her Seat For the Show<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(Thrilling story continued from </span><a href="http://whatshallshakespearesay.blogspot.com/2011/09/production-review-rsc-macbeth-part-1-of.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Part 1!)</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, we g<span style="line-height: 115%;">ot tickets to<em> <a href="http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/macbeth/">Macbeth</a></em> (at the last minute, of course – keep your options open, it’s the only way to travel), and ventured in to view the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/nov/23/royal-shakespeare-theatre-revamp">RSC’s brand spankin’ new remodel of their theater</a>. </span></span><br />
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In theory, the remodel is a nice idea – it replaces a 1930s era proscenium stage with a thrust stage that brings the actors out closer to the audience. I like thrust stages, but I'm also an instinctive conservative who would feel sad if practically anything built anywhere in the whole world were to be demolished. However, I always try to quash these unreasonable feelings, and despite reading about some </span><a href="http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/11/new-royal-shakespeare-theatre-thrust-stage/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">rumblings of controversy</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> about the remodel, I went to the show prepared to be pleased with everything. My first inkling, however, that there might be some rough edges with this here remodel, that it might need a little fine tuning, came when I visited the ladies' restroom. Now, I’m not going to list every little thing that was wrong (I have some sense of propriety!), but suffice it to say that the design of the room had some things wrong with it. It didn’t have that coherence and attention to detail that well-designed spaces have. And anyone who has ever seen the lines outside the ladies’ restroom at any concert, play or performance knows that the ladies’ restroom is IMPORTANT.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Well, but what about the even more important room – the actual theater? Some signs of trouble there too, I’m afraid, starting with MY SEAT. The ticket seller lady had shown me a fancy book with pictures of the view of the stage from every seat in the theater – but the only reason that this was necessary is because many of the seats are “restricted view” of the stage, ie there’s a great big pillar right in front of your face. Seems like a bit of a problem to me, especially once I actually sat there (in the back row of one of the balconies, I forget which one) and there was not only a pillar, but also a weird roof sloping down very low so that I could not see most of the tall set. AND there were stage lights mounted on the little sloping roof that drooped down even farther so that at times I couldn’t see even the PEOPLE acting on or in front of the tall set. I haven’t mentioned yet that my seat was this rather tall stool that you had to sort of launch yourself up into by a running leap (only a slight exaggeration). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Now, all this did not bother me too much, because as previously mentioned, I had bought my ticket at close to the last minute for not that many pounds; being somewhat impecunious, I humbly accepted that to actually be able to see the stage would be too much to hope for. And as I am young and lissome, minor athletics in the theatre, such as jumping up to perch on a high stool, there to bounce for the duration of the show, are no great burden for me. NOT SO for the couple sitting to my left. Older, British, and somewhat stout, they had no sooner entered the theatre and stared and look'd (like Cortez) upon their seats with a wild surmise, that they began unceasingly to breathe imprecations against the RSC, the theatre designer, and all and sundry who might have had a hand in remodeling the theatre in such a way that they had to clamber up and sit in high chairs in order to watch their beloved Shakespeare shows in Stratford. A snatch of their conversation, overheard and surreptitiously copied down by yours truly:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Older British Fellow (indignantly) “They’ve simply destroyed it! An absolute b----y mess.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">American Student in Next Seat (timidly): “I heard that they’ve only just finished renovating it –“</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Old. Brit. Fellow (interrupting): “They haven’t renovated it, they’ve destroyed it. It really used to be a comfortable, beautiful theatre!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">His Wife (plaintively): “ It’s hard for people our age…”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Old. Brit. Fellow: “Well, they just want you to be uncomfortable whilst watching Shakespeare!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">I take no sides as to the truth of this latter statement, dear reader. I simply report what I see and hear.</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">OK, so perhaps none of this seems as though it has much bearing on the quality of the RSC production of <em>Macbeth…</em>but in a way it really does. Find out in the next and final installment of our series!!</span>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-90599198722489905632011-09-23T23:02:00.000-07:002011-09-24T00:51:06.304-07:00Production Review: RSC Macbeth, part 1 of 3; In Which Shakespeare Girl Decides Not to See the RSC Merchant of Venice<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">First off – I shall be reviewing the Royal Shakespeare Company production of <em>Macbeth </em>that I saw while in England. However, no such matter will appear in this post - this will be a three-part series, and everyone will just have to wait until part three for the scoop on <em>Macbeth. </em>Happy day! You won't just get a play review, but a lot of pontificating about the RSC will also be included for no additional charge! But to my tale.</span> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To set the stage. You are in Stratford-upon-Avon, which you find <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> to be, as travel books have warned, a miserable tourist trap, but a very nice little town, with perhaps its most notable feature being a much higher number of bed-and-breakfasts per capita than is perhaps quite usual. (Note – open a good bed-and-breakfast in Stratford and make your fortune.) There are dozens of gleaming white swans in the river; the half-timbered houses with their gorgeous gardens have the added attraction that Shakespeare himself might have spent time within their walls; and you are looking forward to an evening of Shakespeare at the Royal Shakespeare Company theater. The prospect!! Who among the readers of this blog has not heard of the RSC? I myself have done</span><a href="http://whatshallshakespearesay.blogspot.com/2011/05/merchant-of-venice-shylock-part-2-two.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> a fair bit of gushing</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> over some of their work! My summer has turned me into a firm fan of the </span><a href="http://www.ricksteves.com/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rick Steves travel books</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (seriously very good. Don’t travel with anything but these and the Michelin Green Guides), and Rick gravely assures his readers that the RSC puts on the best Shakespeare ANYWHERE in the WORLD! And yet, and yet…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Having followed <a href="http://whatshallshakespearesay.blogspot.com/2011/01/getting-into-shakespeare-part-2.html">Emma’s excellent advice in her article about watching live Shakespeare</a>, I had not only looked up WHAT plays the RSC was doing while I was in their neck of the woods, but I had also carefully read several reviews of the productions. I initially was interested in seeing both <em>Macbeth</em> and <em>The Merchant of Venice</em>, which latter play was starring the great Patrick Stewart (!!!) as Shylock!!!! Yet, after reading what the critics had to say, I was not thrilled. As my readers will possibly remember, I have extremely strong opinions about <em>Merchant</em>,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>and I could tell that the vision for this show - a re-imagining of the story as set in the midst of all the most well-known cliches of behavior in Las Vegas - was not really in line with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my </i>vision. Fear of what the director might be up to with his or her beloved concept, wreak what havoc it may on the play (cry, havoc! And let slip the dogs of war), has caused me again and again to enter theaters hopeful, yet guarded and somewhat suspicious. No director is going to pull a fast one on ME! </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reluctantly, I realized that not even the chance to be in the same room as Patrick Stewart and listen to that deep voice intone some of my favorite Shakespeare lines could reconcile me to a production where my beloved Portia is portrayed as a Las Vegas showgirl; </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/8525424/The-Merchant-of-Venice-Royal-Shakespeare-Theatre-Stratford-upon-Avon-review.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;">here’s the Telegraph review</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> that convinced me to give this one a pass (money quote:</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> <span lang="EN">“poor Patrick Stewart seems to inhabit an entirely different production from the rest of the cast, giving us a sombre and increasingly frail Jew which is intermittently impressive in its own right but seems to have little to do with the gaudy excesses of the rest of the show.”)</span></span><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">So, since “Merchant” is one of my favorites, I didn’t want to go see this production only to have to leave muttering (in a confused sort of combined identification with myself, Shakespeare and <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/198/1.html">J. Alfred Prufrock</a>) “That is not what I meant at all. That is not it, at all."</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">I was further bolstered in my resolution not to see the show by a most enlightening conversation that I overheard in the tiny café at the Stratford railway station. Participants: Myself (not really a participant as I was listening not talking, innocently drinking my tea and sneakily trying to charge my laptop whilst waiting for a train); a lady of the lower classes running the shop; a man (later revealed to be an actor); and a most genteel older widow lady, later revealed to be a former professional ballerina (!). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">The conversation between the Genteel Lady and the Shop Lady rambled on in desultory fashion about the relative merits and pricing of coach travel around the UK as opposed to trains (watch out trains, you are about to lose the Genteel Lady’s business because the coaches are cheaper), until the entrance of the Actor.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Somehow it came out that the Actor had a very small role in the RSC production of <em>Merchant.</em> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">The Genteel Lady, who volunteers in some capacity with the RSC, tried to say something pleasant about the show: “I do try to tell people what it’s like before they go – they’ve had quite a few people STORM OUT! But I really think it’s great fun – just so you know what you’re IN for.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">(Follows more discussion about the show and the Actor’s prospects - he, being an actor, is naturally hoping that his current engagement will lead to bigger and better things. Somehow the conversation turns to the poor uptight creatures who have STORMED OUT, and all join in condemning their poor artistic vision in scorning the production.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Shop Lady: “It’s all these people who want Shakespeare “Shakespeare” Shakespeare!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">(All nod sagely at this wisdom; after some more pleasantries the Actor slips out, leaving the two Ladies to regard one another in silence.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Genteel Lady (quietly to Shop Lady): “have you seen it?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Shop Lady (just as quietly): “No.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Genteel Lady: “Well, you just have to know what you’re IN for, what with Elvis Presley popping up everywhere & girls in feathers. (pause) <em>I</em> think it’s good fun."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Well, my dear genteel lady, it doesn’t sound like good fun to me, so it’s a jolly good thing I knew what I would have been IN for!</span></div><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">We decided to see <em>Macbeth</em> instead. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Stay tuned for part 2, in which Shakespeare girl tells all about the newly remodeled Royal Shakespeare Company building! It's more interesting than it sounds!</span>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-17860621832309609302011-09-09T11:38:00.000-07:002011-09-09T11:38:00.346-07:00Your Foreign Correspondent Reporting….<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m Back!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is Shakespeare girl, returned from my Shakespeare Fact Finding Mission overseas!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">OK, so it wasn’t exactly a Shakespeare business trip and more just a super fun Europe tourist vacation. Aside from our myriad tours of palaces and cathedrals (highly recommended – we like palaces and cathedrals), Emma and I made it a priority to seek Shakespeare where he might be found – to wit, we:</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>saw three Shakespeare productions (yay!)</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">went to Stratford-Upon-Avon</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saw the Shakespeare birthplace house</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saw Shakespeare’s grave at Holy Trinity Church</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saw Shakespeare First Folios at the British Library and at Trinity College, Cambridge (adding to my previous First Folio sighting at the Folger!)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I gained a new understanding of English geography and regional differences, and thrilled at all the Shakespeare connections everywhere <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– Kent and the White Cliffs of Dover? King Lear! Northumbria? The House of Percy from the Henry IVs! We were happy to just miss the re-appearance of forces similar to those of <a href="http://whatshallshakespearesay.blogspot.com/2011/01/jacl-cade.html">our old friend Jack Cade</a> by cleverly fleeing the British Isles for the Continent <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2023874/UK-riots-2011-16k-police-ready-use-plastic-bullets-lid-Londons-looters.html">before the looting broke out</a>; we then explored the vasty fields of France. And as a non-Francophone, I relied heavily on Emma’s superior French-speaking skills and gained a new appreciation for the dismay of Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, in <em><a href="http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=richard2&Scope=entire&pleasewait=1&msg=pl#a1,s3">Richard II</a></em> when he is banished: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The language I have learn'd these forty years, <br />
My native English, now I must forego: <br />
And now my tongue's use is to me no more <br />
Than an unstringed viol or a harp, <br />
Or like a cunning instrument cased up…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">(1.3.456-460)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I also want to report my excitement upon visiting <a href="http://www.warwick-castle.co.uk/misc/online-sales/terms.aspx">Warwick Castle</a>, home of our <a href="http://whatshallshakespearesay.blogspot.com/2011/02/little-diplomacy-please.html">old friend the Earl of Warwick!</a> The castle was very fun, but Emma and I kind of suspected that we were part of a relatively small percentage of tourists that come there solely because of Shakespeare’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><em>Henry VI</em> plays. (We rejected with scorn an advertised tour purporting that Shakespeare WAS the Earl of Warwick. Or vice versa.) Well, well, Shakespeare has something for everyone, and my case proves that a love of Shakespeare can lead to standing on the battlements of a medieval castle in the heart of England. Hurrah!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g7dai8M4Up4/TmpcMgTgwzI/AAAAAAAAAIs/0nwXSvCwyDA/s1600/817.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" nba="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g7dai8M4Up4/TmpcMgTgwzI/AAAAAAAAAIs/0nwXSvCwyDA/s320/817.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On a Tower at Warwick Castle</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Coming soon – reviews of Shakespeare performances in England!</span></div>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-70580622356666587382011-07-01T23:13:00.000-07:002011-07-01T23:13:31.998-07:00Where are Shakespeare girl and Emma?<em>This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England...</em><br />
<em>(Richard II, 2.1.)</em><br />
<br />
As sharp-eyed and observant readers of this page may note, Emma and I have recently been absent from our lonely blog, which has been left to fend for itself. Could it be that Shakespeare girl has tired of reading plays? Has Emma turned her back on her favored pastime of watching Shakespeare films? Can such things be? No! Fear not! Reading and watching has been happening, but writing out all the reams of commentary that I've been longing to share has not, for one very good reason....<strong>we're on vacation in England right now! </strong>Yes, Shakespeare's very own home country. I've never been before, so I'm quite excited, and intend to do as much Shakespeare-oriented sight-seeing as possible. We've been here less than a week, but before that it seemed like every minute (when I, alas, was not updating my beloved Shakespeare blog) was taken up with frantically reading travel books (I checked out about 40 from the library). Planning a trip is serious bizness, you guyz. It's hard. You may now proceed to feel quite sorry for me.<br />
<br />
We'll be in England for the next three and a half weeks, and will spend some time in France after that. Though updates from the road are a possibility, we'll be home the second week of August, and so you can expect to see some more activity on your favorite Shakespeare commentary and quotations blog!Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-82394990486114261242011-05-26T17:01:00.000-07:002011-05-30T18:05:59.402-07:00The Merchant of Venice - Shylock part 2, Two Shylocks<em><strong>Shylock. </strong>I will have the heart of him...</em><em>(3.1.1358)</em><br />
<br />
In my previous post about Shylock, I discussed the controversy surrounding the Jewishness of the evil Shylock and that a lot of readers and critics find the play troubling because of this. An idea that concerned me in some of my research about different viewpoints on the play was the sense that some actors and directors were afraid to touch the play - that the subject matter was too hot to handle. I was happily able to see a powerful performance of the play last year at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and was very moved by it - it makes me sad that some people could miss out on the play because of what I see as a distorted focus. I was therefore very happy to find, in the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001O7R75O/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=whashashasayt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B001O7R75O">Playing Shakespeare</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=whashashasayt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001O7R75O&camp=217145&creative=399349" style="border: currentColor !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> TV series, a robust discussion about Shylock and <em>The Merchant of Venice</em> where the participants agreed with me - that Shylock's status as a very bad Jewish person does not make Shakespeare and the play hateful and unplayable. <br />
<br />
<em>Playing Shakespeare </em>is a very, very cool British TV series from the 1980s where some of the actors and directors from the Royal Shakespeare Company got together and talked about ways to approach performing Shakespeare, with actors such as Ian McKellen, Ben Kingsley and Patrick Stewart giving short scenes and working on them with directors Trevor Nunn and John Barton. It's great fun for any Shakespeare fan - if the comments section from the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001O7R75O/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=whashashasayt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B001O7R75O">Amazon link</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=whashashasayt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001O7R75O&camp=217145&creative=399349" style="border: currentColor !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> doesn't convince you, check out <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105518406">this panegyric review</a> of the series. I myself love the show not only for its thoughtful examination of Shakespeare's text in performance, but also, as a child of the '80s, for its retro appeal as a return to a past world of earth tones, chain smokers, and actors who were young but now are old. Presiding benevolently over all is RSC co-founder John Barton, looking like a kindly, rumpled, absent-minded professor in baggy sweater and disheveled tweed tie. It's good stuff.<br />
My favorite episode in the series is all about Shylock - David Suchet, the delightful actor known everywhere to watchers of PBS's Mystery! as Hercule Poirot, and Patrick Stewart, of Star Trek fame, discuss the part and both perform, with differing interpretation, several scenes from the play. I have to agree with <a href="http://blog.shakespearegeek.com/2010/03/patrick-stewart-loses-shylock-battle.html">Shakespeare Geek</a> here that I prefer Suchet's interpretation of the role - he's truly scary! - but the insights that both men bring are fascinating, even when I don't completely agree with them. You can - and should - watch the whole episode online <a href="http://bergen.ativ.alexanderstreet.com/video/player/track/3221365678">here on the Theatre in Video site</a> - it's under an hour. However, here's a little taste of David Suchet's Shylock to get you going: <br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GWLBwkj07OY" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
Though Stewart and Suchet dig deeply into the motivations, characterization and actions of Shylock, one piece that I see as missing from their discussion is a really clear view of how Shylock fits in with the rest of the play. But what is really going on? What is this play all about? I see the play, as I mentioned before, as about money, marriage and murder, all leading up to mercy. In my next post, I hope to get more deeply into the question of law vs. grace and the importance of promises and bonds in the play - and how Shylock fits into these questions.Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-75177505333074172182011-05-25T17:31:00.000-07:002011-05-30T18:09:43.845-07:00The Merchant of Venice - Shylock part 1<em><strong>Shylock.</strong> He hath disgraced me, and <br />
hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, <br />
mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my </em><br />
<em>bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine <br />
enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath <br />
not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, <br />
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with <br />
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject </em><br />
<em>to the same diseases, healed by the same means, <br />
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as <br />
a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? <br />
if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison <br />
us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not </em><br />
<em>revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will <br />
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, <br />
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian <br />
wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by <br />
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you </em><br />
<em>teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I <br />
will better the instruction. </em><br />
<em>(3.1.1288-1307)</em><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lg-v-11quEI/TeQvZM2TPMI/AAAAAAAAAIo/LQppE_Xf4Mo/s1600/372PX-%257E1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lg-v-11quEI/TeQvZM2TPMI/AAAAAAAAAIo/LQppE_Xf4Mo/s400/372PX-%257E1.JPG" width="247" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(<em>Shylock</em> by László Mednyánszky)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><em>The Merchant of Venice, </em>for all its wit and charm, is in this day and age a controversial play, because the murderous villain of the piece - Shylock - is a Jew. Not only does Shakespeare have a lot of his characters speak anti-Jewish insults, Shylock also defends his plot to kill the merchant, Antonio, in terms of justifiable revenge for Antonio's bad treatment of him because of his ethnicity and religion. In a way, Jewishness - identity and defense - can be read as the root of the great evil that Shylock plans, and this emphasis on Shylock's Jewishness as such a major part of the story makes a lot of people uncomfortable - the play perceived by some as bigoted and ought not to be performed. <a href="http://bloggingshakespeare.com/playing-the-unplayable">Click here to</a> read an examination of this kind of discomfort on "Blogging Shakespeare." <br />
I strongly disagree with this view, for many reasons that I'll get into later. However, some productions, in an effort to overcome the what they see as the anti-Semitic implications of having a Jewish villain, focus on Shylock's speech that references Jews' shared humanity with Christians: <br />
<br />
<em>Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, <br />
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with <br />
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject </em><br />
<em>to the same diseases, healed by the same means, <br />
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as <br />
a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?....</em><br />
<br />
In a performance that interprets this passage in a sympathetic way, Shylock can come across almost like a noble freedom fighter, struggling for equality in a harsh, cruel world. And this speech is undoubtedly crucially important: Shakespeare puts nothing in by accident, and this speech - which receives no contradiction - refutes any sort of anti-Semetic idea that Jews are somehow a lesser/separate form of humanity, monsters by nature (a very offensive idea! If this were Shakespeare's Shylock, I would agree that the play is anti-Semitic - but as we shall see, that's not what is going on.) However, this speech cannot, in my opinion, be used to make Shylock NOT a villain. It in fact proves that he is one: being exactly equal with the Christians in all his humanity, passions and sensibility, he makes a deliberate choice to embrace violence and vengeance, turning himself INTO a monster: <br />
<em>If a Jew wrong a Christian, <br />
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian <br />
wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by <br />
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you </em><br />
<em>teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I <br />
will better the instruction. </em>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-54764649413968425392011-05-23T15:26:00.000-07:002011-05-25T16:16:51.535-07:00The Merchant of Venice<em><strong>Portia</strong><strong>. </strong></em><a href="" name="206"></a><em>If to do were as easy as to know what were good to <br />
do, chapels had been churches and poor men's <br />
cottages princes' palaces. It is a good divine that <br />
follows his own instructions: I can easier teach <br />
twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the <br />
twenty to follow mine own teaching. The brain may <br />
devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps <br />
o'er a cold decree....</em><em>(1.2.206-213)</em><br />
<br />
Oh, how I love this play. Especially after what for me was a rather dreary slog through <em>King John, The Merchant of Venice </em>is a delight -<em> </em>the beautiful writing, lively plot and thoughtful examination of the complicated issues facing the characters felt to me like the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. Everyone loves a courtroom drama, and <em>The Merchant of Venice, </em>like any good story of that genre, inexorably moves toward a final showdown where the parties appear in court and the judge gives a verdict. But the play is more than that - the plot centers around money, marriage, and murder (for such is Shylock's plot against Antonio), and in each case there is only one real answer - mercy.<br />
<br />
I chose the opening quotation - one of the very first things that we hear Portia, our wise heroine, say - as it seems to me in many ways to sum up a lot of what the play is about. Often we know what is right to do, but can we do it? This failure between thought and aspiration, hope and achievement, is seen in the contrast between Portia's beautiful Belmont and the savagery of the Rialto, the merchant's exchange in Venice: though Venetian law, we are told, is supposed to make everything just and fair, we see it instead being used to further revenge and violence, incited by racial hatred. Law - thought-through restraints that put up walls to protect people against the impulses of every passion - is in many ways the the highest example of aspiration for humanity: a teacher telling us <em>what were good to <br />
do. </em>It can be twisted, though, and, as Portia points out, when the going gets rough, the <em>hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree.</em> When it doesn't feel right, people scramble to try to get away from the law. We see this tension again and again in this play: there are issues with trusting people to hold to their promises, pay their debts, keep their word - with money and with marriage.Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-73465494419882046852011-05-11T16:19:00.000-07:002011-05-25T19:33:15.233-07:00King John - Mothers<i><b>Phillip the Bastard.</b> But who comes in such haste in riding-robes? <br />
What woman-post is this? hath she no husband <br />
That will take pains to blow a horn before her? <br />
[Enter LADY FAULCONBRIDGE and GURNEY] <br />
O me! it is my mother. How now, good lady! <br />
What brings you here to court so hastily? </i><br />
<b><i>Lady Falconbridge. </i></b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2106924710861012601&postID=7346549441988204685" name="230"></a><i>Where is that slave, thy brother? where is he, <br />
That holds in chase mine honour up and down? </i><br />
<i>(1.1.224-231)</i><br />
<br />
***<br />
<i><b>Constance. </b>My bed was ever to thy son as true <br />
As thine was to thy husband; and this boy <br />
Liker in feature to his father Geoffrey<br />
Than thou and John in manners; being as like <br />
As rain to water, or devil to his dam. <br />
My boy a bastard! By my soul, I think <br />
His father never was so true begot: <br />
It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother. </i><br />
<i> (2.1.418-425)</i><br />
<br />
Um. Well, Happy Mother's Day to you too. Somehow it seems that my reading of Shakespeare is always a little off from whatever major holiday falls on that week. <i>King John, </i>for example, though very much a play about mothers and sons, is not a happy story about <i>good </i>mothers and sons - Queen Eleanor is the power behind John's throne; Constance, her daughter-in-law, fights for her son Arthur's right to that same throne with much more passion than he, poor little boy, ever felt; Phillip the Bastard identifies his mother, Lady Falconbridge, as the only parent he has known and thanks her for committing adultery with King Richard so that he had the good fortune to be born. Unfortunately, he besmirches her reputation by being acknowledged as Richard's son. Oh well, price to be paid! However, Lady Falconbridge is not the only mother to be accused of adultery - as we can see from the quotations above, Constance and Eleanor get some good insults going between them as well. Nice family, right?<br />
<br />
Though these passionate, ambitious women seem to want only the best for their sons, tragedy is all that comes of their actions. Phillip the Bastard, seeking his birthright from his mother and true father, accepts the dazzling prospect of a title and a home with his royal relatives rather than the sure security of the estate of his mother's husband, an estate that the law would have given him; this choice leads him to nothing but incessant war and bloodshed. Poor Arthur faces imprisonment and death, and John - used to relying on the bold decisiveness of his indefatigable mother - is stunned and simply deflates when he hears of her death:<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>Withhold thy speed, dreadful occasion! <br />
O, make a league with me, till I have pleased <br />
My discontented peers! What! mother dead!</i> <br />
<i>(4.2.1857-1859)</i><br />
<br />
Ultimately, the unhealthy relationships demonstrated by these mothers, who pushed the sons into positions of power and didn't let go, lead to sorrow for other mothers and sons:<i><br />
</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i><b>French Herald</b></i> <br />
<i>.....the hand of France this day hath made </i><br />
<i>Much work for tears in many an English mother, </i><br />
<i>Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground.....</i><br />
<i>(609-611) </i>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-20360446278874183882011-05-09T15:00:00.000-07:002011-05-18T20:32:44.647-07:00King John<strong><em>Philip the Bastard. </em></strong><a href="" name="660"></a><em>Ha, majesty! how high thy glory towers, <br />
When the rich blood of kings is set on fire! <br />
O, now doth Death line his dead chaps with steel; <br />
The swords of soldiers are his teeth, his fangs; <br />
And now he feasts, mousing the flesh of men, <br />
In undetermined differences of kings. <br />
Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus? <br />
Cry, 'havoc!' kings; back to the stained field, <br />
You equal potents, fiery kindled spirits! <br />
Then let confusion of one part confirm <br />
The other's peace: till then, blows, blood and death! </em><br />
<span class="playlinenum"><em>(2.1.660-670)</em></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hc_jmGXMp1Q/TdRE3TyZy1I/AAAAAAAAAIk/o1iY2sdSP2M/s1600/210px-John_of_England_%2528John_Lackland%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hc_jmGXMp1Q/TdRE3TyZy1I/AAAAAAAAAIk/o1iY2sdSP2M/s320/210px-John_of_England_%2528John_Lackland%2529.jpg" width="194" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>King John (1166-1216)</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I find <em>King John</em> rather a curious play. John as a monarch has two major identifiers in the 20th/21st century imagination: as the signer of the Magna Carta, which would rein in the power of despotic rulers and lay the groundwork for truth, justice and the American way; and as the Bad King John of the Robin Hood legend, who skulks around with the Sheriff of Nottingham and spends his time conspiring against his brother, the noble Richard, when not plotting ways to grind the poor underfoot. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Neither of these themes appears at all in Shakespeare's play. Instead, we have a labyrinthine plot where John fights with the French; makes up with the French; fights with the Pope; fights with the French; fights with the nobles; makes up with the Pope; fights with the French even though the Pope tells them not to; makes up with the nobles; and then *spoiler alert* dies. Plus John's badness - his claim to the throne is not 100% solid, and he's willing to kill his little nephew to make it so - seems kind of like a less exciting retread of <em>Richard III</em>. John has one nephew he wants to get rid of? Well, Richard has two!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Despite the (for me) less than compelling plot, there are some interesting themes and characters in the play, and some beautiful passages - though on the whole, the work is not as poetic as <em>Richard II. </em>One of the examples of interesting imagery is in the passage quoted above, where Philip the Bastard, John's nephew, paints a picture of the French and English armies somehow forming a corporeal expression of Death - their individual actions united allow Death to stalk the land, the swords of the soldiers serving as sharp teeth as he chews his way through his victims. The Bastard speaks of the Kings as amazed and potentially confused by all this bloodshed. In a way, this sense of a loss of control, of confusion, of wandering action leading to disaster yet disconnected from careful thought seems to pervade the whole play, leading to the abrupt and ambiguous ending.</div>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-8107611102089629922011-05-07T11:38:00.000-07:002011-05-16T19:06:11.045-07:00A Midsummer Night's Dream - A Fairy SongFIRST FAIRY. <i>You spotted snakes with double tongue, <br />
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; <br />
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, <br />
Come not near our fairy Queen. </i><br />
<br />
CHORUS.<br />
<i>Philomel with melody <br />
Sing in our sweet lullaby. <br />
Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby.<br />
Never harm <br />
Nor spell nor charm <br />
Come our lovely lady nigh. <br />
So good night, with lullaby. </i><br />
<br />
SECOND FAIRY. <br />
<em>Weaving spiders, come not here; <br />
Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence. <br />
Beetles black, approach not near; <br />
Worm nor snail do no offence. </em><br />
<br />
CHORUS.<br />
<i>Philomel with melody, etc. </i><br />
<br />
Here's the fairy song that Titania asks her servants to sing to send her to sleep. Not only is it fun because there's so much in this play that makes it into a kind of multi-arts theater presentation - music! dancing! play-within-a-play! - the poem is also neat in that all its imagery is of little, small creatures: beetles, snails, newts, nightingales, spiders. These small animals - very minor threats to humans like us - become towering figures that must be threatened off by Shakespeare's little fairies. <br />
<br />
I looked around for different versions of this song, but I didn't really find anything that I liked. Felix Mendelssohn wrote music for the play (this is where his famous Wedding March comes from), and his version of the song is pretty, but it sounds very ordered and polished - sort of a fairy-like Gilbert and Sullivany kind of sound. You can listen <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jymqWUZbB2w">here.</a> I always thought of this song as being wilder though - with a melody maybe something <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0wvWOspVMM&feature=related">like this</a>, an old Latin carol sung by the wonderful Maddy Prior. Shakespeare's words would fit to that tune, right? <br />
<br />
I just can't resist posting another Arthur Rackham picture, this time illustrating this scene - I love the little guy with the double bass. The way this picture looks is the way I want the song to sound!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-frOBhT4d584/TdHW5PflG8I/AAAAAAAAAIg/aQqQcLKdfew/s400/song.jpg" width="308" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>Come, now a roundel and a fairy song...(2.2.650)</em></div>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-25592996525396223352011-05-05T21:19:00.000-07:002011-05-10T21:35:23.157-07:00A Midsummer Night's Dream - Fairies and Flowers<strong><em>Puck</em><em>. </em></strong><a href="" name="368"></a><em>How now, spirit! whither wander you? </em><em> </em><br />
<strong><em>Fairy</em><em>. </em></strong><a href="" name="369"></a><em>Over hill, over dale, <br />
Thorough bush, thorough brier, <br />
Over park, over pale, <br />
Thorough flood, thorough fire, <br />
I do wander everywhere, <br />
Swifter than the moon's sphere; <br />
And I serve the fairy queen, <br />
To dew her orbs upon the green. <br />
The cowslips tall her pensioners be: <br />
In their gold coats spots you see; <br />
Those be rubies, fairy favours, <br />
In those freckles live their savours: <br />
I must go seek some dewdrops here <br />
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear. <br />
Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone: <br />
Our queen and all our elves come here anon.</em><br />
<em>(2.1.368-384)</em><br />
<br />
With this play, I want to concentrate on some of the gorgeous poetry and nature imagery - like in this passage! The simple rhyme scheme and homely words - like "freckles" - help to establish the character of a servant fairy, setting about a task that is standard for the speaker, but magical to us. I love the image of the dew in flowers as pearls placed there to adorn the blossom. But what is a cowslip? Here it is!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pe8ER-IvAQo/TcoQrWzaHfI/AAAAAAAAAIY/ScogPDhbhD0/s320/800px-Cowslip_%2528Primula_veris%2529_in_Great_Ashby_District_Park%252C_Stevenage.jpg" width="320" /></div><div align="center"><em>Cowslip (Primula veris)</em></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Look, you can see the freckles, the "rubies, fairy favours," the spots in their "gold coats"! Doesn't seeing the brightness, the liveliness of these flowers make the scene, the poetry, seem more alive?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-59117615403399788222011-05-04T20:18:00.000-07:002011-05-10T21:18:41.636-07:00A Midsummer Night's Dream - ArtThe fantasy fairy landscape of <em>A Midsummer Night's Dream </em>has been inspiring visual artists for hundreds of years. My favorite <em>Midsummer </em>art that I want to share here is the 1908 collection of illustrations by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rackham">Arthur Rackham</a>: I was captivated by his delicately ethereal and beautiful, yet complex and dark, vision of Oberon and Titania's woodland fairy world. I'm going to post some of my favorite images here, but check out the <a href="http://classics.freehomepage.com/midsummer/midsummer.html">whole work here,</a> presented with the text: I especially like the artwork from <a href="http://classics.freehomepage.com/midsummer/acttwo.html">Act Two.</a> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5UOAwnkwNn0/TcoGktoNGLI/AAAAAAAAAII/KxImC_td62A/s1600/midsummer+moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5UOAwnkwNn0/TcoGktoNGLI/AAAAAAAAAII/KxImC_td62A/s400/midsummer+moon.jpg" width="282" /></a></div><div align="center"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>...the moon, like to a silver bow<br />
New-bent in heaven...(1.1.10-11)</em></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CpKTuzYFCZI/TcoJ6rCcSdI/AAAAAAAAAIU/GHA2gZtMk_4/s1600/downright.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CpKTuzYFCZI/TcoJ6rCcSdI/AAAAAAAAAIU/GHA2gZtMk_4/s400/downright.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Fairies, away. We shall chide downright if I longer stay. (2.1.515)</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a6zV-fgHDHQ/TcoJcsnGdcI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/NRXWjbDxApI/s1600/bottom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a6zV-fgHDHQ/TcoJcsnGdcI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/NRXWjbDxApI/s400/bottom.jpg" width="307" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>"O Bottom, thou art changed!" (3.1.931)</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-49146025953981237052011-05-03T16:19:00.000-07:002011-05-06T13:07:19.303-07:00A Midsummer Night's Dream - May<i><b>Lysander. </b>If thou lovest me then, <br />
Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night; <br />
And in the wood, a league without the town, <br />
Where I did meet thee once with Helena, <br />
To do observance to a morn of May, <br />
There will I stay for thee. </i><i>(1.1.169-174)</i><br />
<br />
<i><b>Theseus</b><b>. </b></i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2106924710861012601&postID=4914602595398123705" name="1687"></a><i>No doubt they rose up early to observe <br />
The rite of May...</i><br />
<i>(4.1.1688-89)</i><br />
<br />
Fittingly, we're reading <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream </i>in the first week of May. The <i>Norton Shakespeare </i>notes that "observing the May" or "the rite of May," as both Lysander and Theseus mention, was a tradition where young people went out into the fields and woods to sing and dance in celebration of the coming of Spring - and this wonderfully magical and dazzling play is perfect to read or see on "a morn of May." It just overflows with the feeling of springtime: everyone finds themselves out in the woods, flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and everyone's getting married. In fact, there's a ROYAL WEDDING on! (Maybe Hippolyta and Theseus' wedding was sort of like <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1381836/ROYAL-WEDDING-COVERAGE-2011-Pictures-Britains-finest-moment-glory.html">this.)</a> I personally am delighted and feel like celebrating myself, because, after a very gray and rainy winter, (just like in the play:<br />
<br />
<i><b>Titania. </b>Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, <br />
As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea <br />
Contagious fogs; which falling in the land <br />
Have every pelting river made so proud </i><br />
<i>That they have overborne their continents...</i><br />
<i>(2.1.456-560) </i><br />
<br />
- it seems like the spring is finally here! The bulbs I planted last fall are all blooming, and the sun is actually shining!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z79nPCo4oTo/TcM2p-P5ahI/AAAAAAAAAIE/MqKPplal6BQ/s1600/800px-Har_Adar_Tulips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z79nPCo4oTo/TcM2p-P5ahI/AAAAAAAAAIE/MqKPplal6BQ/s320/800px-Har_Adar_Tulips.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center">(<i>Spring tulips! Not actually a picture of <b>my </b>tulips, but they look a lot like this.)</i></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Of course all is not sweetness and light in <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i> - the spring, the woodland, and its fairy inhabitants are not uniformly kind - but all works out well in the end. Of course it does, because it's May!</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-26397582258914928862011-04-30T15:27:00.000-07:002011-05-06T13:06:34.221-07:00Romeo and Juliet - Stars<i><b>Juliet. </b>...Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night, <br />
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, <br />
Take him and cut him out in little stars, </i><i>And he will make the face of heaven so fine <br />
That all the world will be in love with night <br />
And pay no worship to the garish sun. </i><br />
<i>(3.2.1738-1743)</i><br />
Stars, of course, are a huge theme in <i>Romeo and Juliet. </i>It's in the context of stars, and the power they wield in the lives of humans, that we are introduced to the couple for the first time by the Chorus: <br />
<i>A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life (1.1.6). </i>But I love the quote opening this post, spoken by Juliet, because it doesn't just touch on the lovers' impending mortality - Juliet also uses stars as an image for the wonderfulness of Romeo. The passage is just so, so lovely, and shows us a new way to see these young lovers - as bright and beautiful, burning like stars. It's also so sad, as we know that Romeo <i>will</i> die - but the ugliness and pain of his self-slaughter by poison does not, for me, match Juliet's hopeful image of a translation after death into dazzling stars in the night sky.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D1quPM-N2_A/TcMsObie5rI/AAAAAAAAAIA/jU0SJJ4e60o/s1600/Juliet_-_Philip_H__Calderon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D1quPM-N2_A/TcMsObie5rI/AAAAAAAAAIA/jU0SJJ4e60o/s320/Juliet_-_Philip_H__Calderon.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><div align="center"><i>(Juliet looking at the night sky -</i></div><div align="center"><i>"Juliet" by Philip H. Calderon)</i></div><br />
Though I, at any rate, often feel very exasperated throughout the play with R & J, who constantly do dumb stuff (ie threaten to/actually commit suicide),<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a> I wouldn't care at all if I didn't have affection for the "stars" of this play. Juliet's happiness in seeing Romeo as "so fine" causes me to care more for them both, which makes the tragedy that much more sad when, overwhelmed by what they see as the unlucky convergence of the stars in their lives, they choose to release themselves from being under the stars' sway:<br />
<br />
<i><b>Romeo. </b>I still will stay with thee; <br />
And never from this palace of dim night <br />
Depart again: here, here will I remain <br />
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here </i><br />
<i>Will I set up my everlasting rest, <br />
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars <br />
From this world-wearied flesh.</i><br />
<i>(5.3.3052-3058)</i>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-56388836196278168902011-04-29T20:08:00.000-07:002011-05-03T18:05:09.926-07:00Romeo and Juliet - Mercutio<b><i>Romeo. </i></b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2106924710861012601&postID=5638883619627816890" name="1600"></a><i>Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. </i><i> </i><br />
<b><i>Mercutio. </i></b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2106924710861012601&postID=5638883619627816890" name="1601"></a><i>No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a <br />
church-door; but 'tis enough,'twill serve: ask for <br />
me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I <br />
am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o' <br />
both your houses!...</i><br />
<div class="playtext"><i> A plague o' both your houses! <br />
They have made worms' meat of me: I have it, <br />
And soundly too: your houses! </i></div><div class="playtext"><br />
</div><div class="playtext"><b><i>Romeo. </i></b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2106924710861012601&postID=5638883619627816890" name="1616"></a><i>This gentleman, the prince's near ally, <br />
My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt <br />
In my behalf....</i></div><div class="playtext"><i>(3.1.1600-1605,1612-1618)</i></div><div class="playtext"><br />
</div><div class="playtext">Mercutio, Romeo's friend, stands outside the families that clash in the Capulet-Montague feud. He, related to the Prince, perhaps represents the rest of Verona; he has connections to both of the fighting families - a friend to Romeo, yet invited to the Capulet's party. However, despite his situation as an outsider to the conflict...<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
...he ends up stabbed to death, collateral damage in the violence springing from the "ancient grudge." </div><div class="playtext"><br />
</div><div class="playtext">Mercutio is a lively, dazzling character. Restless, poetic, always talking, his personality ranges in expression from the imaginative imagery of the Queen Mab speech, to crude puns and teasing directed at Romeo, to his willingness to engage in violence. His name seems to help define him, as his volatility and sudden decisions seem quite "mercurial" - but I also think of Mercutio, in his final moments, as related to Mercury, the messenger god of Roman mythology. </div><div class="playtext"><br />
</div><div class="playtext">Mercutio has a message for Romeo - a very bitter last pronouncement to his friend: <i> A plague o' both your houses! </i>Just as Romeo's dreams and premonitions of death come true, so does Mercutio's doom come upon both the Capulets and Montagues, who both lose their children: as Mercutio's kinsman the Prince says, "all are punish'd" (5.3.3270). Mercutio's fate reminds me of the sad words that end <i>Love's Labour's Lost: "</i>The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo" (5.2. 2876). Though I'm not sure exactly what that phrase means, I read it as a return to reality: messages come in from the world, tearing us away from the poetry represented by Apollo. This literally fits Mercutio, who lives in a world of dazzling poetry, yet finishes his life taking on the harsh role of a messenger delivering an unwelcome and unmusical word: <i>A plague o' both your houses!</i></div>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-67862426182326849772011-04-26T20:20:00.000-07:002011-04-29T21:11:24.812-07:00Romeo and Juliet - Requited Love<em><strong>Romeo</strong><strong>. </strong></em><a href="" name="1117"></a><em>Then plainly know my heart's dear love is set <br />
On the fair daughter of rich Capulet: <br />
As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine; <br />
And all combined, save what thou must combine </em><br />
<em>By holy marriage...</em><br />
<em>(2.2.1117-1120)</em><br />
<em></em> <br />
<em>Romeo and Juliet </em>is really very different from most love stories. My own impression of romance/chick flick "formula" is that boy and girl meet and either 1) dislike each other heartily; 2) one likes the other but the beloved does not reciprocate. Either way, the couple has to <em>learn</em> to love each other. Shakespeare himself follows this format himself a lot - where would <em>Twelfth Night </em>or <em>Much Ado About Nothing </em>be without unrequited love and "frenemies"? <em>Romeo and Juliet, </em>however, is different. No doubts or delays for our young lovers - they see each other and zowie! Requited love! Of course, there's the whole problem of their families being deadly enemies...but emotionally, that hurdle is easy to overcome. (Practically, of course, it's another matter - that's where the conflict comes in!)<br />
<br />
I think that this eager, easy mutuality of Romeo and Juliet's feelings is highlighted by that awkward character, Rosaline - the girl that Romeo had been swooning over before he met Juliet. Romeo was eager to love someone, and he thought Rosaline was the one. The problem? She didn't like him back! Rosaline is mentioned A LOT in the play, and she doesn't really fit in that well with a reading where Romeo and Juliet are like these amazing, fated, once-in-a-thousand-years type of lovers. Rosaline gives the lie to that: Romeo could have been quite happy with someone else, and if Juliet had given him the cold shoulder, I'm sure he would have kept on looking. The difference between Juliet and Rosaline?<br />
... <em>she whom I love now <br />
Doth grace for grace and love for love allow; <br />
The other did not so.</em> <br />
<em>(2.2.1146-1148)</em>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-18103041427272571032011-04-24T19:48:00.000-07:002011-05-03T18:05:59.045-07:00Romeo and Juliet - Dreams<b><i>Romeo</i></b><b><i>. </i></b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2106924710861012601&postID=1810304142727257103" name="596"></a><i>Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! <br />
Thou talk'st of nothing.</i><br />
<br />
<i><b>Mercutio</b><b>. </b></i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2106924710861012601&postID=1810304142727257103" name="598"></a><i>True, I talk of dreams, <br />
Which are the children of an idle brain, <br />
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, <br />
Which is as thin of substance as the air <br />
And more inconstant than the wind.... </i><br />
<i>(Romeo and Juliet, 1.4.596 - 600)</i><br />
<br />
Romeo and Juliet, those legendary lovers, live in a world of signs and tokens, where the influence of the stars shapes destiny and dreams, in some mysterious way, come true. Romeo doesn't want to go to the Capulet's party because of a dream, and his mystical feelings about the evening come true:<br />
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...<i>my mind misgives <br />
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars <br />
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date<br />
With this night's revels and expire the term <br />
Of a despised life closed in my breast <br />
By some vile forfeit of untimely death</i>.<br />
<i>(1.4.609-613)</i><br />
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Yet, there's also a sense in the play, as expressed by Mercutio, that these dreams are "nothing," that there's an unreality, a fantasy that is at play. But what does that say about life, when the lines between dreaming and waking are blurred?<br />
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<i><b>Romeo</b><b>. </b></i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2106924710861012601&postID=1810304142727257103" name="992"></a><i>O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard. <br />
Being in night, all this is but a dream, <br />
Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.</i><br />
<i>(2.2.991-993)</i><br />
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Romeo and Juliet's tragedy in many ways seems to revolve around this priviledging of sweet fantasy over reality - they literally both choose to take themselves out of the only reality we know by removing themselves from life through suicide. Romeo expresses this ambivilence about life/death and dream fantasy/reality in this passage:<br />
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<i><b>Romeo. </b>I dreamt my lady came and found me dead— <br />
Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave <br />
to think!— <br />
And breathed such life with kisses in my lips, <br />
That I revived, and was an emperor. <br />
Ah me! how sweet is love itself possess'd, </i><br />
<i>When but love's shadows are so rich in joy!</i><br />
<i>(5.1.2810-2815)</i><br />
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By choosing the shadow (another word for ghost) of love over actual life, hard and painful, perhaps Mercutio's thoughts on dreams come true for Romeo and Juliet - their dream of love led to the nothingness of death.Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-32508292234367176782011-04-23T00:01:00.000-07:002011-04-24T00:20:44.361-07:00Happy Birthday!<em>...then there was a star danced, and under that was I born. </em><br />
<em>Much Ado About Nothing, 2.1.710</em><br />
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HAPPY 477th BIRTHDAY SHAKESPEARE!<br />
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</em>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-26795425991358499082011-04-15T19:29:00.000-07:002011-04-25T22:03:43.516-07:00Richard II - Sad Stories of the Death of Kings<i>For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground <br />
And tell sad stories of the death of kings; <br />
How some have been deposed; some slain in war, <br />
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed; <br />
Some poison'd by their wives: some sleeping kill'd; <br />
All murder'd: for within the hollow crown <br />
That rounds the mortal temples of a king <br />
Keeps Death his court and there the antic sits, <br />
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp, <br />
Allowing him a breath, a little scene, <br />
To monarchize, be fear'd and kill with looks, <br />
Infusing him with self and vain conceit, <br />
As if this flesh which walls about our life, <br />
Were brass impregnable, and humour'd thus <br />
Comes at the last and with a little pin <br />
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!</i><br />
<i>(Richard II, 3.2.1565-1580)</i><br />
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Richard, though politically tone-deaf at times in this play...<br />
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<a name='more'></a> also displays quite a bit of self-awareness. Richard not only has a consciousness of his story as larger than himself, but also identifies, in this speech, the trap of royalty into which he has fallen - believing that he is greater and more powerful than he is.<br />
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Richard's meditations on the role of kings in story are always, like the above quote, so evocative of a certain sad, nostalgic mood - sitting on the ground with friends, or as in this later passage, staring into the embers of a dying fire. Who has not done this and felt that sadness, that wish that things could be different and better?<br />
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<i>In winter's tedious nights sit by the fire <br />
With good old folks and let them tell thee tales <br />
Of woeful ages long ago betid; <br />
And ere thou bid good night, to quit their griefs, <br />
Tell thou the lamentable tale of me <br />
And send the hearers weeping to their beds: <br />
For why, the senseless brands will sympathize <br />
The heavy accent of thy moving tongue <br />
And in compassion weep the fire out; <br />
And some will mourn in ashes, some coal-black, <br />
For the deposing of a rightful king. </i><br />
<i>(5.1.2374-2385)</i>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-40878996951244129852011-04-14T23:21:00.000-07:002011-04-25T22:06:57.099-07:00Richard II - Mirrored Men<i>High-stomached are they both and full of ire;</i><br />
<i>In rage, deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.</i><br />
<i>(Richard II, 1.1.18-19)</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard II</td></tr>
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Though <i>Richard II </i>is certainly noteworthy for the lyrical beauty of its language, I also really like... <br />
<a name='more'></a> ...the tight, tight focus of its story - the confrontation between Richard II and Henry Bolingbroke, **SPOILER ALERT** the man who will take his crown away. Going by historical chronology, <i>Richard II </i>shows the ascension of Bolingbroke - Henry IV - as the first of the Lancastrian kings of England. Shakespeare, over the years, tells us the stories of every one of the kings of this line. We've already read the end of the saga with the <i>Henry VIs </i>and <i>Richard III, </i>plays that deal largely with a question that <i>Richard II </i>tackles - how can revolt against or replacement of a king be justified?<i> </i><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QWCUHdAs9b4/Taqcd6JBD3I/AAAAAAAAAH4/c8dQcP0kzd0/s1600/a+shakespeare+-HenryBolingbrokeClaimsThrone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QWCUHdAs9b4/Taqcd6JBD3I/AAAAAAAAAH4/c8dQcP0kzd0/s1600/a+shakespeare+-HenryBolingbrokeClaimsThrone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Henry Bolingbroke</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">Though the opening quotation is spoken by Richard about Bolingbroke and one of Richard's partisans, I felt that it was also appropriate to represent the relationship between Henry and Richard, as in many ways the two men - very similar, relatives to begin with - find themselves becoming more and more like the other throughout the play by taking on the other's role. Because Henry Bolingbroke, aggrieved because Richard stole all his money and his land, has to knock out the rightful king in order to take the throne himself and regain his dignity, there is a lot of ambiguity in the play - Richard is a grasping and unjust ruler in many ways, but once Bolingbroke takes the crown, the tables suddenly turn. Where before Richard had unfairly seized Bolingbroke's inheritance, now Henry takes Richard's. Where Richard had winked at the murder of political enemies, Bolingbroke finds himself doing the same. I find Shakespeare's histories in general to be really compelling, because the stakes are high - what will be the immediate destiny of an entire nation? In this play, with the mirroring between the characters of Richard and Henry, the question becomes not just of national importance, but intensely small and personal - man against man. Does committing a wrong to correct a wrong make a right?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-56757915708593463402011-04-12T01:11:00.000-07:002011-04-25T22:06:25.937-07:00Richard II - This Other Eden<i><b>John of Gaunt</b><b>. </b></i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="713"></a><i>Methinks I am a prophet new inspired <br />
...</i><br />
<i>This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, <br />
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, <br />
This other Eden, demi-paradise, <br />
This fortress built by Nature for herself <br />
Against infection and the hand of war, <br />
This happy breed of men, this little world, <br />
This precious stone set in the silver sea, <br />
Which serves it in the office of a wall, <br />
Or as a moat defensive to a house, <br />
Against the envy of less happier lands, <br />
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, <br />
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, <br />
Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth, <br />
Renowned for their deeds as far from home, <br />
For Christian service and true chivalry, <br />
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry, <br />
Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's Son, <br />
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land, <br />
Dear for her reputation through the world, </i><br />
<i>Is now leased out, I die pronouncing it, <br />
Like to a tenement or pelting farm: <br />
England, bound in with the triumphant sea <br />
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege <br />
Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame, <br />
With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds: <br />
That England, that was wont to conquer others, <br />
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself. <br />
Ah, would the scandal vanish with my life, <br />
How happy then were my ensuing death! <br />
(Richard II, 2.1.713-750)</i><br />
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John of Gaunt's speech about his country is justly famous - surely one of the most beautiful patriotic things ever written by anyone, anywhere... <br />
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I absolutely thrill when I read it, and I'm an American and have never even been to England! I mean, what can one say about it? Like any great work of art, at some point it defies commentary, standing stalwart in its own beauty. Look at just this one gorgeous line: <i>This precious stone set in the silver sea. </i>All the 's' alliteration creates the very <i>sound </i>of the washing of waves and water. Of course, the striking thing about the speech is that, while praising his homeland, Gaunt at the same time manages to be, shall we say, very uncomplimentary about England's present course. I love Shakespeare - never simple. <br />
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To see a great actor deliver some of these lines, watch this clip of Leslie Howard.<i> </i>If you want to see the end of the story of <i>The Scarlet Pimpernel</i>, you can watch the whole video; otherwise, if Shakespeare is what you're after, start at 5:30. Enjoy!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/K4NLY0cWDuQ" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2106924710861012601.post-91799588205235182832011-04-11T01:19:00.000-07:002011-04-17T01:21:41.255-07:00Richard II - Shakespeare Girl's Dad is Correct<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When I told my dad that I had read <i>Richard II </i>this week, his face just lit up. "Don't you love it? Don't you just love it?" he exclaimed. And I agree with his reasons for valuing this play - it's so beautifully poetic, so thoughtful. In the rich, detailed text, we see a lot of nature imagery, especially references to gardens and the sea; there's a lot of focus on time, and a constant theme of pilgrimage. The character Richard II also has a fascinating awareness of his own theatricality - himself as being worthy story material. I'm really looking forward to digging deeper in commentary for the blog. I love it, dad!<o:p></o:p></span></div>Shakespeare girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09817955149791270897noreply@blogger.com0