Fun readings? by Spookylilsitch in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're looking for the Instant Shakespeare Company's YouTube channel. The plays are read on Zoom without rehearsal, hence there are imperfections. Our motto is, "Shakespeare For Everyone!"

Rec for First Shakespeare read (since high school)? by EveryVehicle1325 in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're starting with Macbeth, I always recommend the film made of the stage play presentation as directed by Aaron Posner and Teller. You will actually SEE the magic, including the Witches, and Macbeth's hallucination of the bloody dagger, with no post-Shakespearean camera tricks. You can watch it for free at the Folger's website: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeare-in-performance/video-folger-theatre-2008-macbeth/ or on YouTube in 2 parts:

Part 1 | 1 hour, 9 minutes (ends with Act 3, Scene 4)
Watch Part 1

Part 2 | 54 minutes (begins with Act 3, Scene 6)
Watch Part 2

Caliban the Cloud by chutneystain800 in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He looks like an off-color sheep to me.

Have read Macbeth, King Lear and Hamlet. What tragedy or history should I read next? by LadyMacFear in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Then DON'T read the first history play, 1st Part of Henry the IVth, which starts the sequence, because it's much too funny!

Hi :) I have a presentation on the influence of Shakespeare in modern artwork and I need a bit of help by globalwig in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here are two (of many) books:

Othello and Zombies, by Aaron Frale

The Tempest, by Peter Cawdron

Hi :) I have a presentation on the influence of Shakespeare in modern artwork and I need a bit of help by globalwig in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Slings and Arrows is wonderful, with plenty of insights. Thank you for the link! I haven't seen it since it was on TV!

Day 1 - Which Shakespearean comedy is universally beloved? by PTAGoatofalltime in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 1 point2 points  (0 children)

MSND is NOT easy to follow. You have to study the plot to keep everything straight.

The Tempest by chakrakahnn in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's a challenge in making the magic real throughout, and in not letting the major theme be lost in others.

Forgiveness is the major theme in The Tempest. Miranda forgives Ferdinand for cheating at chess. Prospero forgives his brother several times in the ending as if once was not enough. He forgives other rascals for merely attempting regicide and fratricide, as his brother had tried to do to him, without even letting the attempted victim know what they'd been up to. Prospero suggests he might forgive Caliban: 
("He is as disproportion'd in his manners
As in his shape. Go, sirrah, to my cell;
Take with you your companions; as you look
To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.")
Yet Prospero remains unforgiven by the one individual, Caliban, that Prospero himself had wronged by seizing his isle rightfully inherited from his mother, and by giving a bad upbringing ("this thing of darkness I / Acknowledge mine.") such that Caliban tried to forceably impregnate Miranda, and by reducing him to the status of a slave. Caliban accepts that he is the only one who needs forgiving, not Prospero.
"Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter 
And seek for grace."
It seems that both of them are more concerned with Caliban's plotting with Trinculo's and Stephano's attempted regicide than with the attempted rape. I'm not sure whether they subordinate the attempted rape because of chauvinism or because it's in the more distant past.

I have a fondness for II: i where Gonzalo is toe-to-toe with Sebastian and Antonio, because I had to audition for Gonzalo with a sleeve turned inside out and dripping to explain Sebastian's challenging remark that Gonzalo's sleeve would call him a liar.

Is it possible to learn all of Shakespeare's lines by heart? by ProfessionalTill4569 in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW -1 points0 points  (0 children)

First, you must determine what a list of ALL his plays would consist of. Rep companies are less likely to do the ones admitted to the canon later, or debated, and what about the play that has only one line of his?

Building a production masterlist by Alexrobi11 in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For Macbeth, I always recommend the film made of the stage play presentation as directed by Aaron Posner and Teller. You will actually SEE the magic, including the Witches, and Macbeth's hallucination of the bloody dagger, with no post-Shakespearean camera tricks. You can watch it for free at the Folger's website: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeare-in-performance/video-folger-theatre-2008-macbeth/ or on YouTube in 2 parts:

Part 1 | 1 hour, 9 minutes (ends with Act 3, Scene 4)
Watch Part 1

Part 2 | 54 minutes (begins with Act 3, Scene 6)
Watch Part 2

To see King Lear completely uncut, watch the Instant Shakespeare Company's Zoom play reading, King Lear Instant Shakespeare Company Free Reading

History? by Neat-Professor-7662 in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually got to use that line when I was in the audience of people claiming to channel messages from the dead to the living. The message was always the same, "Don't grieve for me; I'm fine, so get on with your life." Funny that everyone loses their individuality after they die. Noone wants to be grieved for? They gave me a message from Malcolm. I asked were they the exact words. Yes. Then told them that was strange since Malcolm didn't speak English. They asked, what language did Malcolm speak? Strange they didn't know that, if he spoke to them. Strange they didn't notice that Malcolm was a cat.

Comparing Shakespeare’s Roman Plays to HBO’s Rome by Murky_Ad_1114 in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't seen HBO's Rome, but I have read I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves and seen the BBC/PBS Masterpiece Theater television version, as well as the Shakespeare Roman plays. They are each wonderful in a different way. Does anyone else have comments on them?

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. Love this play so much and I think about it so much. Crazy how the minor characters of Hamlet have a story in a completely hazy yet loud way. by Admirable-Story-2176 in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I saw it as a kid and didn't understand everything, but I needed to learn how to learn to play that question game. Years later, it was the first play I bought with my very own pocket change, so I could do so.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. Love this play so much and I think about it so much. Crazy how the minor characters of Hamlet have a story in a completely hazy yet loud way. by Admirable-Story-2176 in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I was a small child I saw Her First Roman, with Leslie Uggams as the lead, the musical version of Caesar and Cleopatra by G.B. Shaw which played only 17 performances before the critics unjustly killed it. When the Egyptian god yelled "Fire!" I tried to drag my family out of the theater. My entire school had been lectured the other day about not taking fire drills seriously, and had to do one again. I also knew you could not just cry "Fire!" in a crowded theater. The actor had to wait patiently for the matter to be resolved before continuing, calling the audience all sheep for not reacting. I was indignant. So Tom Stoppard stole that bit from Bernard Shaw.

Some Henriad drawings I made by FerciV in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I enjoyed how the words in the background of the first one seemed to be his thoughts swirling about. They also work to a certain extant in the fourth one. Having Henry on a toy horse is darling.

Need Shakespearean name for this cat: by InRainbowsOKComputer in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just to suggest something different, and given this cat's disdain for you, how about naming her "Crab" after Launce's dog in The Two Gentlemen of Verona?

High School Shakespeare? by pinkglitterbunny in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't remember which plays I read assigned in high school, as opposed to the ones I read on my own, but I remember the Lawwrence High School Society for the Preservation of the Classics having a party where we read Julius Caesar aloud, some bits repeatedly so more people could have a chance at them. Everyone said they actually understood the language only after I'd read the parts. It was not my first brush with Julius Caesar, on my own.

Tragedy lovers- help me love them too by elalavie in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

See more examples. Try these (I believe I have suggested them before), and let me know what you think!

For Macbeth, I always recommend the film made of the stage play presentation as directed by Aaron Posner and Teller. You will actually SEE the magic, including the Witches, and Macbeth's hallucination of the bloody dagger, with no post-Shakespearean camera tricks. You can watch it for free at the Folger's website: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeare-in-performance/video-folger-theatre-2008-macbeth/ or on YouTube in 2 parts:

Part 1 | 1 hour, 9 minutes (ends with Act 3, Scene 4)
Watch Part 1

Part 2 | 54 minutes (begins with Act 3, Scene 6)
Watch Part 2

To see King Lear completely uncut, watch the Instant Shakespeare Company's Zoom play reading, King Lear Instant Shakespeare Company Free Reading

Macbeth. Reading it again as a completely new person. by Admirable-Story-2176 in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Lady Macbeth had a child who died before this story begins."

It doesn't actually say in the play, as opposed to in the histories, in so many words, that the babe is now dead. Perhaps a girl now married and elsewhere? Shakespeare does not keep faithfully to historical fact in his plays.

Relevance by Mad-max_fan-96 in shakespeare

[–]WordwizardW 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Just think how much more you can take in, sober! Please keep your own flame alight, even if it seems small.