The Play's the Thing

Are any of you peeps out there from the NC area?  If so, have I got great news for you!

There are so many Shakespeare productions in the Triangle this Spring!  I'll share a few upcoming with you:

Romeo and Juliet at Burning Coal Theatre in Raleigh.  I saw this one and it was phenomenal.  They aren't afraid to make the play less serious in its romantic endeavors, and Romeo and Juliet act like giddy, fools in love, rather than the extra-serious and overly dramatic renditions that come across nowadays as a bit archaic.  Plainly put, Juliet acts like an infatuated teenage girl and Romeo acts like a man in love with being in love - and bounds across the stage with the joy of it.  It's crucial for there to be a solid comic in Mercutio, and this one certainly has one.  I highly recommend - though the run is almost over.  Don't wait!

Much Ado About Nothing at Raleigh Little Theatre.

This is one of my favorite plays - who could keep from loving Beatrice and Benedick?  No one, that's who.  This show opened last night and I already have my tickets.  Check out their showtimes to see if you're interested in a Much Ado version set in post-WWII America.  I know I am!

The Tempest at Titmus Theatre at Thompson Hall - NC State University.
2/27/2015 ONLY

New York’s acclaimed Aquila Theatre - the foremost producer of touring classical theatre in the United States – returns to NC State with two new productions of classic works. "The Tempest" is Shakespeare’s famous tale of forgiveness and enlightenment. Believed to be his final play, it is imbued with magic, the supernatural, and a heightened sense of theatricality. DO NOT MISS THIS.

A Midsummer Night's Dream at Raleigh Little Theatre in the Rose Garden

Mischievous sprites, lost lovers, and bumbling rustics cross paths in a magical night under the towering trees, fairy ferns, and blooming roses of the Raleigh Rose Garden.  Bring your chairs, picnics, and the whole family for this fanciful 90 minute evening of Fun!  Can you imagine how fun it will be to see this story told with actual woods surrounding it?

Equivocation. n.

1. the use of ambiguous expressions, especially in order to mislead or hedge

2. Logic. a fallacy caused by the double meaning of a word. 

England, 1605: A terrorist plot to assassinate King James I and blow Parliament to kingdom come with 36 barrels of devilish gunpowder! 

Shagspeare (after a contemporary spelling of the Bard’s name) is commissioned by Robert Cecil, the prime minister, to write the “true historie” of the plot. And it must have witches! The King wants witches! But as Shag and the acting company of the Globe, under the direction of the great Richard Burbage, investigate the plot, they discover that the King’s version of the story might, in fact, be a cover-up.

Shag and his actors are confronted with the ultimate moral and artistic dilemma. Speak truth to power—and perhaps lose their heads? Or take the money and lie? Is there a third option—equivocation? 

Sounds good to me!

There are more coming up later in the spring, including Macbeth and Measure for Measure, but there isn't as much info about them as of yet.  Perhaps I'll have to do another extra post about them then!

Valentine's Day with the Bard

Happy Valentines Day from the bard!  Chicks will totally dig you if you give them this card for Valentine's Day. Trust me, I am a lady and I have a degree in Things Ladies Like.*  This is totally one of those things.

You could also go in the opposite direction, and get something like this:

Buy your cynical card here!

Then if we're being serious, there's always the lovely quote from Much Ado About Nothing:

Be a sap! Get em this card.

And if all else fails, just write her a sonnet.

*That is a wild exaggeration.

Let's Play Another Round of Actually...

Today we shall talk about something that drives me crazy.  Yes, you guessed right.  It's another segment of my self-righteous, corrective diatribe,

ACTUALLY....

Should be fun?  Maybe?

Baz Luhrmann's 1996 Remake

Let's start at the beginning, with one of the most quoted lines of Shakespeare.  We turn to Romeo & Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2.

Juliet: 

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

O Romeo, Romeo, for the rest of my life I will have to listen to people assume that wherefore means where?  It does not.  So here it comes, y'all...

Actually...

Wherefore means why in this context.  Or 'for what reason.'  Which is something that can be discerned through the context and grammar of Juliet's speech.  If she were speaking directly to Romeo it would be "Wherefore art thou, Romeo" and there would be a comma, yes?  But there is not.  I know this is a minute detail, but context clues, guys!  I love them!

Additionally, why would she go on to lament his lineage after asking where he was?  "Where are you, Romeo?  Deny your heritage and refuse your own name" makes much less sense than "Why are you Romeo? Deny your heritage and refuse your own name."  She is implying that it is his name that tethers him to the Montagues - which makes a lot of sense in the worlds in which the play was written and set.  Your name was everything if you had a good one and nothing if you did not. And yet she tells him to cast it off and vows that if he can't, then he needs only swear to love her and she would be willing to swear off her own name.  Makes WAY more sense, right?

Which brings me to a concession/correction I must make.  I have... bemoaned the great adoration Romeo and Juliet have gotten culturally as lovers.  But only in so much as I think there are other great lovers in Shakespeare that I find more moving, and that I believe comparing yourself to them implies a less-than-full understanding of their predicament or the messages of the play itself.

None of that detracts from the beauty of the famous balcony scene.  Why, just look at this!  Juliet asks into the darkness that Romeo deny his name, and he agrees to so willingly that when she asks who it is that visits her in the darkness, he says, "By a name/ I know not how to tell thee who I am/ My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,/ Because it is an enemy to thee."  He takes her metaphor and runs with it, beautifully.

And she says, "Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?"  His reply: "Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike."  Which is not only lovely and ties in to the shirking of their names, but by referring to her as 'saint,' he has now twice referenced their first conversation, where they discussed what saints and palmers do to show affection. ("Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?")

Anyway. my point has been lost somewhere, but suffice to say, Wherefore means WHY and people perpetrate this misconception all. the. time.

Did this feel like a lecture?  My condolences.

From Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film version of R&J

Brooklyn Nine-Nine and MOAR Shakespeare

Guys!  Guys, guys, guys!

There have been TWO more reference to Shakespeare in my favorite show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine!  Do you know what this means?!  It either means A. The writers know I watch this show. Or B. Shakespeare permeates our society at a very deep level.

I'm just going to say it's both.

So this is what happened!

FIRST: Gina decided to get Amy drunk because she's never seen six-drink Amy.  She thinks she could be friends with this so-called six-drink Amy and refers to her as her Sasquatch.

Amy: Gina!  You got to see the Sasquatch.  Was it everything you drumpt?

Gina: It was the stuff drumpts are made of.

This is from The Tempest.  It's not word for word, but that's my favorite part.  The phrase "stuff dreams are made of" is a common enough phrase that it's just something people say.  Just something people say FROM SHAKESPEARE!  It gets me very excited.

The line is from a speech by Prospero in the tempest about fairies, pageants and visions.

You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismayed. Be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air.
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself—
Yea, all which it inherit—shall dissolve,
And like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
Act 4 Scene 1

Prospero subtly references the very theater the original actors were performing in: "the great globe itself," as in the Globe Theater.  It's lovely and falls in line with the idea of "All the world's a stage."  We are made of such illusions.

What are your interpretations of the speech?

And SECOND: A phenomenal rethinking of the merits of having Romeo and Juliet as your romance role models.

 

Jake: We can make this work! We're Romeo and Juliet!

Sophia: It didn't work for Romeo and Juliet.  That play ends in a tragic double suicide.

Jake: That's how it ends?  Why do people like it so much?

Aaahh you speak my language, Jake!  [See my previous post on JUST THIS ISSUE!]

Anywho, it looks like this is what I do with my time now.  Here we are.


P.S. On a completely unrelated note, every since my grad class on Chaucer, I can't help but pronounce "two" the middle English way, if only to myself. (Chaucer's works are often misstated as being Old English - 'tis not so!)  So what would that sound like?  Well, like it's spelled, duh. Hint: it rhymes with grow.

Shakespeare and Tumblr Part 3

Hey-ho!

Today is a tumblr day again - do you love these?  I love these.  If you do, or don't, share your thoughts in the comments!  I plan to keep doing them, because I love sharing the relevancy of Shakespeare's plays.  There is something so enlightening about connecting with people and stories from over 400 years ago.

So let'd just do it!  I will provide explanations where I fear there may be a disconnect.  If I am mistaken and there is no disconnect and you are way smarter than that, then my B, yo.

Butthurt

That Escalated Quickly  

I cam out here to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now

Bitch I might

15 Minutes Late with Starbucks

Do it for the Vine

Doge meme

I hope you enjoyed thoses!  My favorite is by far the first one about Ophelia - "Does she have a boyfriend?" "Not a good one."  Ah, I laughed pretty hard at that.

Anyway, until next week, friends!

Possibly the Cutest

Guys, this is adorable.  My capstone adviser told me about this video, and I cannot help but share it with you all.

The talented Brian Cox is an Emmy-award winner, a Shakespearean actor, and to boot, he apparently teaches a Masterclass to toddlers.  This is him teaching little Theo the famous "To be or not to be" speech from Hamlet.

It's a delight.

Why, Happy New Year!

Hi again, good citizens,

Welp.  The holidays are officially over and I am back!  It was a busy December, but I am not complaining.  I defended my thesis, graduated, and then did tons of Christmas celebration with the family.  I even made Wassail Punch!  Good stuff all around.

To get us back in the swing of things, here comes another list of cultural creations that are Shakespeare-inspired that maybe you didn't know were Shakespeare-inspired.  Fun times, yes?

Let's do another batch of three, okie dokie?


The Fault in Our Stars

Maybe this one is obvious, or maybe not so much.  I don't know.  But I'm including it here.  This is a very popular book that was just released as a major motion picture!  This novel is about childhood cancer, finding love, and living life, even among the darkest and briefest of circumstances.  The title is inspired by a line from Julius Caesar. 

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 2,

It's a beautiful book, and I love the way the quote is turned around.  Cassius is trying to convince Brutus that we rule and govern ourselves - the stars do not.  But with something like childhood cancer, things are not so clear.  And so Green is turning that control outward, to say that even with a flawed destiny and a short life, therein you can create a little infinity.


Brave New World

This is a novel written in 1931 by Aldous Huxley. Set in London of AD 2540 (632 A.F.—"After Ford"—in the book), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning that combine profoundly to change society. It's a very interesting read.  The title comes from Shakespeare's The Tempest and is uttered in excitement by Miranda, daughter of Prospero, who has known nothing of the world except the island upon which she and her father live. 

O wonder!
How many godly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't.
Act V, Scene 1.

It's also a very well-known phrase, and there are many variations of it floating around everywhere.  I'd claim the movie, "In a World" riffs off the idea in their use of the line, "It's a broad new world." I'm certain there are many great examples of its use in colloquial references.  Can you think of any others?


Better Days by Citizen King

Everyone knows this song!

I've seen better days!
I've been star of many plays,
I've seen better days,
And the bottom drops out.

Well, whether they knew it or not (I'm going to say they totes knew - look at the 'play' reference in the lyrics!), the term "seen better days" was first recorded use was in the play, Sir Thomas More (Act 4, Scene 4) in 1590.  The work is anonymous, but has been at least in part attributed to Shakespeare.  He also used the phrase (We have seen better days) in his other works, including Timon of Athens (Act 4, Scene 2) and As You Like It (Act 2, Scene 7).


Okay, so that was informative and moderately fun, right? Cool!

Have a lovely Monday, and I hope you enjoyed this edition of That's Shakespeare?! Who Knew!