Yeah, I just googled the heuristic Shakespeare thing. Looks insane. Yet another reason to get a tablet. Alas, I’m a poor student working off an 8-year-old mac. But maybe one day.
Thing about Richard II, I’ve been debating long and hard over whether he’s a hero or an antihero. On the one side, I feel for the guy when Bolingbroke seizes everything from him, upon his return from Ireland. Particular that last scene when whining about his bad luck and all that just before he gets stabbed. Really felt sorry for the chap. On the other hand, he totally screws Bolingbroke out of pettiness, and he’s like a major freaking jerk that I’d totally lift a finger to if someone treated me that way.
Anyways, I guess I like Richard III cause I know where everybody stands. Richard III is the bad bad wolf, the great Hitler of the play, and everything is about his craziness.
I admire some of the wording and speeches (his?), but I don’t have a favourite play. Would like to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream produced as the writer intended, rather than the watered-down puerile magical slush that we are usually presented with today. Would also like to see The Merchant of Venice done as a comedy (though without the anti-Semitic overtones).
If you are interested in works attributed to Shakespeare, Emma Smith from the University of Oxford has produced a thought-provoking podcast series that focuses on answering one key question each lecture specific to one play…
Earlier this year, I wrote a play / plaria script that focused on the life of Anne Hathaway, who Shakespeare married in 1582. (Delighted that it got eight curtain calls when performed in Denmark…in English. Great Danes. All credit to the production team.) An intriguing woman and an intriguing relationship…
When I was in Singapore, I saw an Indian version of Midsomer Night’s Dream years back. Psychedelic…Imagine Shakespeare combined with bharatnatyam dancing…
The 1956 movie “The Forbidden Planet” was amazing for the young Leslie Neilsen’s Bryllcreem, and for the fact that it is loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with a dollop of Freudianism. Full colour, and a Theremin providing the sound effects. And Walter Pidgeon as the mad scientist. See it!
Wow, it’s really difficult to name the favorite Shakespear’s creation. I just love Hamlet, Richard III, Macbeth… Don’t wanna mark one of them as my favorite among others.
An update to my previous post. The BBC collection mentioned above, is no longer available on line. The full collection is still available as a box set, if anyone’s interested. However Derek Jacobi’s Hamlet, from the series is available here. bbc.co.uk/hamlet/past_produc … o_be.shtml
The soliloquy can be found at 1-24-40secs.
Take care
Vic
Oh my. Just today I started reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream, first Shakespeare play read, ever. I printed it in Spanish (I’m from Argentina) and read it along with this BBC reading, which I tooootally recommend.
The ancient language is so unfamiliar, and therefore, dialogue doesn’t feel very natural – the same happened to me when I read Lord of The Rings, no matter how poetic, but the actors in the BBC radio show really tied it together for me. And the poetry! My heart. But, gotta love the Old English.
About 20 years ago I read the complete works of Shakespeare and loved the historical and tragic plays. Each was good and it seemed better than the previous one. I recall that I liked King Lear best and thought that Titus Andronicus was a bit strange, almost psychedelic but still good. I could not really get into the comedies I read a few but they were frankly not very funny so I didn’t read others. But I found Taming of the Shrew amusing and watched the Burton-Taylor movie version.
Have to make room on my Billy Shake, shelf and see if I can squeeze Billy Atwood/MaggieShakespeare in somewhere!