So while it was still in town I did indeed get to see the Boston production of Taming of the Shrew, and when I get a moment I’ll have to write a review. I don’t have time for much these days, though, so I’ll have to relate a quick story about the couple we went with. I’d actually brought with me, as something of a joke, the Taming of the Shrew comic book. My wife was enjoying reading it, and passing it to our friends. One friend who shall remain nameless said that she’s very familiar with the show. Cool. I like finding new Shakespeare friends.

At intermission we’re talking about “What do you think of the show so far?” as people often do. Then everybody gives me the generic “I like it,” which I can’t stand, like saying anything other than that must make you a bad person. Actually it just makes you a person with no opinions. But, anyway. This one person says, “See, to me, this is a better play than Hamlet.”

*silence*

I swear to God, you should have seen me. I’ve never quite known what it is like to be speechless like I was. So many, many replies going through my brain, trying to filter them and decide which would be the least offensive. Meanwhile, she’s still talking. “The comedies like this are the ones that are really entertaining for the people. I can’t stand all those dark, depressing ones. Hamlet, Macbeth… ”

“Hamlet,” I say through gritted teeth, “Might be the greatest piece of literature in the English language. The world is a better place because of plays like Hamlet, not because of shallow nonsense like this. I watch Taming of the Shrew like I watch a generic Kate Hudson romantic comedy.” My wife quickly jumps in to change the subject before I begin raising my voice.

“Know what else I hate?” this woman continues, perhaps not realizing or caring how much she has fallen in my eyes. “The Tempest.”

“I’ve read The Tempest to my 3yr old as a bedtime fairy tale,” I tell her.

“And did she understand it?”

“She *asked* me for it. Repeatedly.”

Luckily the show started back up. Later in the car, we were talking about the fact that my daughter is named Katherine, and how yes of course I knew about the Shrew character, and no it is not a silly coincidence. My second daughter is named Elizabeth well aware of that Shakespearean connection, as well. But when my son was born we couldn’t find a good Shakespearean male name we liked. This then got into a conversation about how Shakespeare didn’t often use male names that are still in use today.

“Horatio?” this poor woman says.

Gritted teeth time again. “That….is a character in HAMLET!” I force myself to say.

Next year, I don’t think we’re going with anybody. 🙂

Technorati Tags: shakespeare, taming of the shrew, hamlet, performance, entertainment, boston

Technorati Tags: shakespeare, taming of the shrew, hamlet, performance, entertainment, boston

Although I’ve just missed the first episode (curse me for being so far behind in my posting!), I see that BBC America is doing a 4part, very modern retelling of Much Ado (last night’s), Macbeth, Midsummer, and Taming of the Shrew. By very modern, I mean very — Much Ado casts Beatrice and Benedick as co-anchors on a news program, Macbeth is about an ambitious chef taking over his boss’ restaurant (haven’t we discussed that one before?), Midsummer takes place at a woodsy family resort of Shrew apparently casts Kate as a ruthless female politician. Note that these productions are “inspired by”, and not actual modern dress versions of the original text. But, still, could be fun.

Technorati Tags: shakespeare, television, bbc

Since he did me the favor of a link in his post on Shakespeare Blogs (noting that Such Shakespeare Stuff seems to be the second oldest Shakespeare blog on the net!), I’ll return the favor with a link to LastSyllable.net. I’m pretty sure I’ve linked to him a few times in the past, he certainly comes up enough on my daily blog filters. Usually his commentary is on the deeper side than we do here (right now he’s reading Bloom and has commentary on Julius Caesar), but it’s always quality. Recommended.

Technorati Tags: shakespeare blog

Theatre Folk has an actual store where you can purchase scripts of plays adapted from Shakespeare. Titles include “Drop Dead, Juliet”, “Much Ado About High School”, “Mmmmbeth”, and other more traditional adaptations (i..e for audience and time). All plays are safe for high school production, and seem to offer free sample pages. Cool.

Technorati Tags: shakespeare scripts high school adaptation

I’m surprised I’d missed Shakespeare Parodies until now, given the obvious URL. It’s cute. It pains me that he has a typo in the title of the homepage, though (“colection”). Here’s how my favorite scene from Hamlet gets lambasted:

HAMLET
Now, Mother, what’s the matter?

QUEEN
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.

HAMLET
Mother, thou hast my father much offended.

QUEEN
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue

HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
And thou hast my father much offended!

QUEEN
Have you forgotten who I am?

HAMLET
No! You are the Queen, your husband’s
brother’s wife; and — would it were not so —
you are my mother! And thou hast my father
much offended! Let’s see you top that!

QUEEN
I don’t understand a word you’re saying.

Technorati Tags: shakespeare parody hamlet