Month: May 2012

Once again this week I got into the “See it, don’t read it!” debate with someone, and my faithful readers know that I weigh in on the “read it” side of this argument for the following very simple reason:

“Hey, I don’t know anything about Richard III, I think I’ll read it.”
 “Don’t read it, go see it!”
“Oh, ok.  Is it playing?”
 “…well, no.”

And then people immediately jump into the defense of going to rent a DVD, even though you all know perfectly well that if there was a choice between seeing it live on stage and seeing a movie version, you wouldn’t even have to think about it.  You only support movies because you know that “go see it as it was meant to be seen” is not a realistic argument, and you’ll accept movies as a substitute.

But, I’m not here to make the argument again.  I want to try something.  Tell me, in the comments, which Shakespeare plays you have seen on stage?

I’ve seen:  Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth, Othello, R+J, Shrew, AYLI, All’s Well, Dream, Much Ado, Comedy of Errors, LLL, Tempest, Winter’s Tale.

14 plays.  You’ll notice that the histories are sadly underrepresented.  Now, with more effort I’m sure I could add maybe half a dozen plays to that list, but that still only puts me in the range of about half.  I’d make the case that the only way I’m ever going to see some of those plays is if I make it a primary goal in my life to do so, and am willing to travel extensively to make it happen.

Most people in the world will never have the opportunity to see most of Shakespeare’s plays on stage.  Every single literate person in the world has the opportunity to read them.

TL;DR – Read King John.

I saw a “Favorite Shakespearean Character?” thread on another board, and it reminded me how completely unanswerable that question is – it’s like asking who your favorite family member is.  Different pros and cons in different contexts.

I think I once asked “Which Shakespeare character would you want to go drinking with?” but didn’t get any answers other than Falstaff. 😉

So, a more wide open game.  First fill in the blank, then give a character.  Who would you like to …

… start a business with?

… go out on a date with?

… get into a mixed martial arts ring with?

… pick as your vice president?

Get the idea?

Good timing for me – just saw The Avengers last night.  Normally it’s the good guys – Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo – that get all the press.  But if I say the name Tom Hiddleston would you know who I meant?

Well, trick question, I gave it away in the subject line ;).  Having just wrapped Henry IV for an upcoming BBC release, check out Loki himself giving us something the audience is more likely to recognize, a little Henry V.   Hiddleston plays Hal, alongside such names as Jeremy Irons and John Hurt.  Should be a good one!

I have to admit, I didn’t realize that Peter Brook was still with us.  But I’m glad to have found this article where he discusses his thoughts on the Authorship debate:

Shakespeare was a genius, insists Brook, and “genius can arise in the humblest of backgrounds. No one doubts that Leonardo was truly Leonardo da Vinci, even though he was an illegitimate child from an Italian village.”

Mr. Brook is also the one to credit with a favorite quote of mine:

Each line in Shakespeare is an atom. The energy that can be released is infinite—if we can split it open.

Brook’s is a name spoken with reverence for quite some decades at this point.  I first heard his name attached to a legendary 1970 Midsummer Night’s Dream that predates my interest in Shakespeare by quite a little bit, although I have seen some clips.

Got any good Peter Brook experiences?