With Gnomeo and Juliet just two weeks away, the press onslaught has begun. Today we have a quick video of Elton John and his partner David Furnish talking about how, by changing the ending, they turned a tragedy into the greatest love story ever told. Ummm… what? Do they think they’re the first ones to think of that?
“Hey David?”
“Yes, Elton?”
“You know, if they just didn’t die at the end, this would be a really romantic story.”
“Genius!”

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar paints such a perfect picture of what happened on March 15, 44 BC that we often confuse what really happened with what Shakespeare told us. Did Shakespeare really say “Et tu, Brute?” Did Antony really ask friends, Romans and countrymen to lend him their ears?
Well, apparently we do know the answer to that last part, as Antony’s funeral speech for Caesar was actually documented at the time?! Obviously this is old :), but I’ve never seen so it’s new to me. Apparently the historian Appian wrote down a report (not a direct account) of what was said.

‘It is not right, my fellow-citizens, for the funeral oration in praise of so great a man to be delivered by me, a single individual, instead of by his whole country. The honors that all of you alike, first Senate and then People, decreed for him in admiration of his qualities when he was still alive, these I shall read aloud and regard my voice as being not mine, but yours.’

He then read them out with a proud and thunderous expression on his face, emphasizing each with his voice and stressing particularly the terms with which they had sanctified him, calling him ‘sacrosanct’, ‘inviolate’, ‘father of his country’, ‘benefactor’, or ‘leader’, as they had done in no other case. As he came to each of these Antony turned and made a gesture with his hand towards the body of Caesar, comparing the deed with the word.   

Absolutely fascinating reading.

It’s one thing for a 14yr old to like Shakespeare. It’s quite another to review each production to the level of detail that Edward Moravcsik does. But his goal of seeing all the plays? In two years? That’s a pretty lofty goal. You can read about his experiences at his blog, All The World’s an Ape.
He’s on 28 of 38. Or, to his count, “37 (and 3 possible collaborations).” I wonder which of the standard 38 he considers a collaboration – Henry VIII? This kid’s seen Pacino’s Merchant, Plummer’s Tempest….he gets around! I’m jealous.
How did we not know about this young man? Seems like he’d fit in quite well here :).
Go send the gentleman some traffic, and some support. Maybe he’ll follow the links back and come visit.

I’m no actor, so any back story I come up with for the characters (just how long were Gertrude and Claudius an item? where is Cordelia’s mom?) is for my own amusement. If you are an actor, then the back story is obviously part of who you (at least temporarily) are.
So, tell us one. Tell us the most interesting or unexpected back story you’ve ever come up with for a character. What came first, the text or the idea? Did you imagine a back story and then find supporting evidence in the text to work off of? Or vice versa, did you get a brainstorm after reading something in the text, and expanded that backward?
It’s a Friday afternoon and I don’t get my best traffic on Fridays so I don’t know how many actors we’ll get to chime in, but I’m hoping to see a couple of different backstory interpretations of the same character. I think that could be enlightening.

Shakespeare clearly states that Juliet is 13 years old (while leaving us to guess about the age of Romeo). He less clearly states that Hamlet is 30, although he could also be 16. I’m sure there are other examples, but those are the ones that come readily to mind.
So, here’s the game. Pick a character, ideally one whose age is not spelled out in the text :), and then pick *2* different ages for that character, and tell how the story might play out differently.
This idea came up over in the Othello’s Ancient thread regarding Iago’s age. On the one hand Iago could be a seasoned old soldier, roughly the same age/experience as Othello, who would make a fairly obvious case for Iago being a jealous rival of Othello’s success. *OR* Iago could be a much younger, minor officer – someone who Othello barely gives the time of day to. That is, until Iago has the chance to say “Welll, I didn’t want to say anything, buttttt…..” and Othello suddenly cozies up to Iago as his new best friend, the new best friend that is that will spy on Desdemona for him. This would explain why Iago so easily blindsides Othello, since he’s hardly on Othello’s radar until it all goes down on stage.
Got the idea? Ok, who’s got one? We do NOT have to dig in and say “Well, yeah, no, according to historical fact that would never have happened….” It’s just supposed to be fun. Pretend you’re the director and for a given actor you’ve got to decide between casting someone of age X or age Y. Which do you pick, and how does that alter the vision?