Heigh My Hearts! Cheerely, Cheerely My Harts! Yare, Yare!

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

So I’m home today for Presidents’ Day, catching up on Shakespeare Uncovered, and from the other room I hear this line (the subject line, that is) come out of my television…

…and I’m *there*.  A storm.  A ship going down.  A sailor shouting orders to his shipmates, urging them to put their backs into it to keep them all alive.

I’m reminded of this quote by Peter Brook: “Each line in Shakespeare is an atom. The energy that can be released is infinite—if we can split it open.”

My question is this, though.  Is it all in our heads?  How much of that energy is in our own minds and interpretation of what we’re hearing?

Think of it like this.  Imagine someone has never read The Tempest. The first thing we ask ourselves is, “Why am I hanging out with this person?” but we can get past that, because he stands his round at the bar.  It’s come up in conversation after talking about the Olympics closing ceremony and your friend has asked you to explain the story.  So you start here.  You quote this line, and you try to explain how those words in that order paint the picture that you felt above.

Can you do it?  This line isn’t particularly famous. Brook didn’t say “Certain lines in Shakespeare,” he said “Each line.”  I get it (I think).  I feel it.  I’m not kidding with the above description, it crashed over me like a tidal wave.  One line.  It was awesome.  And I found myself wondering if it was something in the line itself (and, of course, the delivery), or if it was really little more than conjuring up a memory of what I’ve seen in the past, something that I would be hard-pressed to ever explain to another person who hadn’t also seen it.

Thoughts?

(* PS – Since it’s come up, the subject line spelling comes from First Folio. Eagle-eyed readers will spot that the URL is different from the subject, because I did alter it when I found a typo.)

Geeklet 1, Geek 0

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Been a long time since I posted a geeklet story.

I’m in the kitchen tallying up girl scout cookie money when my wife calls in from the other room, “What year did Elizabeth I ascend the throne?”  I realize that she has picked up one of the kids’ Shakespeare books and is quizzing me.

“Umm….” I say.  History was never my strong suit.  “Since Shakespeare was really young.  I’m going to guess 1560’s.”

“Wrong!” she tells me.  “1559.”

“I was close!” I call back, “I was within 10 years. That’s not bad.”

But then geeklet in the other room hears half the conversation and says, “What’s Mommy need, Daddy?”

“Mommy was just asking me when Elizabeth I became queen.”

So geeklet tells me, “1559.”

Very nice.

UPDATE – I’m told that the actual date is 1558.  Blame the book – the one that my wife was reading from is the one that my kids already read.

Shakespearean Pick-up Lines for Valentine’s Day

~ duane ~ 2 Comments

You all know that Shakespeare Geek has produced a great book (Hear My Soul Speak: Wedding Quotes from Shakespeare) on how and why to incorporate Shakespeare into a wedding. But how do you get to that point? Can Shakespeare help you get a date so that, sometime in the future, you can use Shakespeare (and Shakespeare Geek’s book) when you tie the knot?
You have to start somewhere, and Bardfilm has come up with a list of classy lines (with considerable additions and emendations by Shakespeare Geek himself) to enable you to introduce yourself to that special someone—just in time for Valentine’s Day!
Shakespearean Pick-up Lines
If I said you were the most beautified, would you say that beautified was a vile phrase?
Can I just tell you, your eyes are nothing like the sun. And what’s up with that wiry head of hair you got going on? Wait, where you going? Come back, it gets better! Your breath reeks! Call me!
You’re like a good production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  You both have a nice Bottom.
To be or not to be? With you, the former. Without you, the latter.
Hey, that guy de Vere wrote you this sonnet and told me to put my name on it. No, wait, no he didn’t, he’s dead. 
Now is the winter of my discontent. Won’t you make it glorious summer by going out with me?
I noticed you hitting it off with that fair youth. Care to make it a three-way?
You look like an angel. Or at least a minister of grace. 
You must know Shakespeare ’cause my heart just did a swan dive. Because he’s, like, called the Swan of Avon sometimes. Get it?
Ever seen a beast with two backs? Want to help me make one?
If you were a statue, I’d wish I were Leontes and you were Hermione, who was pretending to be dead for sixteen years. And not really a statue at all.
If I start behaving like an ass, will you start behaving like Titania?
I bet your phone number ends in 1599 because that’s the most probable date for the composition of As You Like It.
Hi. My name is Julius, and when I saw you, I said to myself, “Julius, seize her!”
God hath given you one face, but you made yourself another. You didn’t need to. I mean, the first one was fine.
Let’s go back to my place and tear some sheets, Doll!
O, somebody bring me a bucket of water ’cause I just found my muse of fire! Hey, baby, did you ever ascend the brightest heaven of invention?
You. Me. Dance floor. Now. Don’t give me no ado about nothing. 
The fault is not in our stars but in your eyes. I mean, the stars are in your eyes. Or something.
They must have left the gates of purgatory open—look who walked out! Besides Hamlet’s dad, I mean.
There’s nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so – and I’m thinking you look good.
I’d LIKE for YOU to PLEASE go OUT with ME. Ever been picked up in iambic pentameter before?
I’d rather compare thee to a summer’s NIGHT, if you don’t mind and if you get my meaning.
I don’t want to brag, but I did once hear my last girlfriend referring to our sex life as the “sound and the fury.” I didn’t catch what she said after that. Or immediately before.
Our thanks for this guest post to kj, the author of Bardfilm. Bardfilm is a blog that comments on films, plays, and other matters related to Shakespeare.

Ghost Guy Hamlet

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Here’s a different spin on the Hamlet story – Hamlet (and his female pal Veronica Horatio) as modern-day ghost hunters.

It’s brand new so I’m not sure where it’s going to go, but I wanted to give a boost to some obvious Shakespeare geeks who are trying to do something a bit out of the ordinary.  Check it out, and subscribe so you can see how future episodes turn out!

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare—in Haiku (Guest Post)

~ duane ~ 3 Comments

Several years ago, kj (of Bardfilm fame) happened upon a haiku competition. The competition required joining Twitter, and Bardfilm’s first tweet (which won second prize) was a haiku containing the entirety of Hamlet. Since then, kj has periodically added to his collection of Shakespearean haiku—until he created this astonishing set of poems. Let the world take note: The Complete Works of Shakespeare. (Haiku by Bardfilm).

The Complete Works

The first folio.
Thirty-seven Shakespeare plays.
Not one Pericles.

Hamlet

A wandering ghost.
My dead father cries, “Uncle!”
I must have revenge.

The Winter’s Tale

Much like Othello,
I drink—and see the spider.
Perdita is lost.

The Tempest

Thunder, tempest, calm.
Old enemies reconciled.
Caliban remains.

Macbeth

The three weird sisters:
“When shall we three meet again?”
Macbeth: “Don’t ask me!”

Richard III

I want to be King.
So many stand in my way.
King Richard the Third.

As You Like It

All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women
Are merely players.

King Lear

Which one loves me most?
Nothing shall come of nothing.
Foolish, fond old man.

Romeo and Juliet

Running late, of course.
Not that it’s really my fault . . .
What? Juliet’s dead?

The Comedy of Errors

Double, double twins.
Ephesus or Syracuse?
Confusion . . . Resolved.

Love’s Labour’s Lost

Four men disdain love.
Four lovely ladies arrive.
And now—the sequel.

Love’s Labour’s Found

Where did I put that?
I swear, it was over here.
It will turn up soon.

Titus Andronicus

Endless violence.
Hamlet:  The rest is silence.
Lavinia knows.

Julius Caesar

On the Ides of March.
Which one is honorable?
Brutus was a man.

Othello

Honest Iago.
A magical handkerchief.
I loved not wisely.

Timon of Athens

Hating flatterers,
The greatest of misanthropes—
He can’t not find gold.

Antony and Cleopatra

Rome in Tiber melts.
Infinite variety.
At least the asp lives.

Coriolanus

Coriolanus:
For Rome; against Rome; for Rome.
A circle of blood.

Merry Wives of Windsor

Queen Liz liked Falstaff.
“Write one with Sir John in Love.”
It wasn’t his best.

Richard II

Royal throne of kings,
This sceptered isle, this England,
Deposes bad kings.

Henry V

Take one muse of fire,
Add an Agincourt rally:
Make bands of brothers.

Pericles

Shakespeare plays lined up.
Pericles, the Prince of Tyre,
Nearly forgotten.

1 Henry VI

Triumph on the stage
With ten thousand spectators.
It joyed brave Talbot.

2 Henry VI

Jack Cade steals the show.
Henry Six Ain’t Henry Five.
Kill all the Lawyers.

3 Henry VI

“O tiger’s heart wrapped”
(Runs the play’s most famous line)
“In a woman’s hide.”

1 Henry IV

Young Hal in Eastcheap.
Banish not sweet Jack Falstaff.
Kill Hotspur instead.

2 Henry IV

I know England’s King!
But I know thee not, old man.
Falstaff deflated.

Two Gentlemen of Verona

Who is Sylvia?
Valentine’s no gentleman.
Nor is Proteus.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The course of true love.
Forests, donkeys, love potions.
Puck restores amends.

Measure for Measure

Such hypocrisy.
His urine is congealed ice—
Yet he loves a nun.

Merchant of Venice

Gold, silver, and lead.
The will of a dead father.
And one pound of flesh.

Henry VIII

The Maiden Phoenix.
Her ashes create an heir.
The play burned The Globe.

The Taming of the Shrew

Old Petruchio,
At the end of his life, thinks,
“Wait. Was I the shrew?”

Two Noble Kinsmen

Two master writers.
Whose narrative is better?
Frankly, Chaucer’s is.

King John

Eighteen ninety-nine.
The first Shakespeare play on film.
Beerbohm-Tree’s King John.

Much Ado About Nothing

Merry war of wits.
Much ado about nothing.
Sigh no more, ladies.

 

Troilus and Cressida

Prium, King of Troy–
Troilus and Cressida.
Wiley Ulysses.

Twelfth Night

Wear yellow stockings.
Have greatness thrust upon you.
Malvolio’s mad.

All’s Well That Ends Well            

Problem comedy:
The bed trick marries Bertram.
Love ever endures.

Cymbeline

Imogene is dead.
Golden lads and maids all must—
Hang on—she’s alive!

Our thanks for this guest post to kj, the author of Bardfilm. Bardfilm is a blog that comments on films, plays, and other matters related to Shakespeare.