What’s the Funniest Tragedy?

~ duane ~ 10 Comments

We’ve often discussed the fact that Romeo and Juliet, right up until Mercutio’s death, is a romantic comedy that suddenly goes very very badly.  Even the darkest plays have at least a couple of jokes thrown in (or do they?)  So let’s talk about that.  Among all the plays that are not supposed to be comedy, which one do you think is the funniest?

There’s multiple ways to look at this:

* Laughs where Shakespeare put them, and expected them.
* Laughs where a modern director found an opportunity to get a laugh.
* Laughs where the audience laughed, and probably wasn’t supposed to.

So let me rephrase it this way – which play do you think provides enough potential for the audience to walk away thinking, “Wow, I never expected to laugh that hard!”

I’ve seen a fair share of laughs in Othello, and Macbeth.  I didn’t laugh at Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus, but when I saw a production in Boston Common the lead character was so over the top snarky in his attitude toward everybody that I couldn’t help myself (although I also wanted to punch him).  I’ll be very surprised if King Lear makes this list.  Somebody remind me if there’s any funny bits in that one at all?

Theme Song Shakespeare : Prospero’s Island

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My turn! I can play too! Theme Song Shakespeare continues!

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a play,
A play about a fateful trip
That started from the port of Milan
Aboard a tiny ship.

There sat the sorceror Prospero,
His daughter at his side.
His enemies sent them out to sea
And left them there to die (left them there to die….)

The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the loyalty of Gonzalo
His books would all be lost, his magic would be lost.

Now Prospero made his home on this uncharted magic isle
With Ariel,
And Caliban,
Who made his move, now he’s a slave.
They’re all alone –
But not so fast, what’s that ship out there?
Here comes King Alonso.

So this is the tale of Propero,
Setting traps for his enemies.
He’ll almost have revenge at last
Until his daughter begs mercy.

Miranda and now Ferdinand
(Who, come on now, she just met!)
Will make her dad at last accept
That now they want to wed.

Hey wait don’t forget about Caliban,
He’s hatched another plan.
Now Stefano plans to run the show
With Prospero’s books in hand.

So have no fear it all works out,
No tragedy, no one dies.
There’s guaranteed a happy ending
Here on Prospero’s Isle!

Did Hamlet Lie?

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Over on the Shakespeare section of Reddit, a question came up that I’d never seen before:

Is Hamlet really telling the truth about what happened on the ship?

The submitter’s argument is basically that the story is too unbelievable.  Why would the pirate take Hamlet prisoner, and then taxi him back home?  Why would Rosencrantz and Guildenstern just sit back and let that happen, having been charged to get Hamlet to England?

The general consensus is that no, Hamlet’s not lying, and there’s enough evidence to prove that (both in the text and historically).

It’s fun to grab at a random angle like this every now and then, and re-examine bits of the play you might previously have been skimming over.  During the conversation I wondered, “Once they lost Hamlet, why did R&G bother continuing on to England, anyway?”  But then I remembered, their mission was to deliver that letter (which ended up being their execution order). They never knew that Hamlet was the primary reason for their trip.  It does make you wonder what they were thinking when they watched a pirate ship sail away with the prince, though.  “Oooooo!  Claudius is gonna be *pissed*!”

Don’t miss the later posts in the thread that focus on Shakespeare’s use of exposition, and just how big a deal it would be to have a character lie while doing that.  I personally like digging through the text, but that’s mostly because at any given time I can find and search texts, whereas the historical stuff?  I never know if there’s some book I’ve missed that completely negates everything I think I’ve just learned.

Theme Song Shakespeare : Golden Danes

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Knock, knock!

  Who’s there?

Bardfilm doing real work!

  Bardfilm doing real work who?

You’re right, that really doesn’t sound like him, does it? Here’s another theme song mashup to knock “Gangnam Style” out of your brain…

Setting the scene . . . Hamlet lies, dying in a pool of his own poisoned blood.  Horatio approaches . . . the music swells . . . and  

[Hamlet sings] 

Thank you for being a friend.
Grappled you to my soul–now and then.
Hor-a-tio, you’re a pal and a confidant.

And if you threw a fencing match
Invited both the king and the queen
You might think
They’d put some poison in your drink,
But the cup was meant for me.

[Horatio interrupts] 

Thank you for being a friend.
Travelled to Wittenberg and back again.
Funeral-baked meats furnished forth a meal or two. 

And if you saw a ghostie
That scared you into taking revenge–
Or if you say,
“Let’s do a play-within-the-play,”
I would saw the air and say,

“Thank you for being a friend.”
    “The rest is silence”
“Thank you for being a friend.”
    “Horatio, I die now.”
“Thank you for being a friend.”
    “May flights of angels . . .”

[Together]

 “. . . thank you for being a friend.”

I can’t get enough of these.  I’ve got one of my own queued up but I can’t seem to find the time to finish it off, Bardfilm keeps knocking these out so fast!  If you want to join the fun, send in your theme song mashups!

Theme Song Shakespeare : A Kingdom For A Horse, Of Course

~ duane ~ Leave a comment
One day, Bardfilm’s boss is going to learn where I live, fly here and punch me out.  Because his best Shakespeare professor has real day job work to do, and I do things like plant “ear memes” into his brain on a Friday afternoon guaranteeing that no real work gets done for the next few days.

But we benefit!   Here’s only a portion of what Bardfilm left on my doorstop this morning…

[The youngsters in the audience are directed here, in case they don’t recognize the tune.  Now get off our lawn, ya whipper snappers, we’re trying to sing along ;)]

Hello, I’m Richard the Third.

My kingdom for a horse, of course.
And no one can talk to me of remorse
Unless, of course, I get no horse and I end up being dead.

I have no remorse for Anne, of course,
though I caused her death (instead of divorce).
I’m always on a steady course–until I end up dead.

Richmond yakkity yaks a streak and wastes my Bosworth Field.
But Richard, in winters of discontent, will never, never yield!

So go check the source (Sir Thomas Morse)
And you’ll see my crown on a bush of gorse.
You want a kingdom for a horse?

Well, listen to this.

Whoops! I guess I’m dead.