I almost missed it, but looks like the idea of writing computer code to simulate the “infinite monkeys typing Shakespeare” thing has come around again.

As a programmer, I know what it’s like to have free time and to do stuff like this (well, I used to :)).  So we won’t debate the uselessness, or the apparent misunderstanding between “infinite” and “millions and millions.”  You can have all the millions you want, it’s still not infinite.

Instead I’ll just point out that it’s been done before. The source link is long dead, but my blog post back in 2005 should serve as proof that the idea is far from a new one.

When is somebody going to try the Schroedinger’s Cat experiment, and give the monkeys a rest?

This story about a rock music Tempest puppet show sounded very interesting, and then I spotted the caption on the first picture: “We have no respect for the play.” Uh oh.

Later, thankfully, the quote is put into a bit better context:

“We wanted to make The Tempest quite easily understandable,” continues
McCarthy. “We’re using Shakespeare and if we want to change it, we
change it. We have no respect for it, I suppose.”

This being German, the story then goes on to discuss whether puppets are inherently a children’s show, and ends with a description of one particular show (not Shakespeare) that involved sadomasochistic puppets performing sex acts. Yikes.

I’m not quite sure how to categorize this, but when I got to Richard saying something as over-the-top awesome as, “Simple, plain Clarence! I do love thee so, That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven,” I thought “Man, I need to make a post out of that.”

I’m sure that he’s going to say amazing stuff like that many times in this play.  That’s right up there with Aaron the Moor’s “Villain, I have done thy mother.”

What else ya got?  Iago’s got lots of evil lines, but which ones are really his best over-the-top ones that make you laugh out loud and say “Oh my god that was awesome, I love this guy.”

So I’m tackling Richard III, as I mentioned, and blogging as I go.


Now, see, all I’ve ever heard about Richard III is about the villain, the monster, the deformed killer of children.  Nobody told me the man is hysterical.

I mean, seriously, is it just the Librivox audio I’m listening to, or are the opening scenes supposed to be laugh-out-loud funny?  Richard and Lady Anne give off this really dark Beatrice and Benedick vibe that I was not expecting at all.

Richard (alone) : Hmmm, I think I’ll marry Lady Anne. True, true, I did kill her husband and father, but I can work around that.

Enter Lady Anne.

Richard:  Marry me!

Lady Anne: You killed my husband and my father!

Richard: Well, yes. Marry me anyway!

Lady Anne: I’ll think about it.

Exit Lady Anne.

Richard (alone):  I can’t believe that worked!

And that’s after the whole opening with Clarence, which was equally over the top silly:

Richard (alone) : Now, see, all I need to do is slip the king a note that he has to beware of someone whose name starts with G.

Enter Clarence.

Richard:  Clarence!  Where you off to?

Clarence: The Tower!

Richard:  The Tower! Goodness, why are you being sent to the tower?

Clarence: I have no idea!  The King says it’s because my name is George, can you believe it?

Richard: That’s the strangest thing I’ve ever heard!  Well, fear not, I’m sure everything will work out.

(* See, the whole “I thought your name was Clarence?” thing that KJ mentions in his comments earlier, never bothered me. I just assumed that Clarence was his title and that George was a little used first name. )

Anyway…is the whole play like this?  That’s some of the most ridiculously funny stuff I’ve seen in a while.  I’m waiting for the beheadings.

So I’m tackling Richard III, as I mentioned, and blogging as I go. 

One major question right out of the gate is, “What exactly does this mean? How does one approach a new play?”  It’s not like I’m constrained to wandering down to the local Barnes & Noble and picking up the paperback edition.  It’s safe to say that I’ve got access to a wider variety of resources than that 😉  Not only is there a complete works over on my bookshelf over there, I’ve got the works locally on my laptop and on my phone, not to mention easy googling.

“No Fear” editions that claim to do a <shudder> line by line translation of the play are not an option. If you need to ask why, I point you to 6 years of Shakespeare Geek archives. 🙂

However, it’s also not reasonable to just jump in and read the play.  “Performed, not read!” everybody’s been screaming for years.  Not to mention, in my particular situation it’s just unrealistic so sit down for any amount of time with a Complete Works and all the necessary reference material, and still get a coherent first read of the story.  I see that as more the kind of thing to do after multiple reads, when I can better dig down into specific analysis.

So, performance.  Performance, performance. An argument I’ve always made against “Go see it!” is that this is easier said than done. You can’t just snap your fingers and have a live show of every Shakespeare play, you have to take what you can get.  And right now I don’t know of an R3 in my area.

Well, then, what about movies?  I will get to the movies – the McKellen, most likely, both because it is available for streaming on Netflix and also because his footnoted script is available online and I can follow along.  Once I’ve done that I’ll probably come back around and check out the Olivier version.

Middle ground?  Audio.  I have plenty of time with my iPod (driving, yard work, etc…) which is currently filled with just podcasts and science fiction novels.  Shakespeare Teacher’s recent post on the best of Shakespeare on Audio gave me the idea.  But you don’t have to run out and drop the bucks for Arkangel
, when Librivox is around.  For those that don’t know, Librivox offers free MP3 readings of many public domain works, including of course Shakespeare.

So, there’s my starting point.  It’s currently Saturday afternoon, I’ve got the McKellen R3 in my Netflix queue, and the Librivox recording on my iPod.  I will have to back up my listening with reading, as it’s obvious after just the first few minutes that some “Who is speaking now?” context is needed when doing nothing but listening.  But I can work with that.  My game plan is to listen whenever the opportunity presents, back up with reading when I get a moment, and play catchup with the movie version for a few minutes every night before bed.