Shakespeare makes life better.
Most of the posts in this category are simply leftovers from a previous era before the site had categories. Over time I plan to reduce that number to zero and remove this category. Until then, here they are. I had to put something in the box.
Following up on today’s earlier Mercutio question, here’s one in search of a more specific answer from some of our students of the theatre:
Sometimes characters go out of their way to die offstage, Mercutio being a prime example. Why?
I’m assuming that there was some sort of structural framework that Shakespeare was following that required this. Why not have Mercutio die onstage? I’m guessing there’s a particular reason.
You probably see it quoted all the time: “Shakespeare invented the words assassination and bump!”
It is…inaccurate. What does it mean to invent a word? Can history ever really trace the first person to string together a series of letters in a way that no one else ever did?
It is more correct to say that Shakespeare represents the first recorded use of the word. In that case, the statement is true: assassination appears in Macbeth, and bump (as a noun, not like to bump into somebody) appears in Romeo and Juliet.
For the curious, here’s one of many lists of words that Shakespeare is first credited with using. I choose this list because it attempts to clarify how Shakespeare used each word when he used it in a way different than we do now. “Import”, for example, was just a different way for him to say “importance,” and that is not how we use it today.
Via Twitter I hit up a couple of celebrities (one of whom follow me back!) to see if I could get them to mention Shakespeare on the air (they are both currently on television daily). I don’t expect much from that one, but hey, you never know what catches people’s attention :). Had my daughter’s sixth birthday party this weekend, and made sure to tell any parents that would listen about the local Shakespeare show coming to the library this week. Also, while at the market I made sure to point out the posters to my kids loudly enough that fellow shoppers could hear. “Look kids, there’s Daddy’s poster for the Shakespeare show at the library this week!” Who else? (I know some folks commented on the original Friday post. Consider this followup a guilt trip for those that read that post and didn’t pimp Shakespeare at all this weekend :))
The problem is mostly that it’s a terrible play. I’m not saying it wasn’t a decent play at one time or another during its history–I’m quite fond of the Fletcher-Shakespeare collaborations that weren’t ‘discovered’ by Theobald–but it certainly isn’t one now, and probably wasn’t one even when Theobald got his oft-travestied hands on it.
I’m not one of the geeks standing in line to see this “new” “Shakespeare” play (I couldn’t decide which word to stick air quotes around, they’re both equally incorrect :)), but Mad Shakespeare’s got the review. Although the reviewer has praise for the lead actress, the one doesn’t sound like the world’s been missing too much.
This has almost certainly been done before, but I’ve never seen them – and that’s saying something, as I actively hunt out this stuff. How about a set of Shakespeare cards? Just like baseball cards, only every card is a character from the play. You get some basic stats about who she was and what she’s famous for (or, barring fame, why she’s in the play at all). There could be tragedy packs and comedy packs, or group by play. I’m trying to think of a game that you could play with them, to make it interesting, but haven’t come up with anything yet. I think it would be a really interesting challenge, though, for an artist to come up with a depiction of, oh, every single Shakespearean character.