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Post by the4thpip on Jul 6, 2014 12:15:25 GMT -5
I just feel like plays were not meant to be read. I get a lot more out of watching a staging of a Shakespeare play than reading it. If I wanna read Shakespeare, I read the sonnets.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 6, 2014 12:17:56 GMT -5
You mean silently. Agreed. If you read them aloud, even by yourself, they are being performed.
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Post by the4thpip on Jul 6, 2014 12:43:00 GMT -5
Still, I tend to lose track of who says what when I do it by myself. Also, I am a horrible Lady Macbeth.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2014 12:46:22 GMT -5
And once you get a handle on Shakespeare make sure his sci-fi ouvre...   I actually enjoy Shakespeare quite a bit, but I find it is better experienced than read. The young man who was the ring bearer in our wedding leaves in a few days having secured a position with a travelling Shakespeare troupe based out of Cincinatti, and a 2 summers ago took part in a Shakespeare internship out in New Jersey that is fairly well regarded. He has played several Shaskespearean roles locally, which has allowed me to take in several of the plays rather than simply having read them.  A pic of him as Hamlet from about 5 years ago that was the cover to the local arts supplement in the newspaper. I am not including Shakespeare in the big read for a couple of reasons, but it's not because I don't enjoy the works. My focus is on speculative fiction and I did not want to go back any earlier than the 19th century because the bulk of what I want to get to is 20th century material. -M |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 6, 2014 13:21:41 GMT -5
I myself am a huge Shakespeare fan (if my username hadn't already suggested this to you). I do intend to read every play before I leave this Earth, but I agree with mrp that this is difficult to do if you haven't already seen some Shakespeare in performance.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 6, 2014 13:22:21 GMT -5
You mean silently. Agreed. If you read them aloud, even by yourself, they are being performed. I do this  |
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 6, 2014 13:48:20 GMT -5
You mean silently. Agreed. If you read them aloud, even by yourself, they are being performed. I do this I figured that! |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 6, 2014 14:04:11 GMT -5
I've been reading Shakespeare on and off for years. I've got about ten plays left before I've read them all. I try to read at least one a year. But sometimes I feel like I've read all the good ones. What I've got left is stuff like Love's Labor Lost, All's Well that Ends Well, Coriolanus, Cymbeline. I have been saving Henry VIII and Merry Wives of Windsor because I do want to end with some good ones.
Sometimes the lesser-known plays are surprising. I really like The Comedy of Errors and I've read it more than once. But then there's something like A Winter's Tale, which I read a few months ago and it was a bit of a chore. I did enjoy the notes because when you read the notes, you learn so much about Elizabethan customs. But the play itself had me scratching my head.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 6, 2014 14:07:33 GMT -5
All's Well that Ends Well disturbs the heck out of me. I find Coriolanus deeply touching. Have not read Cymbeline.
The Comedy of Errors is actually the only Shakespeare play I don't enjoy. It just feels too generic/derivative. I think it's fair to say he wrote it before he found his own voice.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 6, 2014 14:48:39 GMT -5
I'll probably try another Shakespeare play in a few weeks. I mostly read history. I'm reading two books about Elizabeth I (both by Alison Weir) right now. Then I'm going to continue my classics program (I try to read three to five classics a year, at least) with Gulliver's Travels. Then I'll be ready for the next Shakespeare. I'm not sure which one.
Here's the plays I haven't read:
Two Gentlemen of Verona (I have seen it performed, in the courtyard at Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles)
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Love's Labour's Lost
All's Well that Ends Well
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Henry VIII
Coriolanus
Cymbeline
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 6, 2014 15:04:11 GMT -5
I'll probably try another Shakespeare play in a few weeks. I mostly read history. I'm reading two books about Elizabeth I (both by Alison Weir) right now. Then I'm going to continue my classics program (I try to read three to five classics a year, at least) with Gulliver's Travels. Then I'll be ready for the next Shakespeare. I'm not sure which one. Here's the plays I haven't read: Two Gentlemen of Verona (I have seen it performed, in the courtyard at Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles) The Merry Wives of Windsor Love's Labour's Lost All's Well that Ends Well The Two Noble Kinsmen Henry VIII Coriolanus Cymbeline Don't forget the apocrypha. I've got an edition of the complete plays that includes Edward III, and I've been meaning to get around to if for a long time now. |
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Post by MatthewP on Jul 6, 2014 17:47:37 GMT -5
For Shakespeare fans - and even those who aren't fans - I strongly recommend Joss Whedeon's recent production of Much Ado About Nothing. It is set in current times, was produced on the cheap, and was filmed in Joss Whedon's home with a bunch of his regular actors. I've enjoyed quite a few of S's plays, but this was the most fun production I've seen.
However, this may be dependent on being a fan of Joss Whedon. It is quite infused with his stylistic sensibilities, although it is entirely faithful to the original Shakespeare lines (albeit slightly abridged).
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2014 18:00:30 GMT -5
Ole Will only worked with the best artists on his comics' gigs though...  -M |
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 6, 2014 18:14:02 GMT -5
For Shakespeare fans - and even those who aren't fans - I strongly recommend Joss Whedeon's recent production of Much Ado About Nothing. It is set in current times, was produced on the cheap, and was filmed in Joss Whedon's home with a bunch of his regular actors. I've enjoyed quite a few of S's plays, but this was the most fun production I've seen. However, this may be dependent on being a fan of Joss Whedon. It is quite infused with his stylistic sensibilities, although it is entirely faithful to the original Shakespeare lines (albeit slightly abridged). Haven't seen it, look forward to dong so, but Wheedon and I part company on the notion that Beatrice and Benedick would be in bed together as the play opens. That makes much of the ensuing dialogue and action between them (you'll pardon the pun) anti-climactic. I will watch, however, when I have the chance to pick up the DVD. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 6, 2014 18:22:13 GMT -5
I've been reading Shakespeare on and off for years. I've got about ten plays left before I've read them all. I try to read at least one a year. But sometimes I feel like I've read all the good ones. What I've got left is stuff like Love's Labor Lost, All's Well that Ends Well, Coriolanus, Cymbeline. I have been saving Henry VIII and Merry Wives of Windsor because I do want to end with some good ones. Sometimes the lesser-known plays are surprising. I really like The Comedy of Errors and I've read it more than once. But then there's something like A Winter's Tale, which I read a few months ago and it was a bit of a chore. I did enjoy the notes because when you read the notes, you learn so much about Elizabethan customs. But the play itself had me scratching my head. Please see TWT if you ever have the opportunity. It is, as Shakespeare baldly states, a tale, and thus subject to the vagaries if the genre. Shakespeare is concerned here with redemption, mercy, suffering, the unplumbed darkness of jealousy, and the transformative power of love. Yes, a good deal of the play is pastoral comedy, but even there, the themes weave their way through the comic, bawdy scenes. Leontes is a complicated character, Othello and Iago n one mind, heart and soul, as complicated, contradictory, and confounding a character as any real-life human being, which is what Shakespeare was going for here. I can't think of any of his plays that ends wrapped up neatly, all ends tucked into the box, with "Happily ever after" or "This is what happens when evil tries to win" stamped for all to see. Watch if you can the RSC production featuring Antony Sher as Leontes if you can, and I'm sure you will have a new perspective. |
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