Folio 305

Shakespeare. Florida International University. February 2016. #foliofiu

[namtan]

[nitratediva]

From A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935).

[folio305-blog]

act I, scene V

Mercutio: If my mother could only see me now.

Romeo: I hope *my* mother never finds out.

[oscarwetnwilde]

[shakespeaker]

HENRY VI, PART III, ACT II, SCENE 3

WARWICK:

Then let the earth be drunken with our blood: I’ll kill my horse, because I will not fly. Why stand we like soft-hearted women here, Wailing our losses, whiles the foe doth rage; And look upon, as if the tragedy Were play’d in jest by counterfeiting actors? Here on my knee I vow to God above, I’ll never pause again, never stand still, Till either death hath closed these eyes of mine Or fortune given me measure of revenge.

[lorannahx]

War! War! No peace! Peace is to me a war. KING JOHN, III.i

Why isn’t King John performed more often? It’s a fantastic play - it has everything - history, war, humour, violence, great female characters, the Bastard, romance (sort of), dance sequences… And in  my opinion the battle outside of Angiers is one of the funniest sequences ever written.

I don’t know, maybe I’ve just been lucky - both the productions I’ve seen have been truly fantastic. The RSC’s vivid, anarchic, modern production soaked in blood - which saw King John and the Bastard oozing sexual chemistry, whilst Blanche and the Dauphin Dirty Danced their way through their wedding. Whilst the Globe’s more traditional production was steeped in charm and glory and absolutely throbbing with feminine anger.

Maybe there are other productions out there that aren’t as good. Maybe there are productions out there that don’t feature Alex Waldmann, I can’t say. At any rate I’d be happier to see many more productions in the future.

PRODUCTIONS

RSC, Swan Theatre, 2012 Shakespeare’s Globe on Tour, Shakespeare’s Globe, 2015

[lorannahx]

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues. - ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, IV.iii

I feel that All’s Well That Ends Well is one of Shakespeare’s trickier plays to pull off - as I think it’s moral feeling is one of those that has shifted most greatly in the modern time, a difficulty compounded by the fact that very few of the characters are actually likeable. Bertram is something of a spoilt child but it’s hard not to pity him as he’s forced into a marriage that he doesn’t want, even if it’s primarily for reasons that seem unreasonable and classist to us now. Meanwhile, Helena, our heroine, not only tricks and manipulates Bertram, she lies to the audience. In soliloquys! I’m not sure if there are any other characters in the canon that do that. Even Iago and Aaron are forthright about their plans when it’s just them and the audience.

All of this can make it difficult to embrace the supposedly happy ending (you should have seen how wound up my high school English class got about Demetrius being left enchanted at the end of Midsummer Night’s Dream, god knows what we’d have made of Bertram’s situation) - especially when you see the King of France repeating the same mistake with Diana.

So not my favourite play and it requires careful handling but it’s definitely NOT impossible. The Globe’s production even managed to be quite charming - building up the idea from early on that Bertram had strong feelings for Helena that he was suppressing only because of her status (Sam Crane spent the entire play clutching a handkerchief she’d given him) and, whilst his behaviour towards Diana was still unpleasant, it at least made the ending satisfying. Plus everything was infused with a soft fairytale quality that I thought worked perfectly (and adding James Garnon to any Shakespeare production is a good idea).

PRODUCTIONS  

Shakespeare’s Globe, 2011 RSC, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 2013

[shakespearenews]

Everybody’s Got a Right to Their Shakespeare (Even John Wilkes Booth)

Among the bounty of items in the Ransom Center’s exhibit about the Bard will be the assassin’s script for ‘Richard III.’

“There are many accounts that suggest this was John’s favorite role, and certainly among his most popular. It is not too much of a stretch to suggest that he saw something of himself in the character of Richard, which is fascinating in light of the later assassination of Lincoln.”

Source.

[raspberrychainsaw]

To be, or not to be, that is the question

[kelseyridge13]

Shakespeare Histories

[eligracely]

They kept asking me, ‘What does the poem mean? What does the poem mean?’ And it was frustrating me because poems don’t mean. They suggest. They enact. They provoke.

Richard Siken (via wethinkwedream)

[literarystarbucks]

Richard III

Richard III goes up to the counter and orders an iced coffee. “Are you sure you want that?” the barista asks. “It’s freezing cold outside!” “Now is the winter of our discontent,” King Richard says. He hobbles out into the snow.

[thestereotypebuster]

Okay, I love Horatio (and by extension, Hamlet) and all, but in all honesty, when I finished reading Hamlet for the first time, all I could think was “poor Laertes.” And that’s why I don’t have a favorite Laertes. Because I’ve yet to see an actor that. could make me feel that again.

[runecestershire]

Have you seen the Olivier version? It leaves a lot to be desired, but that Laertes is wonderful and I end up feeling even more sorry for him than I usual, and I always feel sorry for Laertes.

[folio305-blog]

Claudius: *at the play*

Claudius: I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now

[cat-i-the-adage]

Macbeth

[millionsmillions]

Famous authors had day jobs, too. Check out this infographic from Adzuna to find out what J.M. Coetzee, George R.R. Martin, J. K. Rowling, and more did before (or while) they published novels. Our own Emily St. John Mandel writes about the struggle to balance a day job and a creative life.

[romeos-butt]

I’m not to good at animating anything yet but hey I tired! :) And let me just say Juliet smiling will always be the most cutest thing ever!