alms for oblivion

[tenderstems]

shubham saraf as ophelia how we feelin about this lads

[eclogues]

WE’RE FEELIN REAL GOOD ALICE!!!

[old-songs]

Were feeling gay tonight lads

[shakespearenews]

Jack Laskey as Rosalind and Nadia Nadarajah as Celia in “As You Like It” directed by Federay Holmes and Elle While. Credit: Tristram Kenton. 

[fuckyeahgreatplays]

Actor-director Michelle Terry is kicking off her time in charge at the Globe with a rep season of ‘As You Like It’ and ‘Hamlet’ that features, as she recently said to Time Out, ‘a gender-blind, race-blind, disability-blind’ company of actors.

This means that you’ve got the traditional “man playing a woman playing a man” on one end, and a deaf Sri Lankan woman playing Celia. I’m sort of bummed that it gives one of Shakespeare’s great female roles to a man, but it also lets a woman (Bettrys Jones) play Orlando so I feel better about it. 

[aibafiles]

consider: modern AU hamlet doing soliloquies in the shower

[aibafiles]

#does this mean in the first one horatio bursts into his shower like hey hamlet i saw the ghost of your dad (via hyenateeth)

yes. yes that is exactly what that means

[arrantknave]

[svenson777]

A bw engraving and the original 1842 oil painting by Irish painter Daniel Maclise.

“The Play-scene in HAMLET”, portraying the moment when the guilt of Claudius is revealed.

[mekammin]

Hero: Benedick loves her!

Margaret: who?

Hero: the girl overhearing this ;)

[britishasiancollective]

Eleanor Matsuura as Hippolyta (with Maxine Peake as Titania) in Russell T Davies’ adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

[english-idylls]

Some Shakespeare heroines in Pre-Raphaelite art: Mariana (Measure for Measure), Ophelia (Hamlet), and Miranda (The Tempest) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, and John William Waterhouse.

[kameliendame]

Christopher Wheeldon, The Winter’s Tale

Lauren Cuthbertson

ph. Darren Thomas

[angelicgif]

tag yourself: the tempest edition (ft. my quality illustrations)

[stripedroseandsketchpads]

The thing I love about Edmund is how self-aware he is. Like he’s the opposite of the “villain who thinks they’re the good guy”. He’s like, “nope, I’m doing a bad thing, look out guys, here I go”, and he doesn’t act without motivation (he does feel he’s been wrongly treated for being a bastard), but he does understand that he’s hurting people and acting in an immoral way to get what he wants, and it’s his choice. He’s not being manipulated or driven by fate or anything else. And what makes him a villain is that he’s OK with that; he knows and does it anyway, and that’s a lot scarier than someone who really believes themselves to be good.

[earl-grey-tea-of-gloucester]

Shakespeare April: Macbeth

[browsethestacks]

Vintage Comic - Ideal #01

Pencils: ? Inks: ? Timely (July1948)

[dipthatpen-blog]

My deepest sympathies and also congratulations to King Richard III and King Macbeth.

[lloerwyn-deactivated20201104]

Even though Richard III is one of my favourite historical figures, I’ve always found the Shakespearification of Macbeth more interesting because I just know so much less about the actual King Macbeth. Was he considered a bad king in his reign and that reputation filtered down to Shakespeare’s time? Was he a mediocre or even a good king who got his name besmirched later on? Did Shakespeare just pick him like ‘I need a Scottish king and this guy has a cool name’? Maybe I should just read about him and find out.

[malvoliowithin]

@flappyfluellen

Our shitty kings! :D

You’ve researched a bit on the real Macbeth, though, haven’t you? Is there much information available on what sort of king he was?

[flappyfluellen]

this is a great drawing!! and I actually haven’t done that much research (although I do know some stuff)… I should do more… but as far as I know, we do have some info on him. off the top of my head I just remember his anglicized name (MacBeth MacFinlay) and the date he was crowned (1040)

[tennydr10confidential]

Need right now.

[lifetimeinafist]

OKAY here we go. This is what I want out of my The Office meet Slings and Arrows Shakespeare workplace comedy:

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later the King’s Men:

Riz Ahmed as William Shakespeare, stuttering, stammering disaster person who frequently finishes plays while they’re already being rehearsed. Loves yelling at Ben Jonson. Loves Cuthbert Burbage even though Cuthbert hates him.  

John Cho as Richard Burbage, handsome leading man extraordinaire. 

Steven Yeun as Cuthbert Burbage, the only member of the company with any shred of cognitive executive function.  Constantly on the verge of tears. Sets The Globe on fire at least once so he can take a nap.

Kit Harrington as Augustine Phillips, comically handsome male ingenue. Extra long floppy hair is a MUST. Takes his shirt off at least once an episode. Dumb as a pile of bricks, but a brilliant actor because he literally has no thoughts.

Melissa McCarthy as Will Kempe, the physical comedian and Shakespeare’s favorite. Has personally broken nine different parts of The Globe because of over committing to physical stunts. Brews moonshine in the tiring rooms. The chaos muppet to end all chaos muppets. Cuthbert hates her more than Will.

Kate McKinnon as Robert Armin, player of all the “professional fools.”  Brews moonshine in the dressing room and asks the most annoying plot clarity questions.  Shakespeare has personally thrown fifteen pairs of mud caked boots at her head.

Sam Richardson as John Heminges, company workhorse. Plays parts like Lenox, Camillo, and Horatio. Just wants everyone to get along. Makes sensible suggestions that are routinely ignored.

Retta as Henry Condell, Cuthbert Burbage’s soul ally. Says “Please remember we have to make SOME money” at every single company meeting

The boy actors: just kidnap all the kids from Stranger Things and call it a day. Including Millie Bobby Brown. (especially Millie Bobby Brown)

Nick Offerman as Geoffrey, the company prop’s master. Shakespeare is simultaneously in love with and terrified of him. Only stays with the company because he loves Kempe’s moonshine.

Outside the company:

Daveed Diggs as Christopher Marlowe, preferably wearing the Elizabeth version of whatever the fuck this is

Rainn Wilson as Ben Jonson, Dwight Schrute of the Elizabethan/Jacobean era.  

Geoffrey Rush as Phillip Henslowe, wearing the exact same thing he wore in Shakespeare in Love because I want no one else in this part ever.

Miranda Richardson as Queen Elizabeth I because honestly her Elizabeth in Blackadder is demented and perfect

Ben Schwarz as King James I, played as a slightly less unhinged version of Jean-Ralphio Saperstein. 

[princehal9000]

Bex is “outlining the pilot” but I just mainlined a bunch of B99 so here’s some episode ideas:

- Kempe and Armin, to help continue a con, have possession of the two polar bear cubs recently transported to England. They hide them under the stage with a pile of Richard Burbage’s dried meat snacks (for his muscles). The bear cubs get out during a rehearsal for a play because of course Geoffrey found it easier to find real sheep for Will’s new play: A Winter’s Tale and they got hungry. Chaos ensues as Augustine Phillips is found to be allergic to bear fur and gets hives right before the evening performance, forcing Will to perform in his place. - Flashback episode where the company casts Augustine Phillips to the company after a half-hearted casting call round the local pubs. They finally just employ the last person Marlowe kicked out of bed the week before. Meanwhile, Cuthbert and Richard Burbage are on a hunt to secure funding for their next show from a rich widow whose demands grow ever more ludicrously erotic as she imagines Richard starring opposite herself in the lead role. No male goes fully clothed the entire episode, because Art.

- Queen Elizabeth wants a political play, so Cuthbert and Condell encourage their friend Will, who has only written bloody slasher plays to this date, to lay his neck out on the words. In the meantime, Kempe and Armin silently jockey for brewing space in the backstage area of the theater.

- John Heminges has to fill in, over the course of a week of chaos, for every single part in A Comedy of Errors.

- Geoffrey’s mounting megalomania about increasingly dangerous props echoes the themes of the play Will is stuck on writing: Macbeth.

- How The End of Cymbeline Got Written: A Mockumentary by The Boy Actors.

- Christopher Marlowe’s love life, spy life, and theater life collide when he needs to hide his lover for a few weeks from Elizabeth’s men. Asking Will for a favor, he remarks on the similarities between Augustine Phillips and his current lover, because he really Has A Type. Can The Globe hide him in plain sight? Condell plots to do a sideline portraiture of the two of them in tasteful nudes to pay off a creditor. The play? Twelfth Night.

- Someone (coughArmincough) accidentally brings Will’s dirty sonnets to rehearsal and proceed to act them out. Cuthbert attempts to burn down The Globe to prevent him from ever having to imagine those things, prevented by John Heminges, who has his own side plot of averting an assassination of Kind James I when he dutifully tries to return a lost hat to a groundling.

I’m sure I’ll come up with more as the weeks go on. No, none of these are historically researched or accurate but like, why.

[lifetimeinafist]

- Production grinds to a screeching halt when Cuthbert flatly refuses to pay for actual portable trees for Macbeth and Geoffrey refuses to make trees that aren’t an accurate size or height and Shakespeare refuses to cut the scene.  Meanwhile, Armin and Kempe are asked to teach the boy actors how to fence and instead accidentally sign them up to fight at the cock fighting pit next door. Condell is forced to come to the rescue. 

- Crippled by writer’s block, Shakespeare spends an entire month getting drunk and heckling Ben Jonson’s plays. It culminates in a slapfight at the Mermaid Tavern.  Later, they get drunk and hook up. 

- The company tries to explain the plot of Cymbeline to Augustine Phillips, who is unfortunately playing Posthumous. Shakespeare lasts 5 minutes. Richard lasts a full day. Cuthbert punches him in the stomach after 30 minutes and runs screaming into the night. Condell makes it two days. Heminges actually cries. Armin and Kempe try to tag team it and end up in a fistfight. Miraculously, the boy players succeed.  Cuthbert Burbage almost hands the company over to them on the spot.

- ANNE HATHAWAY IS COMING TO VISIT. Everyone is forced to pitch in and hide Shakespeare’s many lovers across the city.  They ultimately fail when they bump into Marlowe and he invites her to have a threesome.

[princehal9000]

- The company goes on a forced tour round the immediate countryside during the plague summer. Will eats some mushrooms and hallucinates a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Richard Burbage is caught sneaking out of the tavern owner’s wife’s bed. Augstine Phillips is caught sneaking out of the stable lad’s quarters. Kempe and Armin are caught as part of what might be an orgy but no one wants to ask, given the donkey. The Boy Actors are confronted with the horrors of rural living.

- Queen Elizabeth decides to come to The Globe instead of ordering a performance brought to her. She gives them 4 hours lead time, two weeks ahead of opening night. No, Will hadn’t finished the play yet.

- The Boy Actors drop all the fencing foils into the Thames because Geoffrey is withholding snacks during scene breaks. Unionization is discussed. Hamlet still goes on as scheduled, despite the lack of real swords. Several improbable props are improvised as murder weapons in the final scene.

- Will’s ex-lover Antonio comes back from Time Abroad and Oh No He’s Hot. Condell attempts to—without permission—enforce phony licenses and fees on snack purveyors at The Globe, ending in a Traumatic Pie Scene. 

- Marlowe bets Will he can’t stay celibate for a month. Condell bets Geoffrey that he can’t get Will to sleep Augustine, while accepting money from Marlowe on the side to break Will’s bet. Geoffrey convinces Augustine to pretend to be interested in Cuthbert, who has to be paid off, in order to arouse jealousy in Will. This backfires when it’s revealed that Will has no interest in Augustine, but rather on Cuthbert. Meanwhile, he’s writing Taming of the Shrew. Heminges runs the books.

[the-mad-prince-of-denmark]

I WANT THIS SO BAD

[axur]

Christopher McKenney

[imperatorkhaleesi]

Ophelia Coming Out Of Her River To Shame Hamlet

[notkatniss]