#cloten

[shambelle97]

TOM HIDDLESTON - POSTHUMUS AND CLOTEN / CYMBELINE (2007)

Tom Hiddleston as Posthumus and Cloten in "Cymbeline" in 2007.

Pics by: Cheek By Jowl

[zombirps]

SHE DONE

IM DONE

FUCK U BITCH

[insanityclause]

Cymbeline

'Posthumus/Cloten'

Cheek By Jowl, February - July, 2007

*Won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play

[britneyshakespeare]

Cymbeline Act II, scene iii

Finally, confirmation that Shakespeare ate pussy

[babelincolns]

[shakespearenews]

The Feckless King

The president’s fall has come, and it has a Shakespearean flavor.

But Trump is not, and never was, Richard III, or indeed any of Shakespeare’s other great villains, such as Iago or Macbeth. He is not as smart, well spoken, or competent as they are; he has limited self-awareness, and would be incapable of the poignant soliloquies that leave us with a sneaking sympathy for Richard III, in particular.

No, Trump gets little further in tragic stature than the wretched Prince Cloten of Cymbeline, an oafish would-be murderer and rapist who fails in his desire to get the woman for whom he lusts and comes to a sticky end. Cloten is not a major figure, because there just is not enough human interest in him to commend him to either the playwright or us. But within Trump are fragments of other Shakespearean characters. And of these, the most notable is Richard II.

[snack-size-shakespeare]

Richard III was clever, cunning, and full of charm.

Macbeth was a brave military leader, a decent person who was destroyed by his conscience and his guilt once he started doing cruel things.

King Lear's whole character arc involved waking up to the suffering of those around him. When he empathises with the poor people out in the storm, it is the turning point for a previously selfish person. He develops some self-awareness, too, of the person he has been.

Our flailing soon-to-be ex-President is none of that. They are all better than he is.

If he's anyone, he's Cloten from Cymbeline - vicious, stupid, entitled, selfish, uninterested in responsibility, wildly disliked. And shut out from the happy ending

[thehumming6ird]

‘As Cloten, who idiotically attempts to woo Imogen, [Tom Hiddleston] was pure clown. There’s a scene where he stands beneath Imogen’s window and sings “Hark, hark, the lark”, which we turned into a boyband number, with Tom singing and dancing. I forget whose idea it was, but it was brilliantly cringeworthy. He really went for it.’

Nick Ormerod on Tom Hiddleston's performance in Cheek by Jowl’s 2007 production of Cymbeline