#shakespearebatch

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

Hi! I've been musing over this for a day or two but I saw you mention you were in a Shakesperian play before and it got me thinking....you and Benedict in whatever Shakespeare play of your choosing I think it'd be so cool!

Also on the same note but an AU with Dr. Strange as a theatre professor and you bond with him over your love of literature and playwriting 🥰

I love this so, sooooooooooooo much and guess what, my brilliant friend...

It's an actual thing!

The One That Got Away

In my early years on tumblr, there used to be a lot of contests by Artists and Writers to promote their blogs. One such that I won was a custom written one-shot. And as what you've described above (me acting in a play by Shakespeare, opposite Benedict) has been a long desired dream, that's what the Author created for me. BC & I performing together in The Taming of the Shrew. Dust to Dust is a fic filled with angst & mutual but unfulfillable longing!😁Please check it out; it's a very quick, wonderful read.

But it gets even better...

I loved this story so much that my mind kept going, I need more...there has to be more to the story. And I began to write. Bits and pieces of Benedict & Virgilia (Vicki) interacting. Pining. Confessing forbidden feelings. A kickass prologue. Until I finally had to broach the topic with the Author--who had felt a pull to continue the story as well

So, she asked for samples of what I'd written, and once satisfied with how I envisioned the story playing out, she gave me her blessing. The One That Got Away is one of my dearest WIPs, and though it's been ages since I've updated, I know exactly how the rest of the story goes (including lots of angst, a forbidden tryst or two, lovers separated by an ocean wide, reconciliation and a happy ending). I even wrote an epilogue already, for a bestie of mine who initially struck up our friendship because she loved the story so much.

Gotta say, it makes me really happy to talk about it, so I must thank you heartily!🥰 I miss those inspired days of writing. So impassioned to get the words on the page that I even wrote one pivitol chapter in a law office where I had to give a deposition about an accident I witnessed at work!

I hope with all my heart that a few new Readers will check it out from seeing this post, and maybe even give it some love. I know many of us refer to something we've written as some of our best stuff--but this is no cliche; I really think it is.

Oh, and your second suggestion...Stephen as a Theatre Professor? Absolutely worth adding to my list of things I'd love to write if I ever get my mojo back for real.

a very excited PS:

I have two songs that encapsulate some of the feels for this fic. Girl Crush by Little Big Town, and Taylor's Wildest Dreams

PPS: a wonderful graphic artist made an amazing 'book cover' for the story; and the OC costume designer for Shrew is based on her

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

The One That Got Away

Chapter 18 on AO3

by sobeautifullyobsessed

Romance, angst, Shakespearbatch (circa 2012), The Taming of the Shrew

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

Benedict Cumberbatch as Orlando, As You Like It, 2002

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

The One That Got Away - chapter 17

an AU fan fiction featuring Theatrebatch by sobeautifullyobsessed

Chapter 17 on AO3: “...at the length, truth will out...”

Chapters 1-17 on AO3

tagging under the cut

@adaline-hiero @thehiddenlawyer @tsukuyomi011 @haipiranha @arc-reactor-powered-dragonz @garuda-dreams-of-rain @bamcrux @isabeau13 @88thparallel @randombiochemist @battledress @aikibriarrose @damselindeduction @splunge4me2art  AND @cinderella1181  whose short story Dust to Dust started me in this journey to begin with--thought you might like a peek at how I’ve fleshed it out! xx

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

Shakespeare himself would fall in love with him.

me, discussing Benedict C., with @thehiddenlawyer...because how could he not, seeing his work brought to life with such searing, gorgeous truth?

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

Please stop being so damn handsome while you do those evil deeds!

Me, rewatching Richard III several times over, this week.

Like how? How is he so beautiful when his soul is but a canker? (But seriously, each time I watch, I see & feel his inner pain more palpably. Those long pauses where he pulls into himself, and you know he’s reckoning his history of sins--and all the sins done against him--that formed him into the man he became.)

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

The One That Got Away - chapter 13

an AU Romance by sobeautifullyobsessed

featuring The Taming of the Shrew...and Shakespearebatch

chapter 13:  “the course of true love never did run smooth”

...A fearful chill ran along Vicki’s spine as images from the night before flitted through her mind.  She had behaved like an immature idiot, to be sure; she’d been nearly irrational with jealousy when she had pulled Callum along to the dance floor.  It had hurt like hell to watch Viola all over Ben, and him appearing to do nothing to discourage those attentions; she’d ached to make him feel the same helplessness and frustration that coursed through her veins, compelled as she was to play silent witness to their charade.  His charade—that’s all it was, she’d known, and yet she hadn’t been able to stop herself acting one of her own.

Vicki swallowed hard, her throat thick with apprehension, and finally managed a response, “Is this…do you mean dancing with Cal?  It…it didn’t mean anything.  I was blowing off steam, that’s all.”  A half-truth that failed the moment it left her lips, if she judged by her friend’s silence.  “Agnes?”

“Honey,” Agnes sighed, “It looked like a helluva lot more than blowing off steam.  That was some,” she paused, searching for the best way to describe it, “…that was some serious dirty dancing you did out there.  He had his hands all over you.”

Vicki’s cheeks felt aflame as the shameful truth hit home; she had indeed put on quite a show.  Meant for only one set of eyes, of course.  She’d lead a very willing Callum onto the dance floor, easily syncing her movements with the rhythmic beat, and in no time she’d encouraged his hands to freely roam her contours.  She had closed her eyes soon after that, letting the music fill her head, driving the resentment and hurt away for a time, losing herself in the heat of gyrating bodies pressed close around them and the feel of Cal’s lips on the skin of her neck--and how daringly he had eventually pulled her against him.  At least when he had tried to kiss her mouth, Vicki had turned away, urging him elsewhere; she still had sense enough not to tarnish the memory of Benedict’s kisses by sharing such with any other man...

read the whole chapter on AO3

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

The One That Got Away

an AU Romance featuring Shakespearebatch, by sobeautifullyobsessed

chapter 11- the play’s the thing

...As with all good theatre, the energy of a live audience was the vital, final component necessary for success; the players feeding off their responses, holding for the laugh lines, punching certain pieces of dialogue and actions just that little bit more as they read the crowd’s receptiveness in a constant give and take.  It was the thing which drew even the most successful of screen actors back to the stage, and one of the key reasons Benedict had been keen to sign onto The Taming of the Shrew.  But the satisfaction for this job well done went well beyond his own creative fulfillment and the enthusiastic appreciation of the audience.  There was the pleasure of watching his co-star at work, of seeing her shine, and of feeling their connection both as actors and as man to woman; for those brief hours he needn’t worry if he looked at her too long, or too longingly.  And he could touch her; oh so many chances to touch her!  A true innocent and guilty indulgence at the same time.  The secret joy of it warmed him more than a theatre house full of applauding spectators ever could.

The first half of Shrew flowed smoothly, with only an occasional, opening night blip, 

and nothing that was glaringly obvious. Viola, flush with excitement and adrenaline, rushed to his side at the interval, sticking close by until the call to places came again.  In that short time, Benedict only needed to lock eyes once with Vicki to know she was on his same wave length, happy and fulfilled by their work, and reveling in this first shared performance.

Petruchio and Kate’s closing kiss, and then curtain call, seemed to arrive in a rush after that.  The applause mounted as small groups of actors took the spotlight, playfully interacting in character before turning full front to take their bows.  As the leads, Benedict and Vicki were the last to appear, entering from opposite wings to meet center stage; Kate was haughty and proud, disdainful of Petruchio, so that he took her hand one last time, spun her about and pulled her flush against him.  They held that pose a beat, breathless from the rush, Benedict grinning broadly as he waited for Vicki’s Kate to turn the tables by grabbing his face and kissing him soundly; their little improvisation had been a hit at final dress, and was equally so with this evening’s crowd, eliciting cheers from some in the audience.  Lightly, he then propelled her forward, enabling her to sink into a deep curtsy to the crowd, before bowing himself—the cue for the ensemble to join hands for final bows together.

Exiting the stage together, with only moments to share the fullness of their hearts before a stricter reality would separate them, Benedict embraced Vicki as closely as he dared, whispering against her ear, “You were brilliant, love…perfect in every way.”  She tightened her hold upon him and kissed his cheek, and then backed away for propriety’s sake, smiling at him crookedly before the hearty congratulations of others filled the gap between them.  Inevitable as it was, he hated losing sight of her, especially in their moment of shared triumph...

chapters 1-11 onAO3

Comments are always welcome. Thanks you for reading!