Thinking About Theater

"Actors are the brief abstract and chronicles of the time" so what does theater mean for us now?

[k-wame]

C H I L L S

[afurioushawk]

Shakespeare Trutherism - from both the right and left - falls apart whenever people remember that playwrights weren't tortured authors writing plays in seclusion, but instead working with theater companies and writing specific parts for specific actors.

[melaschasma]

My favourite of their arguments is that “he was too poor to have ever gone to Italy, but he wrote about Italy all the time!” Might he have used his…

[afurioushawk]

Those people also forget he wasn't poor, he was merchant-class living in London, he would've have access to lots of people who'd traveled throughout Europe lol

[smegorl]

And even if his depiction of Italy were totally off his audience weren't exactly taking day trips to Milan to call him on it.

[doomhamster]

The way I heard it, nobody really wanted accurate descriptions of Italy from Shakespeare anyway, because English people at the time considered Italy an Exotic Locale (TM) full of all kinds of colorful and frequently immoral people. If he'd set Romeo and Juliet in England he might've gotten pushback, because Clearly No Proper Englishman would try to marry off a 14 year old girl - but Italians? They might do anything.

It's kind of like a modern day American novelist writing about Regency England. Colorful clothes, fair maidens and libidinous rakes, duelling left and right, masked balls, weird etiquette. Very little actual history to be found.

[in-libris-liberta-s-deactivated]

Just finished hamlet & had to share THIS

[iamnmbr3]

btw this is literally what goes down. it’s great. 

[ovenroastedtwerkey]

You just know the ye olde peasants went NUTS at that last part

[elodieunderglass]

We don’t say sblood enough we should bring it back

[mlleclaudine]

from pbsgreatperformances' Instagram

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Oh so this is why people are gaga over Peter Dinklage

[little-tornad0]

Oh this is what people mean by preserving the dick jokes in Shakespeare adaptations!

[chexala]

The full production is streaming for free on the PBS website until December 31, 2025! https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/twelfth-night-about/17254/

[shakespearefreak]

okay I'm from the hamlet discord server and I want to probe your thoughts on the older gen of Hamlet

namely Gertrude, Claudius, Polonius, and HamSr

~a certain server member (ez to find out who I am ig)

I have an idea of who you are, but we’ll see if I’m right or not.

Okay, so first, I have to add in the disclaimer that I while have very strong opinions (as I expect everyone in the server does), some supported by the text and some just based off vibes, there is not just one correct interpretation for most fiction, and Hamlet especially is very ambiguous and that’s part of the reason I love it so much.

Also, my ideas on Claudius and Gertrude haven’t changed much in a while, but my Polonius and Hamlet Sr. headcanons are a bit in flux right now, so I’m gonna come back to those two later on, as I’ve already taken too long to answer this.

I actually have already gone into a lot of my thoughts about Gertrude (and some about her relationship with Claudius) here: https://www.tumblr.com/shakespearefreak/792593577889890304/wait-im-actually-not-quite-done-because-i-forgot?source=share

As for Claudius and the various ways everyone interacted:

-Claudius: Ugh, I love this man far more than I probably should. He’s not a malicious villain like say, Iago or Edmund, but he’s almost completely self-serving. (Prince Hamlet did manage to bring out actual hatred and cruelty in him, but it took what was probably weeks if not months of emotionally tormenting Claudius to get him to that point.) Like Prince Hamlet, he’s very much not a warrior but an intellectual; he’s very good at reading people and figuring out how to play them. The exception to this is that he can’t read Prince Hamlet all that well, and this bothers him; it’s always bothered him, even well before the murder, but having a dangerous secret made it a million times worse. He is most definitely not above violence (obviously), but he prefers to diffuse situations peacefully when he can; this though is once again mainly to preserve himself as opposed to care for others, because again, his big weapon is his mind. That said, when people aren’t in his way he can in fact have genuine concern for them; I think he truly pitied Ophelia, for example, and had some level of remorse for his part in her fate.

-Claudius and Gertrude: I firmly believe these two truly loved each other and in general were wonderful together, and I will absolutely die on this hill. Give me Claudius and Gertrude doing the "walking with pinkie fingers linked" thing and I'm immediately in favor of the staging. Their relationship is simultaneously like two young teens in their very first relationship, somehow completely innocent even while they're pawing each other all over and doing crazy amounts of PDA, and an old married couple who know each other so well they don't even need to speak to know what their partner is thinking, and I love it so, so much.

-Hamlet Sr. and Gertrude: This was an arranged marriage, and while it wasn’t terrible (neither of them was abusive or anything), it was very much structured and formal. There was love there, but it was the love that comes from living together for many years and raising a child to adulthood together; affection built on shared history rather than an organic attraction. King Hamlet would be affectionate in public, but it was mostly performative, projecting the idea of the proper royal family (this is what Prince Hamlet was remembering when he was thinking of their relationship, because he wasn’t around the two of them together a lot when the public eye wasn’t on them). Hamlet Sr. did care about Gertrude, deeply, but he wasn’t great at showing it. He also didn’t really involve her in any non-domestic parts of his life, because he was a traditionalist who believed that women have a specific place in the world, so he just kinda… wasn’t around much. (Whereas Claudius, as we see, always had her by his side and actively involved her in discussions.) If he’d ever found out his wife and brother were sleeping together, he would have punished Claudius, perhaps very harshly; he would have ostensibly “forgiven” Gertrude, and probably truly believed he had, but he would have made life hell for her for the foreseeable future (not with physical violence, but he wouldn’t have let her forget her failings for even a second). Once again contrasting with Gertrude and Claudius, their sex life was mostly routine, almost for the sake of formality (they probably actually had a schedule).

-Hamlet Sr. and Claudius: These two never got along super well, but they also didn’t actively hate each other while Hamlet Sr. was alive. Claudius, in fact, to some extent even grieved his brother’s death (this goes back to his whole thing where when things benefit him he’s emotionally detached from any collateral damage caused). Hamlet Sr. didn’t “get” Claudius, but had no idea that his brother was having an affair with his wife, and certainly not an inkling that Claudius might actually be dangerous to him. They were dramatically different people: Hamlet Sr. leaned into the formality of court, and was a warrior-king who mainly considered the country an extension of the army; while Claudius had a more relaxed court and was much more the diplomat who’d try to solve disputes with treaties rather than battles. (Claudius was probably objectively better at running things, but he may have been a bit too ahead of his time, and honestly I’m not sure Denmark would have ever fully embraced his style of government in his lifetime if he’d survived.)

-Polonius and Claudius: These two genuinely considered each other close friends (though Claudius never told Polonius quite a few things, especially dealing with his affair with Gertrude—which Polonius strongly suspected anyways—and the murder of the previous king—which Polonius did not suspect at all). After Polonius’ death, Claudius didn’t have much time for grief (between the political concerns of Polonius suddenly dropping out of sight, and the realization that Prince Hamlet had fully intended to kill him instead), but even mixed in with all that he mourned, and had some pretty serious regret that someone he’d thought of as a friend had been killed in his place, especially in retaliation for his own sin he’d never confided. (That said, his respect for Polonius’ memory stopped short at not manipulating Laertes for his own personal ends.)

[unhinged-soapbox]

So I just saw the most incredible production of Macbeth that wove parental grief into the whole regicide plot in such a fascinating way.

So at the very beginning of the play there was a scene where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are at a funeral as the primary mourners. A stretcher is carried on with a covered body. The body was notably very small. They laid flowers on it and Macbeth immediately left for battle.

Now *I* studied Shakespeare in college so I immediately knew there is one single line that implies that the Macbeths lost a child at some point. Most of the time this isn't utilized in productions; it's just a throwaway line, intended to paint just how determined Lady M is for this regicide thing to work and how furious she is that her husband has cold feet. In this production she delivers "I have given suck, and know how tender tis to love the babe that milks me" nearly in tears. She takes a moment to steel herself before saying, "I would while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains pit, had I so sworn" and she very nearly SCREAMED this in Macbeth's face.

Also noted was how the Macbeths looked at Macduff's children. Lady M was clutching her heart, nearly breaking watching them embrace their parents. Macbeth could not even look at them.

At the end of Lady Macbeth's plot, when she is sleepwalking and sleeptalking, she is typically portrayed as speaking to no one or to her husband. However, at a certain point of her monologue she got on her knees, raised her voice to a comforting octave, and began miming tear wiping, hand holding, hair and face stroking, around a child-sized figure. "Wash your hands, put on your nightgown, look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave." Then she stands and appears to take the child's hand. "Go to bed, go to bed. I can hear knocking at the gate-" then she looks down and realizes that no one is there, followed be the most heartbreaking shriek I've ever heard followed by a full minute of her just weeping while curled up on the floor before she stood up, finished her monologue and left the stage.

Most of the time when the loss of a child is utilized in a performance or adaptation, it is assumed that the child was an infant and lost some time ago. To imply that the child died IMMEDIATELY prior to the events of the play and had been cared for and loved by their parents for a few years adds such a fascinating layer to the desperation to ascend to the throne, Lady M's madness, and Macbeth's initial hesitation into "in for a penny, in for a pound" attitude, Macbeth's fury that Banquo's, not his, children will take the throne, and even Macbeth's eventual demise following a frenzied final battle.

How far will grief push you to fill a hole? How far will grief push you to desperation? And what happens when none of your new pursuits are filling the void left by the one you lost? And what happens when you realize you have nothing left to lose?

It was a PHENOMENAL production.

[emzwolf]

Shout-out to the legend Nathan Lane for giving a great summary of the current state of affairs on national television (and cheers to Colbert for not interrupting him) (X)

[mobius-m-mobius]

David Tennant + Shakespeare

[c0ff33-and-tv]

Tomorrow? like the thing that killed Macbeth?

[scribefindegil]

so many things try to emulate the Beatrice/Benedick relationship and so few of them get it right bc they’re like ‘oh it’s about the banter’ and YES, obviously, but if you make it JUST about the banter you’re going to fail! it’s about the RESPECT!!! it’s about the scene after Hero’s shaming where Benedick drops the banter entirely and sits there with Beatrice as she rages and weeps and then chooses to side with HER instead of the boy’s club that he’s been hanging out with for the entire play, both because he loves her and because she’s RIGHT!

like, it’s not some impulsive thing to make her like him, and it’s not just talk; he asks her if she’s sure and then he agrees and then he remains cold and determined when he meets Claudio and Don Pedro and they try to get him to joke around with them like old times.  i think that’s one of the things that gets me the most; that there’s a scene that you half-expect to fall into that same sort of joking, where Claudio and Don Pedro are specifically like, “Huh, we inexplicably feel kind of sad after ruining this woman’s life and reputation, I bet Benedick will cheer us up!” and he just. utterly refuses to engage. and it’s so powerful and it’s such a tonal shift and such a strong indication of just how much he loves and values Beatrice and!! anything that gets the banter but doesn’t get that completely fails to understand their relationship! THB!!

[terulakimban]

“Kill Claudio.” 

If Beatrice is right to believe Hero about her innocence, then that is, socially, the appropriate action. Claudio called off a wedding. Bad enough, but he did it publicly. He did it at the altar. He completely and utterly destroyed Hero’s chance of marriage -and marriage isn’t just love, it’s financial security and social support, and that’s before getting into Hero being the last heir of her house. Even if Claudio recants, Hero’s damaged goods. 

And Hero has no male relative who can defend her honor. Her father and uncle are old -and even they believe the accusation at first, to the point that her father then tries to kill her in a church. She has no brothers, no cousins, no friends, no one to say “as a man, man to man, I will defend her good name and make you eat your words.” She can’t go to court and press charges for slander. There is nothing she can do, nothing Beatrice can do. 

And Benedick, who has been making jokes about how marriage is just misery while your harpy wife cheats on you for the entire play, when asked “do you really believe that is all women are for; was that banter or are we friends?” says “we’re friends. And I let this happen too and I will make it right” and then he fucking delivers.

[cryptotheism]

Pisses me off how good Shakespeare actually is. Like yeah he's actually that good. People hype him up like he's the best English writer ever, and yeah he's actually an S+ tier writer.

[cryptotheism]

Insane that he did all that while naming his characters shit like Count Evilcount and Peter Penissex.

[transhumanisticpanspermia]

it remains insane that he wrote a love sonnet hinges on the idea "you will live forever because this sonnet, specifically, will be remembered for all time" and that sonnet, specifically, became so famous that it serves as a synecdoche for the very concept of poetry. world historic called shot.

[aqueerkettleofish]

It's wilder than that.

Thing is-- he wrote that sonnet in English, which was very much the language of the lower classes and very much looked down upon by the upper classes.

The best analogy I can come up with is "Imagine if it were written in AAVE", but it goes farther than that. Imagine if a hip-hop artist wrote a piece in AAVE that was so breathtakingly impactful that it helped make AAVE the official language of the United States within the lifetime of the artist.

(Also, the artist in question once got the boys together and stole a concert venue. Like, "disassembled the building and carted it off" stolen, not real-estate fraud.)

"‘"It is telling that William Shakespeare’s birth is recorded in Latin but that he dies in English, as '“'William Shakespeare, gentleman.’" --Stanley Wells

[to-spirkly-go]

Not to brag or anything but I’m Italian and I live in Rome and today they performed Julius Caesar on the literal ruins of the Curia of Pompey. aka the exact place where Caesar got absolutely wrecked in 44 BCE. on the anniversary of him getting absolutely wrecked 💅

🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪 (that’s 23 knives. historically accurate.)

[hallowedlore]

this is targeted tumblr content

[jess-the-reckless]

This is what language is for. Evolution. Ridiculous, wonderful evolution.

[blackwolfmajik]

This is so good, I'm awake at 3am and glad of it - for this has arrived on my dash like a boss

[anais-ninja-bitch]

the "tried to make him the main character" part killed me bc, indeed, caesar is not the main character of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

[boogiewoogiebuglegal]

@suzeranity - OMG 😂😂

[thequeeninyellowlace]

“They all did slay”

[polyamorousmisanthrope]

This is SO DAMN DAMN GOOD. I think Shakespeare would have approved.

[violets-and-books]

✨️Memes✨️

[drakenhert]

you want to be romantically attracted to someone? the thing that killed romeo and juliet?

[iamnmbr3]

— Benedick at the beginning of Much Ado About Nothing

[literallyaflame]

love shakespeare. did a hamlet run tonight, looked someone dead in the eye to say “am i a coward?” during a speech and the fucker shrugged and nodded

[literallyaflame]

we literally ruined society when we invented the fourth wall. let’s bring back call and response. heckling, even. fuck you hamlet you dumb piece of shit kill your uncle or shut up

[hickeyknife]

"When we took Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” into a maximum security woman’s prison on the West Side… there’s a scene there where a young woman is told by a very powerful official that “If you sleep with me, I will pardon your brother. And if you don’t sleep with me, I’ll execute him.” And he leaves the stage. And this character, Isabel, turned out to the audience and said: “To whom should I complain?” And a woman in the audience shouted: “The Police!” And then she looked right at that woman and said: “If I did relate this, who would believe me?” And the woman answered back, “No one, girl.”

And it was astonishing because not only was it an amazing sense of connection between the audience and the actress, but you also realized that this was a kind of an historical lesson in theater reception. That’s what must have happened at The Globe. These soliloquies were not simply monologues that people spoke, they were call and response to the audience. And you realized that vibrancy, that that sense of connectedness is not only what makes theater great in prisons, it’s what makes theater great, period."

Oskar Eustis on ArtBeat Nation

[canadianwheatpirates]

I was in the front row of a Hamlet performance where the "Am I a coward?" was directed at me and I, being a no-impulse-control gremlin, hollered back "Yes!!" (they'd primed us ahead of time that audience interaction was encouraged). Hamlet got right up in my face as he kept talking and just kept going until I gently pushed him back; I forget what line it was on when it happened but he took the direction of the push and reeled away across the stage.

This meant that I had marked myself as someone willing to be fucked with, and so during the graveyard scene later he approached me again. "Here hung those lips that I have kissed--" he booped my mouth with the skull's "-- I know not how oft."

[shimmywhenyoucantbounce]

I have stories related to me from those at Blackfriars, the American Shakespeare Center (they play in a replica of the original Blackfriars, with modern safety conventions like lightbulbs in the chandeliers, but a great dedication to the way structure shaped the original work in the original Blackfriars. Their house is only about 45 ft deep (roughly 15 m I think), which is about the max distance two sighted people can be from each other and still make eye contact. They play with the stage and house equally lit, they talk to the audience, they enter from the audience, they whip up crowds from within the audience. It’s fantastic. But anyway, on to the stories.)

Hamlet. There’s a scene where Hamlet sees Claudius praying and debates whether to kill him now or wait (because if Claudius dies praying he will automatically go to heaven). The actor playing Hamlet was genuinely asking the audience the questions in the speech, and when he got to “and should I kill him now?” someone in the audience shouted “YES KILL HIM HE NEEDS TO DIE!” Hamlet took the entire rest of the monologue to that person, enumerating his reservations so persuasively that they started to nod in agreement.

Romeo and Juliet. In this production, the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt happens in several rounds, of which Mercutio won the first. Mercutio’s actor made the choice, upon his victory, to run down the audience with his hand out for high-fives. He decided this in rehearsal, so he had time to plan for the three responses people would probably give him: a) a high-five back; b) being stunned and not reacting; and c) the old “oops too slow.” What this Mercutio did not prepare for was the audience member who panicked and deposited their handful of M&Ms into his open palm. The way I heard it, Mercutio was still processing this when Benvolio came up beside him and stole the M&Ms out of his hand to eat them.

King Lear. Edmund has a speech in which he asks whether he should marry “Goneril? Regan? Both? Neither?” Again, the actor was legitimately asking the audience, and again he’d prepared for the audience to respond in favor of any of those choices. What makes it even cooler was that the next line is “Neither can be enjoyed while both remain alive,” which works as a response to any of those options. One night, though, Edmund got his answer as “KILL THEM BOTH AND TAKE THEIR MONEY!” To which he gleefully agreed, “Neither can be enjoyed while both remain alive!!”

[rionsanura]

#Oh I have SO many stories from peak audience moments at the American shakespeare center#I have been to plays there that legit felt more like rock concerts#And I don't even mean the parts of the show where the cast is also a live band and they play#Covers of songs relating to the show#Fair maid of the west with Ginna Hoben#We were all SO on her side we absolutely lost our whole shit any time she even entered or exited#Knight of the burning pestle where Rick would pick a random audience member to be his lady love he was fighting for every night#And one time (I saw it thrice) he picked an older lady#And there's a part of the show where iirc he like gets almost defeated?#And he calls out to his lady love to like inspire him to keep fighting smth like that#And she Got Up Out Of Her Seat and went over to him and kissed him on the cheek#And no one was expecting that least of all Rick#And we all lost our shit whooping and hollering#They did a hamlet where...I forget who was polonius that year but there's a line where he's like 'what was I gonna say again'#And he paused SO long on that line you were legit unsure if he the actor had actually forgotten it#And once someone in the audience called out the next line and he was like 'oh that's right' and carried on#It was scripted though there were other nights no one said anything and we all sat there#In wonderful horrid awkward silence#Until he resumed#Please go if you get a chance#And sit stateside (via @rootingformephistopheles)

[soberscientistlife]