Shakespeare!

[anytimepally]

By the way, our directors are hard on us and don't cut a thing out of the text.

It's hard to keep people's attention outdoors in the springtime for a play as long as Hamlet, and I remember a lot of bits being cut for our production

 

[Speed Tracer]

Yeah, our Hamlet had five intermissions, one for each act. Fortunately, people thought it went well.

We're getting ready to do Cymbeline a second time, as it was by far our most popular production. Iachimo is a great part, but I'm going to be Assistant Directing this time, with a small part as Jupiter. I think the idea of me wearing a toga and throwing thunderbolts is hilarious. Plus, I get to ride an eagle.

 

[Winslow Leach]

When I played Hamlet, we performed the text uncut. We only had one intermission. "Act II" opened with Hamlet's speech to the players.

If I ever did Caesar, I'd want to play Cassius.

 

[Winslow Leach]

Wow, Speed Tracer, you've done a lot of Shakespeare! We both have played a lot of the same roles, too! I particularly enjoyed Bottom and Mercutio.

 

[DanDanStrawberry]

I love Shakespeare. I'm no expert on him or anything, but I do think he's fantastic and I admire his imagination and talent

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Yeah! What a cool guy!

 

[peyjenk]

I love Bill, too. His language is so beautiful, and his characters so memorable.

I have never gotten to perform any of his works, though I have ached to for some time. Whenever I read a play, I like to imagine it as if I were staging it, and make each one unique as I can. Here are some of the ideas I've had (not all of these are my original ideas, but when someone says something that inspires me, I run with it and come up with ways to make it my own )

-Romeo and Juliet set in 1960s Georgia. The Capulets are wealthy white merchants, the Montagues are poorer black farmers. The color lines are crossed further by white Juliet's Nurse being black and black Romeo's confessor (Friar Lawrence) being white. I'm sure this has been done before, but I think it could be very striking.

-Romeo and Juliet (again) with Juliet's family devout Muslims and Romeo's family devout Catholics living in NYC. This one would be a little harder to pull off, due to the Capulets being obviously Catholic in the play's dialogue, but I have a vision of an opening scene with the stage split in two: On one side, the Capulets are praying together in a mosque, on the other side, the Montagues are praying together in a cathedral.

-Titus Andronicus in Civil War Louisiana. Titus and co. are plantation owners, while Tamora and the Goths live in the swamp. Of course, there'd be plenty of voodoo mixed in with the blood and guts.

-The Tempest with gender-reversed roles. Miranda, Ferdinand, and Caliban would all stay the sexes they are in the text, but Prospero ("Prospera") and the others are all swapped. I think two feuding sisters would be interesting.

-Much Ado About Nothing in a modern-day high school. Hero is the local preacher's daughter, Beatrice and Benedick are the bickering cohosts of the school's radio show, Don John and his posse are the gloomy outcasts, Claudio is the star of the football team, and Dogberry is the doddering principal.

-The Taming of the Shrew in a modern-day metropolis with Katherine and Petruchio as superheroes. I haven't thought this one all the way through yet, but I think it'd be funny if Kate doesn't want her father or anyone else to know her secret identity, and Pet is the new hero in town moving in on Kate's turf... it has potential.

-The Taming of the Shrew in the old west. There was actually a production like this in the 70s, with Morgan Freeman and Tracy Ullmann. Doesn't that sound awesome?

 

[Speed Tracer]

I always thought the entire Henry IV saga would make a very interesting sci-fi mini-series.

After all, if it can make a good homoerotic Keanu Reeves/River Phoenix movie... why not?

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Whoa...

 

[Winslow Leach]

I always thought the entire Henry IV saga would make a very interesting sci-fi mini-series.

After all, if it can make a good homoerotic Keanu Reeves/River Phoenix movie... why not?

My Own Private Idaho was quite good. It's fun if you know the plays, and try to find the similarities/parallels. Some of the lines are even taken directly from Shakespeare. Probably River Phoenix's best performance. Keanu Reeves is excellent, too.