Romeo and Juliet and Dick

Hello Again!

So last night i was watching TV (not reading - BAD BAD BAD SAM!), me and The Sween (this is Sween's/ Dave's first introduction to the Bard Blog so i promise i will add a photo and little description soon) are currently watching the box set of 'Third Rock From the Sun' and the episode we stumbled on last night was called 'Romeo and Juliet and Dick '.....Coincidence? i think not! Anyway it was completely hilarious and for those of you that know the show, Dick (John Lithgow) basically decides to direct Romeo and Juliet .....

Here is a little clip: Third Rock from the Sun, Season Two, Episode - 'Romeo and Juliet and Dick'

Happy Monday morning everyone!

Peace Out

Love
Sam

Henry IV Part one - Finished, Enjoyed ...Shared

Hello Internet!


I hope you are all well...it feels like ages since i blogged!


I went to see Private Lives at the Oldham Coliseum last night which was lovely, i had a friend in the cant (the lovely Tess) and even though its none Shakespeare related i thought i would mention its worth a see anyway....The Oldham Coliseum is a small regional theatre and its all about 'word of mouth' to keep these small brilliant theatres alive in the gloomy Cameron-Cuts!


Note: this is Tess as Louise in Private Lives -

Link to Private Lives : http://coliseum.org.uk/whats-on/?event=private-lives


So back to Henry IV Part one, it was FANTASTIC! now it was a slow start and i  wasn't sure i would like it but all the comically timed arguments and peep into the underworld of London really captured my attention and drove the important information right threw to the end.

In a Nut Shell...

For those who haven't read Henry IV Part one, it is the story of King Henry and the the people that don't want him on the thrown, crescendo to a huge battle for power....i wont give too much away in case you read it ( which you should because its cracking!).


So many Images!...but mainly BIRDS! (as well as bugs, flees and fat/grease)

Whilst reading through some of the most beautiful and poignant lines where about or concerning birds...the reoccurring images really stood out....so much so (and in true SAM-IS-A-GEEK fashion) i highlighted them all! Here are a few of them:

Hotspur: Act 1: Scene 3

I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak
Nothing but 'Mortimer,' and give it him
To keep his anger still in motion.

Prince Henry: Act 2: Scene 4

He that rides at high speed and with his pistol kills a

sparrow lying

Worcester : Act 5: Scene 1
The seeming sufferances that you had borne,
And the contrarious winds that held the king
So long in his unlucky Irish wars
That all in England did repute him dead:
And from this swarm of fair advantages
You took occasion to be quickly woo'd
To gripe the general sway into your hand;
Forget your oath to us at Doncaster;
And being fed by us you used us so
As that ungentle hull, the cuckoo's bird,
Useth the sparrow; did oppress our nest;
Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk
That even our love durst not come near your sight
For fear of swallowing; but with nimble wing
We were enforced, for safety sake, to fly
Out of sight and raise this present head;
Whereby we stand opposed by such means
As you yourself have forged against yourself
By unkind usage, dangerous countenance,
And violation of all faith and troth
Sworn to us in your younger enterprise.


I wonder whether the birds are a representation of Shakespeare's intended message? i read somewhere that this play is about coming of age, and i can certainly see this particularly in the character of Prince Henry because he has such a journey - from young rascal to hero. Maybe the birds are a representation of lying off leaving ones former self behind? what do you think?


Prince Henry has a fantastic speech ( well lots of them but this one in particular) about his loyalty to King Henry and i think it starts to show his turn from signet into swan. his passion is turned in the right direction, away from the Taverns, Falstaff and pic-pocketing to supporting his father.....


Note: this might be a good audition speech or any of you young male actors out there....


Act 3: Scene 2
PRINCE HENRY :
Do not think so; you shall not find it so:
And God forgive them that so much have sway'd
Your majesty's good thoughts away from me!
I will redeem all this on Percy's head
And in the closing of some glorious day
Be bold to tell you that I am your son;
When I will wear a garment all of blood
And stain my favours in a bloody mask,
Which, wash'd away, shall scour my shame with it:
And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
That this same child of honour and renown,
This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,
And your unthought-of Harry chance to meet.
For every honour sitting on his helm,
Would they were multitudes, and on my head
My shames redoubled! for the time will come,
That I shall make this northern youth exchange
His glorious deeds for my indignities.
Percy is but my factor, good my lord,
To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
And I will call him to so strict account,
That he shall render every glory up,
Yea, even the slightest worship of his time,
Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.
This, in the name of God, I promise here:
The which if He be pleased I shall perform,
I do beseech your majesty may salve
The long-grown wounds of my intemperance:
If not, the end of life cancels all bands;
And I will die a hundred thousand deaths
Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow.


I always find birds really thought provoking and within Henry IV part one is no exception...thanks Bard, i loved the Birds!


Favourite Parts:


OK so its hard to pick my favourite scenes and Characters because its all good! But i have to because that's the whole point in having an opinion.isn't it? you have to pick! so here are my best bits...


Favourite Part No 1. - Falstaff - Anything and Everything he does, particularly a funny stunt he pulls right at the end. Which i wont tell you about and ruin the surprise , you will just have to read it!


Favourite Part No - Lady Percy


as one of the only woman in this play she was bound to stand out however i think her feisty-ness is enough to have her jump of the page what ever the weather! The scene between her and her husband Hotspur is fantastic! As he tells her he is leaving she just goes off on a rant. She wouldn't be out of place arguing with him out side a council estate in 'Shamless' (although they are rich and would never live on an estate...oh and they have a servant...i cant imagine Frank Gallagher been served his can of stella on a silver tray).


Her speech in this scene is really reminiscent of Lady Annes speech in Richard III, in which she describes her husband Richard's disturbed dark and twisted sleep. Maybe the Bard felt sorry for the wives of troubled men? aren't we most open and vulnerable in sleep? In dreams our sub conscious is exposed and the troubles we hide have the power to show them selves. Lady Percy knows better than anyone her husbands state and in a male heavy play i like the way the Bard offers us this information that in the other interaction isn't suitable to talk about....Would Hotspur chat to Mortimer about his deep fears?


Lady Percy


Enter LADY PERCY

Hotspur: How now, Kate! I must leave you within these two hours.

LADY PERCY
O, my good lord, why are you thus alone?
For what offence have I this fortnight been
A banish'd woman from my Harry's bed?
Tell me, sweet lord, what is't that takes from thee
Thy stomach, pleasure and thy golden sleep?
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,
And start so often when thou sit'st alone?
Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks;
And given my treasures and my rights of thee
To thick-eyed musing and cursed melancholy?
In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watch'd,
And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars;
Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed;
Cry 'Courage! to the field!' And thou hast talk'd
Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents,
Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets,
Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin,
Of prisoners' ransom and of soldiers slain,
And all the currents of a heady fight.
Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war
And thus hath so bestirr'd thee in thy sleep,
That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow
Like bubbles in a late-disturbed stream;
And in thy face strange motions have appear'd,
Such as we see when men restrain their breath
On some great sudden hest. O, what portents are these?
Some heavy business hath my lord in hand,
And I must know it, else he loves me not.

Note to self: Play Lady Percy one day and deinatly learn for auditions


Favourite Part No 3 - Act 3 Scene 2 Falstaff argues with the Hostess of The Boars Head Tavern.


I just liked the lightness of this scene and how it just stood out as a nice interaction with quick dialog amongst the long speeches.


FALSTAFF
God-a-mercy! so should I be sure to be heart-burned.

Enter Hostess

How now, Dame Partlet the hen! have you inquired
yet who picked my pocket?

Hostess
Why, Sir John, what do you think, Sir John? do you
think I keep thieves in my house? I have searched,
I have inquired, so has my husband, man by man, boy
by boy, servant by servant: the tithe of a hair
was never lost in my house before.

FALSTAFF
Ye lie, hostess: Bardolph was shaved and lost many
a hair; and I'll be sworn my pocket was picked. Go
to, you are a woman, go.

Hostess
Who, I? no; I defy thee: God's light, I was never
called so in mine own house before.

FALSTAFF
Go to, I know you well enough.

Hostess
No, Sir John; You do not know me, Sir John. I know
you, Sir John: you owe me money, Sir John; and now
you pick a quarrel to beguile me of it: I bought
you a dozen of shirts to your back.

FALSTAFF
Dowlas, filthy dowlas: I have given them away to
bakers' wives, and they have made bolters of them.

Hostess
Now, as I am a true woman, holland of eight
shillings an ell. You owe money here besides, Sir
John, for your diet and by-drinkings, and money lent
you, four and twenty pound.

FALSTAFF
He had his part of it; let him pay.

Hostess
He? alas, he is poor; he hath nothing.

FALSTAFF
How! poor? look upon his face; what call you rich?
let them coin his nose, let them coin his cheeks:
Ill not pay a denier. What, will you make a younker
of me? shall I not take mine case in mine inn but I
shall have my pocket picked? I have lost a
seal-ring of my grandfather's worth forty mark.

Hostess
O Jesu, I have heard the prince tell him, I know not
how oft, that ring was copper!

FALSTAFF
How! the prince is a Jack, a sneak-cup: 'sblood, an
he were here, I would cudgel him like a dog, if he
would say so.

Enter PRINCE HENRY and PETO, marching, and FALSTAFF meets them playing on his truncheon like a life

How now, lad! is the wind in that door, i' faith?
must we all march?

BARDOLPH
Yea, two and two, Newgate fashion.

Hostess
My lord, I pray you, hear me.

PRINCE HENRY
What sayest thou, Mistress Quickly? How doth thy
husband? I love him well; he is an honest man.

Hostess
Good my lord, hear me.

FALSTAFF
Prithee, let her alone, and list to me.

PRINCE HENRY
What sayest thou, Jack?

FALSTAFF
The other night I fell asleep here behind the arras
and had my pocket picked: this house is turned
bawdy-house; they pick pockets.

PRINCE HENRY
What didst thou lose, Jack?

FALSTAFF
Wilt thou believe me, Hal? three or four bonds of
forty pound apiece, and a seal-ring of my
grandfather's.

PRINCE HENRY
A trifle, some eight-penny matter.

Hostess
So I told him, my lord; and I said I heard your
grace say so: and, my lord, he speaks most vilely
of you, like a foul-mouthed man as he is; and said
he would cudgel you.

PRINCE HENRY
What! he did not?

Hostess
There's neither faith, truth, nor womanhood in me else.

FALSTAFF
There's no more faith in thee than in a stewed
prune; nor no more truth in thee than in a drawn
fox; and for womanhood, Maid Marian may be the
deputy's wife of the ward to thee. Go, you thing,
go

Hostess
Say, what thing? what thing?

FALSTAFF
What thing! why, a thing to thank God on.

Hostess
I am no thing to thank God on, I would thou
shouldst know it; I am an honest man's wife: and,
setting thy knighthood aside, thou art a knave to
call me so.

FALSTAFF
Setting thy womanhood aside, thou art a beast to say
otherwise.

Hostess
Say, what beast, thou knave, thou?

FALSTAFF
What beast! why, an otter.

PRINCE HENRY
An otter, Sir John! Why an otter?

FALSTAFF
Why, she's neither fish nor flesh; a man knows not
where to have her.

Hostess
Thou art an unjust man in saying so: thou or any
man knows where to have me, thou knave, thou!

PRINCE HENRY
Thou sayest true, hostess; and he slanders thee most grossly.

Hostess
So he doth you, my lord; and said this other day you
ought him a thousand pound.

PRINCE HENRY
Sirrah, do I owe you a thousand pound?

FALSTAFF
A thousand pound, Ha! a million: thy love is worth
a million: thou owest me thy love.

Hostess
Nay, my lord, he called you Jack, and said he would
cudgel you.


Note : sorry the above extract is a little long but i wanted to pop the whole bit on so you could see its brilliance....


So to finish up ( i think i have gone on long enough...so long i canceled a run with my running partner, but i was on such a role with the old blogging! Bad excuse? probably!) i have really enjoyed Henry IV Part one and would like to thank Jude for recommending it as my next read.


Thank you Jude (Jude also has a blog about all manner of Brilliant Literature based subjects - http://thebookblogger-fairophelia.blogspot.com/ )


My next stop on the READ-EVERYTHING-SHAKESPEARE-ATHON is............Romeo and Juliet, and i cant wait! just in time for valentines day....

thank you for reading, take care


Peace Out


Sam
xx

A thank you, another pub and a Fat-kidneyed rascall called Falstaff

Ola Internet!


recently one of the regulars in the Pub i work at, Loyd caught wind of my little literature fling with the Bard and brought me his copy of The Complete Works...


Note: This is Loyd...

there isn't much to tell other than he likes cask ale and has written a book about planes....but any way Thank you Loyd!

His copy of the works is very old and smells like a bible.... it makes me wonder how many people have read it? i guess that's the exciting thing about really old books they have so much history to them....(ponders for a second).....so anyway it has a really handy Family Tree of the History play characters and a nice engraved William Shakespeare signature on the front....

This is the front of the book...for such a talented man our Will's hand writing was abit scribbly.

i must get a photocopy of this...very handy indeed, especially because so many of them are called Henry or Richard...must have been popular names like our equivalent of Brittney, Beyonce or any other of those pop culture influenced names.....imaging being called Kesha?! (sorry complete tangent!)

So enough about Loyd and more about Henry IV...

Note: it might be worth mentioning that i am only halfway through the play (I have been busy...excuses! excuses!) but i already have loads to say about this one!

...it was a slow start for me and i wasn't sure i was going to be won over by this one, the first scene is so wordy i got a bit lost at points. Shakespeare so cleverly fills us in with lots of info before he hits us with the real meaty banter of Act1:Scene2. I was completely shocked by the change of direction...we meet 'The Boys' as i will call them in Act 1: Scene 2 and they are so full of quick witted insults they could give any of our contemporary comedians a right good run for their money! i would just loved to see Price Henry receive an award at the 2011 Golden Globes and bring that mean Ricky Gervias down a peg or two.....fancy being mean to Jonny Depp! (second random tangent...sorry!)

the insults come thick and fast and at the head of all of the wit (so far) is the young Prince Henry...the first speech we hear him fire out set the bar for countless put downs and smart arse comments (of which i have begun to high light the best ones and already my book sports a bumble-bee motif)....

Act 1 : Scene 2
(to Falstaff)
Prince Henry: Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack
and unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping upon
benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to
demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know.
What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the
day? Unless hours were cups of sack and minutes
capons and clocks the tongues of bawds and dials the
signs of leaping-houses and the blessed sun himself
a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see no
reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand
the time of the day.

... they all tease each other, almost like a pack of really sinister clowns they pick pocket, steal and drink to much! i have this image of Falstaff as an old, once great clown that has become the but of jokes ...a comically tragic figure a little bit like Buffo the Great  the head of the clowns in Nights At the Circus...

Note:  Nights at the Circus is a novel by Angela Carter and its my FAVORITE book ever! its defiantly worth a read if you get the chance...

The images of clowns continued to pop up in my head, and because i am a bit of a geek and carry a note book around i drew this picture ....a brain child if you will, of my thoughts on Falstaff....it might be worth mentioning that i really like Falstaff. He has grown on me over the pages and i am happy to learn that he is going to pop up in more of the Bards plays :)


Falstaff by Sam aged....24 (yes i still own pencil crayons but in my defence i was an art student for some years before i trained as an actor...excuses! excuses!)

Favourite Falstaff moment so far: in Act2: Scene 2 when they steal and hide his horse ...

Act 2 : Scene 2

Enter PRINCE HENRY and POINS
POINS
Come, shelter, shelter: I have removed Falstaff's
horse, and he frets like a gummed velvet.

PRINCE HENRY
Stand close.

Enter FALSTAFF

FALSTAFF
Poins! Poins, and be hanged! Poins!

PRINCE HENRY
Peace, ye fat-kidneyed rascal! what a brawling dost
thou keep!

FALSTAFF
Where's Poins, Hal?

PRINCE HENRY
He is walked up to the top of the hill: I'll go seek him.

FALSTAFF
I am accursed to rob in that thief's company: the
rascal hath removed my horse, and tied him I know
not where. If I travel but four foot by the squier
further afoot, I shall break my wind. Well, I doubt
not but to die a fair death for all this, if I
'scape hanging for killing that rogue. I have
forsworn his company hourly any time this two and
twenty years, and yet I am bewitched with the
rogue's company. If the rascal hath not given me
medicines to make me love him, I'll be hanged; it
could not be else: I have drunk medicines. Poins!
Hal! a plague upon you both! Bardolph! Peto!
I'll starve ere I'll rob a foot further. An 'twere
not as good a deed as drink, to turn true man and to
leave these rogues, I am the veriest varlet that
ever chewed with a tooth. Eight yards of uneven
ground is threescore and ten miles afoot with me;
and the stony-hearted villains know it well enough:
a plague upon it when thieves cannot be true one to another!

They whistle

Whew! A plague upon you all! Give me my horse, you
rogues; give me my horse, and be hanged!

PRINCE HENRY
Peace, ye fat-guts! lie down; lay thine ear close
to the ground and list if thou canst hear the tread
of travellers.

FALSTAFF
Have you any levers to lift me up again, being down?
'Sblood, I'll not bear mine own flesh so far afoot
again for all the coin in thy father's exchequer.
What a plague mean ye to colt me thus?

PRINCE HENRY
Thou liest; thou art not colted, thou art uncolted.

FALSTAFF
I prithee, good Prince Hal, help me to my horse,
good king's son.

PRINCE HENRY
Out, ye rogue! shall I be your ostler?

FALSTAFF
Go, hang thyself in thine own heir-apparent
garters! If I be ta'en, I'll peach for this. An I
have not ballads made on you all and sung to filthy
tunes, let a cup of sack be my poison: when a jest
is so forward, and afoot too! I hate it.

...So i think i have gone on quiet enough about Henry IV Part One for one sitting and i shall be back with more once i have read the rest of the play!

Peace Out

Sam
x

P.S Pub Number 2

in Henry IV Part one
The Boars Head Tavern
Act 2 Scene 4

Relevant distraction....Judi Dench

Hello one and all!


So today is my first Saturday off in some time and aside from a spot of children's entertaining at silly o'clock this morning (imagine me with painted on whiskers and a nose trying to convince the children of Formby - Mersyside that Vegetables are 'Proper Class!' and that i am indeed a real fox.....it went surprisingly well!)....its been very chilled out indeed. my intention this afternoon was to crack on with Henry IV Part one but i got distracted by a (relevant) book that has been lent to me by my Great Aunt Hilda...


Note:
Aunt Hilda is an interesting old gal with a bad case of Warty Bliggins syndrome, a term coined by me for people who believe the world revolves solely around them. Derived from the character Warty Bligging written by Don Marquis in the 'Archy and Mehitable' stories...Defiantly worth a read -


http://www.donmarquis.com/readingroom/archybooks/warty.html


so it is a good job that i have read this book, because i am quiet sure she will be asking about my opinions on it and generally quiz me on its content.


The Book : Judi Dench - Scenes from my life

This book is fantastic! its full of beautiful pictures which accompany the narration of Dench's life in and out of the theatre/tv/film. What makes this book relevant to the Bard is that Dench has performed in 29 productions of Shakespeare's work!


Here is Judi in her first production playing Ophelia in Hamlet with John Neville....

Its amazing how she describes her experience of working with Neville...'he was brilliant at teaching you basic things that i don't think young actors are taught anymore...the whole business of getting in on time, being prepared, and not taking up a directors time while you sort out the problem of what is actually your homework...John used to hate it if anyone said they where tired and he's quiet right.acting requires discipline,and if they are too tired well, frankly,i feel they should let someone else do it'

Here she is playing Cleopatra to Anthony Hopkins' Anthony in Anthony and Cleopatra directed by Peter Hall...

Peter Hall shared some pearls of wisdom with her when she played this part and in the book she kindly shares it with the reader, i  think its a really interesting thought and its defiantly got my brain bubbling ...

Peter Hall said ' Don't ever think you have got to play all aspects of the character in every scene. Just choose one thing, at the end of the evening it might add up to the full person...the other thing is...don't imagine that when other characters speak about you, they are telling the truth'

  

Its so inspiring to read about all the brilliant work Judi Dench has done and how even she has found the journey through her acting career a steep learning curve full of exciting but challenging jobs. I got to see her play Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor -The Musical at the RSC and she was hilarious! has anyone else in Internet land seen Judi Dench on the stage (tell me about it -please/thank you)?

...so, basically its worth a read and has quiet successfully distracted me from reading Henry IV Part one...but its all relevant in some way round about!

ta ta for now, must dash.... i here Falstaff calling me from Ye Old Ale House in the depths of my Complete works...

Peace Out

Sam

x

Learning, Learning, Learning of which i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!....I am a GEEK!

Hello Internet!

 

Well its been all Learning, Learning, Learning of which i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! a few days after finishing the Taming of the Shrew i got thinking more and more about Kate's final speech and more importantly that huge debate as to whether or not she was indeed Tamed?

 

So i got in touch with a friend of mine who played Kate a few years back and asked her what she thought of it all and she kindly replied with some very helpful points....and in the true nature of this blog, i share it now with you!

 

Note: This is Brigid....

 

 

We met in November of this year when we where both cast in The Rivals by Sheridan, Brigid played the fabulous Mrs Malaprop...

 

 

So here are Brigid's helpful words and opinions on The Shrew -

 

I think it's a love story, and that Kate and Petruccio are perfect for one another, they just don't know it yet. Kate's behaviour at the beginning of the play is totally unacceptable (she thinks it's justified and maybe to some extent she's been treated horribly by her dad, and her sister is a bitch) but no one should behave like she does, and so yes in some ways she needs to tone it down (be tamed a bit). However, Petruccio's behaviour is also unacceptable, he is bullying to everyone and demands a wife who is servant like (although really he is incredibly attracted to Kate's spirit and fire), so he tries to tame her. I think he goes too far - but I think he perhaps realises that, during Kate's last speech which is why I believe he stops her putting her hand below his foot and kisses her instead. I think in a modern world, in any relationship there is compromise, when two people begin to live together, to build a life together, they have to work out the rules, see where the boundary's are, and compromise perhaps on things they want. I think this is what Kate's last speech is about - and certainly the way I played it, not losing any strength, but saying actually the way I was didn't make me happy, I've learnt lessons and am nicer for it. I think some lines there is a little arch of the eyebrow to mock at herself and the audience too. When we did it - the audience were desperate for Kate and Petruccio to get together as they could see how perfect they were for one another - and when he would say come kiss me kate, and we'd kiss, the audience would offen cheer (result!). Anyway that's my two pennies worth - it may be right, it may be wrong - but that's what is so brilliant about this play - you can make up your own mind! love Brigidxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

...I have also managed to obtain the means in which to access published essays so if anyone out there can recommend any of interest that would be lovely! 

 

My affair with The Bard seems to be heating up a little beyond my intention...i set out to read his works but it turns out i want to know more, explore him and ultimately understand his reasons for the way he wrote things.

 

....and did he really look like this?!

 

????

 

 

 

Peace Out

 

Sam

 

x

 

 

What is Beauty?- 'For tis'mind that makes the body rich'

Hello Internet!

I finished my first Bard play of the 'Read-everything-Shakespeare-athon'....The Taming of the Shrew, and it has got me musing about beauty and attraction.

It might be worth mentioning at this point that I got described as Grace Kelly plus two stone this week (I’m sure it was meant as a compliment but was not received so!)And it might have fueled a little angst towards the ridiculously beautiful and slender....

Princess Grace of Monaco

I mean what’s the big deal with Bianca? She sounds utterly beautiful and in comparison to her sister (renowned for her 'Scolding tongue’) a calm and sweet type, but to cause such a stir to all the fellas?

I think maybe the whirlwind of 'fuss' caused could be as a result of general male ego, of which I feel The Taming of the Shrew has masses, for example:

Act1: Scene 2: The scene where the blokes plot upon Bianca and Katharina, and Petruchio takes it upon himself to woo the wildcat.

Maybe the fact that Bianca is so unattainable (through the rule put upon her by her father, that she can only marry when her sister does) is the reason for her attraction…don’t we all want what we can’t have? 

Ok so…… my favorite part of the whole play is the Argument between Katharina, and Petruchio in Act 2: Scene 1. It’s full of wit and chemistry, the words are so delicious and sharp I feel like I could just eat them off the page…undoubtedly achieving burnt lips! It would almost be fitting for the two of them to just jump straight into bed there and then.

PETRUCHIO
    Come, come, you wasp; i' faith, you are too angry.

KATHARINA
    If I be waspish, best beware my sting.

PETRUCHIO
    My remedy is then, to pluck it out.

KATHARINA
    Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies,

PETRUCHIO
    Who knows not where a wasp does
    wear his sting? In his tail.

KATHARINA
    In his tongue.

PETRUCHIO
    Whose tongue?

KATHARINA
    Yours, if you talk of tails: and so farewell.

PETRUCHIO
    What, with my tongue in your tail? nay, come again,
    Good Kate; I am a gentleman.

KATHARINA
    That I'll try.
    She strikes him

PETRUCHIO
    I swear I'll cuff you, if you strike again.

KATHARINA
    So may you lose your arms:
    If you strike me, you are no gentleman;
    And if no gentleman, why then no arms.

Shakespeare Retold offering of this fabulous argument...

This is the Kate I adore, so its no surprise that as she is tamed (if indeed she is tamed? I’m not convinced) I feel a little deflated by the narrative and hope with each scene to see a little more of the fire she breathes at the start. It appears in and out of Petruchio’s torment particularly the parts in which he makes her fast…it’s a shame she couldn’t just nip to the Spar for a sausage roll…

Sausage rolls aside…is Kate ever really tamed? The Bard keeps us guessing right up until the very last min, or rather the very last of Kate’s speeches…

Act5: Scene 2

KATHARINA

    Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow,
    And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
    To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:
    It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,
    Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
    And in no sense is meet or amiable.
    A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
    Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
    And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
    Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
    Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
    Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
    And for thy maintenance commits his body
    To painful labour both by sea and land,
    To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
    Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
    And craves no other tribute at thy hands
    But love, fair looks and true obedience;
    Too little payment for so great a debt.
    Such duty as the subject owes the prince
    Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
    And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
    And not obedient to his honest will,
    What is she but a foul contending rebel
    And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
    I am ashamed that women are so simple
    To offer war where they should kneel for peace;
    Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway,
    When they are bound to serve, love and obey.
    Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,
    Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
    But that our soft conditions and our hearts
    Should well agree with our external parts?
    Come, come, you froward and unable worms!
    My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
    My heart as great, my reason haply more,
    To bandy word for word and frown for frown;
    But now I see our lances are but straws,
    Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,
    That seeming to be most which we indeed least are.
    Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,
    And place your hands below your husband's foot:
    In token of which duty, if he please,
    My hand is ready; may it do him ease.

(Note to self – add Kate to list of characters I want to play before I kick the bucket!)

I like to think having read The Taming of the Shrew that Kate is a very intelligent woman and having weighed up her situation (in the Bards time the feminist movement was a dream of the far far far far….FAR future) decides upon accepting the man she has grown to love and humoring him in front of his friends. After all aren’t all relationships based on compromise? Maybe Kate and Petruchio are the Shakespearean answer to Katy Perry and Russell Brand …they shouldn’t work but they some how they do!  

So….to round up (I think I have probably babbled quite enough!) I feel like aside of the undertone of Elizabethan patriarchal fears of strong rebellious woman, The Taming of the Shrew has endearing characters and a rolling about giggle factor that rivals any classic ‘Only Fool and Horses’ (ok…maybe not the one where Del Boy falls through the bar). I really enjoyed it….

Thank you William Shakespeare …play number one read and enjoyed!

Peace out

Sam

x

RSC KEY competition

RSC Key Competition

RIP Pete Postlthwaite

hello everyone,

Today see's the loss of a truly inspiring and beyond talented actor...Pete Postlthwaite.

among his credits as a performer are some of the most exciting characters the Bard ever wrote about ....

Pete played:

Cornwall, King Lear, Royal Shakespeare Company,Grumio, The Taming of the Shrew, Royal Shakespeare Company, Duke of Exeter, Henry V, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Lord Hastings, Richard III, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Banquo and Macduff in Macbeth, and as Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, both Royal Shakespeare Company, Ulysses in a production of Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida.", Baz Lurhmann's modern take on "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet", King Lear and Prospero in The Tempest at the Royal Exchange Manchester.....to name but a few!

however my favourite memory of his work is Brassed Off (Northern Angst?...Maybe), here is a video of that famous 'Danny' speech which he does so very well!

LEGEND!

a very sad way to start 2011...

Peace Out

xx

The Taming of the Shrew : Onion's, Drunks and a Pub!

Hello Internet!


I have started my first play, The Taming of the Shrew ... i have only read the first two scenes and i have already found a pub...


Note:  i have also decided to count the pubs in the Bards work because:


a) i have a fondness for good English pubs
b) i work part time in a pub
and....
c) i want to know if Shakespeare was a big drinker.....Just call me Nancy Drew!


First Pub:  Act1:Introduction:Scene1
                Ale House Wincot
                Ale Wench: Marian Hacket (she is only described as 'fat') 


The first two scenes are an introduction to the play and from what i can gather don't have a lot to do with the main story line...a poor drunken man gets taken advantage of by a lord and the rest of the scenes steam roll through cross dressing, mistaken identify, pretending to cry, making people think they are dreaming, daughters of Goddesses, threats and onions!


'To rain a shower of commanded tears,
An onion will do well for such a shift,
Which, in a napkin being close convey'd,
Shall in despite enforce a watery eye.'

Hale The mighty ONION!

so...i have also decided to highlight every word i don't understand (note to self buy more highlighter pens!) and surprisingly i am not doing to bad...

Veriest : every body but
Haply : by accident/by luck
Semiramis : Daughter of Assyrian
Malady: Illness

Did you know if you write new words down you are more likely to remember them? i guess i am just trying to condone typing random words into this blog (don't judge me...please/thank you)...and please feel free to correct me if i have gotten the meanings wrong to any of the words...Its all about the learning folks!

thank you for reading

Peace Out

Sam

x