you guys don’t get it I love this version of them so so much

(from: “Shakespeare’s Hamlet: The Manga Edition” by Adam Sexton and Tintin Pantoja)

im not 17 anymore and i should find something new to talk about but remember when ophelia said “i hope all will be well” (4.5)

pain is stored in the shakespearean woman

this isn’t an original thought by any means but when shakespeare wanted to examine the depths and nuance of human suffering it was almost always most effective in his women. you got the articulate outbursts (oh god that i were a man i would eat his heart in the marketplace) (grief fills the room up of my absent child. have i not reason, then, to be fond of grief?) (the time was, father, that you broke your word) etc etc but tbh what gets me is how often they’re the ones to sorta metatextually admit that something’s unspeakable, which is a wild thing to do in a shakespeare play. romeo monologues in the sepulcher for a long time but juliet says “i’ll be brief”/lady macbeth can’t talk about it at all she sleeptalks and kills herself offstage/isabella’s told she’s getting married and never speaks again/ hamlet talks and talks and talks bc he’s convinced he can work it all out that way as if there’s something to understand about pain besides that it hurts, but she doesn’t try to explain her songs to anybody. unhappy that i am i cannot heave my heart into my mouth etc

Last night I dreamed that someone invented a new version of chess called Rookmeo and Juliet where two rooks are in love and trying to run away together. To achieve this they have to make it to the other side of the board, but these rooks don't have any visible signs to differenciate them from the rest, just a small mark in their base. Neither of the players knows what rook from the other side is in love with their rook, so they have to play a regular game of chess, fully aware that they might unknowingly kill the lover of their rook. If they kill it, the game keeps going, but their rook betrays them, switches sides and turns into a second queen for the other player. People wrote a ton of essays about the symbolism and metaphors of that version of chess and the creator didn't have the heart to tell them that he simply invented it because he thought Rookmeo was a great pun

A bunch of my friends are in Macbeth right now so I made a very silly personality quiz. Who did you get?

hey how did you know that my acting coach said that if she were directing a production she would cast me as malcolm

tfw even the online quiz says you need a vacation

People have GOTTA stop calling Rosalind the smartest woman in Shakespeare. That girl is not even the smartest woman in her play. I love her but Jesus Christ girlie.

A collection of Juliets

Watch Hamlet on PBS.org!

Got to watch this yesterday and the performance was phenomenal. I was so impressed by Hamlet and Ophelia especially, the way they convey their madness and anguish.

It's available to view for free until June 30, 2024!

i like the idea of doing shakespeare adaptations set in high school a la 10 things i hate about you or she's the man but i feel like we're missing some opportunities by only doing the comedies. i wanna see macbeth but it's about a really high stakes student council election

@homobiwan Coriolanus but it's an even higher stakes student council election

ophelia

Inspired by reading 1

julius caesar + textposts

Common Colloquial Terms That Originated With Shakespeare

sorry i couldn’t hear you over my internal monologue 

— Hamlet

why am i JUST finding out that there was a twelfth night musical

There are a lot of Twelfth Night musicals! :D I'm guessing you're talking about the one by Shaina Taub - if you want more, I mashed up a bunch into a giant playlist here, with deeper dives into two of them here and here. Also there's this and this! And this song from a fake musical, which is just great.

WHATT i didn’t realise there were so many THANK U

Ophelia just drowned herself in her grief-driven madness and the next stage directions are "enter two clowns" gotta love Shakespeare

Malvolio’s Revolve

The joy of Shakespeare is that even if you see the same play dozens of times, each production is its own, unique experience.

Having said that… there are certain bits of stage business that often crop up in numerous productions. One of my favorites is Malvolio’s revolve.

Just for fun, here are various examples of Malvolio’s revolve that have been captured on film. (If the gifs don’t work, check out my original post here.)

Alec Guinness in the 1970 ITV Saturday Night Theatre production  does the classic dubious, self-conscious revolve, although Sir Toby and his gang are safely behind a hedge and don’t have to hide.

Nicholas Pennell in this 1986 filmed production at the Stratford Festival of Canada executes a confident and rarely-seen double revolve, forcing his peanut gallery to duck out of sight.

In this filmed version of the Renaissance Theatre Company’s 1988 production, Richard Briers executes a very slow , dubious revolve that is notable for being counter-clockwise. In my experience, most Malvolios revolve in a clockwise direction.

Finally, this Stratford Festival production milks the revolve for all it’s worth, with Tom Rooney’s Malvolio turning at just the right speed to miss Sir Andrew’s desperate dash across the stage.

Some productions choose to have Malvolio turn the letter around, rather than himself. Others either blow past the line without acknowledging its comedic gag potential, or cut it in its entirety. All are valid choices, but honestly… why look a gift gag in the mouth?