William Shakespeare-it was Greek to me

[Mrs.TeddyBear]

A Shakespeare thread, what a coincidence I find this because I just bought a complete set of his works call me a nerd, but I love it. The language, the themes, the characters, everything! I've read loads of his sonnets, but as for plays I've only read Romeo & Juliet and A Midsummer Nights Dream. But with the box set I can read all the rest asap

[dandyvampgirl_13]

I will hopefully be attending the Oregon Shakespeare Festival next month to see The Twelfth Night, which has my namesake! I'm rather excited. Day trip with the grandma and I get to driveeeeeee and see Shakespeareeeeeeeee.

[vampyre_princess]

A Shakespeare thread, what a coincidence I find this because I just bought a complete set of his works call me a nerd, but I love it. The language, the themes, the characters, everything! I've read loads of his sonnets, but as for plays I've only read Romeo & Juliet and A Midsummer Nights Dream. But with the box set I can read all the rest asap

Okay well just post what you think to each of the plays once you've read them. I've not read all his plays but I've read most of them.
And I love his sonnets, I have the complete collection of his sonnets, and I'm constantly reading them.

I will hopefully be attending the Oregon Shakespeare Festival next month to see The Twelfth Night, which has my namesake! I'm rather excited. Day trip with the grandma and I get to driveeeeeee and see Shakespeareeeeeeeee.

Call me slow, but Oregon as in the US?
It's just I live in the UK and most of my friends can't understand the language in Shakespeare, so I was wondering do your friends understand it, as it's in Old English?

♥Pixie♥

[dandyvampgirl_13]

@vampyre_princess Yes, Oregon, USA. We have a big old Shakespearean festival over here, and they always do a good job with his plays. I'm officially going to see the Twelfth Night on Friday, and I'll post a review of it, maybe.

Most of my friends understand at least the general gist of what Shakespeare is saying, but they still ask me to translate everything into modern English for them. We're also some of the smartest people in the school, so... not very many people here like Shakespeare- its too archaic for them to get. I just finished rereading the Twelfth Night before I go see it, and there's a whole ton of little tiny jokes, just passing references to things I assume were commonplace in Elizabethian England, but I have little to no idea what he's talking about now. I almost miss my textbook's annotations. I also read Venus and Adonis, and HOOBOY, that thing is just a massive "That's what she said!" joke.

I'm also getting Hamlet with David Tennant in it- SO EXCITED. Cuz... its David Tennant and a huge amount of depressing dead people. A very good mix.

[vampyre_princess]

@dandyvampgirl_13 okay just poast a review if and when...
My friends always got me 2 translate for them
I hate the "thats what she said" jokes

OMG you are so lucky... i saw it on TV and i loved it, I love David Tennant so...

[dandyvampgirl_13]

David is freaking delicious. And unfortunately two months older than my dad, so that's a little awkward, but I've kinda stopped caring. I just want his hair and the specs. And the kilt.

And actually, I kinda like finding "That's what she said" jokes in Shakespeare, because in the text they're usually pretty subtle. Now, in the Twelfth Night, they are REALLY out there. I guess people like to smut up his plays- and it was fairly funny naughtiness, but just enough that I'm VERY glad my grandma didn't see it with me. I'm sure she likes her eyeballs in her sockets.
The play was amazing though- they stuck to pretty much all the original lines (I know they didn't omit anything, but they might have added a little bit). Feste, the fool, had a brilliant voice and he was superbly hillarious, and on the cover of the playbill. The Sir Toby/Sir Andrew/Maria/Malvolio sobplot was excellent, and only distracted you from the love triangle a little, as a side of light naughty humor in between the heavy, hillarious love drama. Malvolio, in particular, played a very convincing stuck up, prudish, snotty steward. They had an excellent Orsino and Olivia, and Viola was very good too. They even let Sebastian run around mostly nekked for a bit, so I got quite an eyeful of yummy. Mozart was all the background music, and they liked to incorporate the actions of the minor characters into hinting at certain intrigues that was very amusing. I think the best part was Fabian saying "Allons-y!" (that's a Doctor Who joke) and Sir Andrew's ridiculous outfit of shocking neon green. I loved it, and I really want to see it again.

[Tornado]

Is David Tennant's performance in Hamlet available somewhere???? I'd love to see that!

[dandyvampgirl_13]

Right here, actually. PBS posted it on their website. So it's even legal.

[Tornado]

Damn. It's not available to people in my region. What a surprise.

[dandyvampgirl_13]

Boo. Try Google/youtube. And Tumblr. Tumblr has EVERYTHING.