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My ranking of every Shakespeare play

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Re: My ranking of every Shakespeare play

#61

Post by Jun8 »

Obligatory comment for the few who do not know: nothing was Elizabethan slang for vagina, which makes the title of Much Ado About Nothing funny (https://amp.theguardian.com/culture/2011/jun/05/much-ado-abo...).

Hamlet also has the same pun:

Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap?

Ophelia: No, my lord.

Hamlet: I mean, my head upon your lap?

Ophelia: Ay, my lord.

Hamlet: Do you think I meant country matters?

Ophelia: I think nothing, my lord.

Hamlet: That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs.

Ophelia: What is, my lord?

Hamlet: Nothing.

Hamlet means country as in cuntry.

My high school English teacher never pointed these out!

Re: My ranking of every Shakespeare play

#62

Post by seagullriffic »

This is great, thanks. For anyone who might take a recommendation, the 1993 "Much Ado" is, indeed, excellent. It's a play filled with joie de vivre and the movie reflects that. Featuring an unexpected Don John. Then the 2012 Much Ado is one of the better things Joss Whedon did.

Re: My ranking of every Shakespeare play

#63

Post by vr46 »

twiddling wrote: post #42
allturtles wrote: post #21

How do people find The Hollow Crown as an adaptation of the Henriad cycles? [0] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hollow_Crown_(TV_series)

Simon Russell Beale's Falstaff was superb IMO. Hiddleston as a good Hal. Jeremy Irons was, well, Jeremy Irons I rather enjoyed the first four. the latter three with Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard III were rather weak. Especially when you look at Olivier's film.

Oh Lord, SRB in the Almeida’s Richard II was a chore, good at despair but the play was pared down and confusing instead of challenging.

Re: My ranking of every Shakespeare play

#64

Post by mcmoor »

ojosilva wrote: post #58
jovial_cavalier wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Tolstoy: ... "but having read one after the other, ..." Do not read Shakespeare. Shakespeare wrote plays, not books. Shakespeare should be watched, either on stage or on screen. Reading a Shakespeare play is like deciding to listen to the Beatles by downloading MIDI files and playing them through software. Maybe you get the broad strokes of the song, and maybe you even like it, but you're not listening to the Beatle…

Well, not really. The written play is the actual Work. Shakespeare put his soul into writing every word in it. They are his instructions, a script for eternity. It's like saying don't ever read the source, just use the app!

I mean it's like reading Beethoven or Mozart's music sheet. Some people can appreciate its music just from reading that but most people can only know its geniuses when it's played.

Re: My ranking of every Shakespeare play

#65

Post by dbtc »

adamgordonbell wrote: post #54

As a kid having to read Shakespeare what was lost on me, because of the language, was the language. Will worked hard to turn a phrase. "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once." "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." "The very substance of the amb…

He wrote for our time too

Re: My ranking of every Shakespeare play

#66

Post by MrVandemar »

dekhn wrote: post #39

I remember the teacher talking up Romeo and Juliet and being fairly unimpressed. But when I read King Lear, I was electrified- that scene with the king ranging around in the field while the fool says smart things is really good IMHO. I saw the Scottish Play put on by my high school theater and it was also great. Over time I've come to appreciate his fragments: "But soft! what light through yonder window breaks? Tis t…

> I saw the Scottish Play ...

Remind me, which one was that again? :-)

Re: My ranking of every Shakespeare play

#67

Post by mickhead23 »

Attn music lovers: if you're bored by Shakespeare like I am, try some opera adaptions. Often it's a richer and more rewarding experience. Verdi did some. Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi is based on Will's sources and is much better than his play.

Re: My ranking of every Shakespeare play

#68

Post by SoftTalker »

wudangmonk wrote: post #59
paulsutter wrote: post #22

Not trying to start any debate here with Shakespeare fans, just intend this as a supportive word for those of us who just don’t enjoy Shakespeare - Voltaire declared Hamlet a ‘vulgar and barbarous play’ and that ‘one would take this work to be the fruit of the inspiration of a drunken savage’ - George Bernard Shaw: ’. “There is no eminent writer, not even Sir Walter Scott, whom I despise so entirely as I despise Shak…

Shakespeare and Tolkien are similar to me. If you ever say you did not like them, you have an army of defenders calling you names about your lack of education and literary maturity, you always get attacked for who you must be as a person. Read both, not impressed.

I don't care for either author. Tried reading The Hobbit in middle school and found it utterly boring.

Shakespeare I just can't get anywhere with. The archaic language is too much of a barrier.

Re: My ranking of every Shakespeare play

#69

Post by redcap »

MrVandemar wrote: post #66
dekhn wrote: post #39

I remember the teacher talking up Romeo and Juliet and being fairly unimpressed. But when I read King Lear, I was electrified- that scene with the king ranging around in the field while the fool says smart things is really good IMHO. I saw the Scottish Play put on by my high school theater and it was also great. Over time I've come to appreciate his fragments: "But soft! what light through yonder window breaks? Tis t…

> I saw the Scottish Play ... Remind me, which one was that again? :-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scottish_play https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth#Superstition_and_%22Th...

Re: My ranking of every Shakespeare play

#70

Post by dekhn »

MrVandemar wrote: post #66
dekhn wrote: post #39

I remember the teacher talking up Romeo and Juliet and being fairly unimpressed. But when I read King Lear, I was electrified- that scene with the king ranging around in the field while the fool says smart things is really good IMHO. I saw the Scottish Play put on by my high school theater and it was also great. Over time I've come to appreciate his fragments: "But soft! what light through yonder window breaks? Tis t…

> I saw the Scottish Play ... Remind me, which one was that again? :-)

It's the Scottish Play. Do you refer to it any other way?
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