Right, so, I’m Jenn. Currently not in college but self-employed. Favorite plays are Hamlet, Macbeth, and Much Ado About Nothing, which is half the total number of plays I’ve actually read. Sadly. What I read is so diverse that my backlog is constantly, well, backlogged, and shifting, so I haven’t gotten around to reading any more as of yet. I didn’t fall for Shakespeare until after I read Macbeth in my senior year of high school. So I’m kind of a noob. This is all I can fit in here now so yeah.

-seaglaresdontmind

Hi! I’m Ari! I’m 15 (almost 16) and I’ve been loving and performing Shakespeare for almost five years now - just finishing up my 11th Shakespeare play or something like that. This past year has been a major blast for me - not only did I take Shakespeare for my English credit first semester, but in the past 12 months I’ve played Macduff, Bottom, Iago, and am currently playing Romeo. My favorite plays not already mentioned include Henry IV (both parts), which I’m performing next summer; and Measure for Measure, during a production of which I played Lucio and met my girlfriend. OOH WAIT. Actually, my favorite play is probably King Lear. I’ve seen it performed on stage three times, and all three Lears - Greg Hicks, Sir Ian McKellen, and Maria Oliveras - had my bawling my eyes out at the end. I love all of you guys! :D

-iagoinaducksuit

Hey! I’m KC, and I’m a twenty-something, majoring in English with a Shakespearean focus. I’ve loved the Bard since I was a child, having sonnets read to me as bedtime stories. Now, I’ve made it my life’s goal to learn as much as possible and enjoy everything he offered the world through words. Can’t wait to explore this blog. :)

-cheeseburgersandshakespeare

Hopefully it’s less likely to get eaten that way. :( (There are a couple in the queue, so if yours hasn’t been published yet, don’t worry.)

I received the monumental opportunity to play King Lear my senior year of high school.  The production was decidedly non-conventional, as I am a girl and under the age of 50.  The decision to cast a woman in the title role essentially defined the entire direction of the production.  The concept was that the world of Lear’s kingdom was entirely dominated by women.  Kent was a woman, the Fool was a woman, the three sisters all vigorously dominated their husbands.  The whole look of the show was 300 meets Gangs of New York and the set looked like a garbage heap.  But what made the production particularly special was that it was performed outdoors in early spring when it wasn’t quite warm yet.  During the final dress rehearsal, I remember turning around to see the cast huddled around campfires, wrapped in blankets, clutching their weapons.  The world of Lear’s crumbling kingdom was completely real.  So on the acting end, all I really had to do was breathe and let that exquisite text fill me and carry me through the play.  Lear’s through line is, in fact, very clear.  He is a man struggling to keep his head above water.  His text constantly fluctuates between crystal clear verse and muddied, mad prose; always fighting for clarity and sanity.  And when what is most precious to him (his daughters, his family) betrays him or is taken away from him, he loses the battle. 

On the last night of performance, something kind of out of this world happened.  We had been battling rain all week, but one the last night, the day was overcast and we even did an anti-rain dance before call.  But sure enough, during the actual storm scene raindrops started to fall.  My Kent was convinced that I had conjured the rain.  It didn’t rain enough to move the production inside, but it did rain at the perfect moments: stopping at the end of the storm sequence, starting again during Lear’s mad scene, starting again during the battle, stopping before the Edgar/Edmund duel,and re-starting as Edmund died and continuing through the end.  It was surreal, freezing cold, but completely perfect.  And that’s how I remember playing Lear.  I’m sure there were imperfections and things I would change now, but that’s not what I remember.  I remember the rain.

goodmorningelsinore:

I mean, they try so hard to go out on a proper date, but the plot just keeps getting in the way. Hamlet does a bunch of stuff, then gets sent to England, then he comes back but gets distracted by some skulls, then he has to duel Laertes, and then he dies! There’s just no room in his schedule for a proper romantic outing, even to a fine eating establishment such as Applebee’s.

Shortly after the events of the play, Horatio sits alone in an Applebee’s, crying his eyes out.