Favorite play by Shakespeare- Page 2

[paradox_error]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:00am

I LOVE Hamlet, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Nights Dream and The Merchant of Venice.

Shylock is probably one of my favourite characters of all time. As is Malvolio. I tend to gravitate towards the misunderstood "bad guys". I find Bottom heartbreaking...Maybe it's just me.

I recently saw a wonderful production of The Comedy of Errors directed by the marvellous John Bell. They used Commedia to heighten the mystique, and up the comedy. The production was absolutely hilarious, and showed the merits of this early Shakespeare.

I love all Shakespeare, except for Titus Andronicus. It repulses me. Which is interesting because Sweeney Todd is one of my favourite Musicals -Titus has motive to cook the sons of the Queen of the Goths, whereas Mrs Lovett is simply compelled by greed.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:06am

I think Julie Taymor's movie version of Titus Andronicus hit upon something most people neglect (and which is why, IMO, the play is so misunderstood and disliked): the sharp black comedy of the play. If you take TITUS too seriously, it's over-the-top and repulsive; a good production would understand that some of the scenes are tinged with humour, even a kind of proto-absurdist comedy, such as the scene where Titus must chop off his own hand, or when Lavinia picks up her father's lopped hand with her mouth....or even how Titus bakes Tamora's sons' heads into meatpies.

[Racetrack]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:11am

The scene where Demetrius and Chiron are fighting over Lavinia can be amusing. I think in Taymor's production Matthew Rhys(Demetrius) and Jonathan Rhys Meyers made it humorous which I liked. I also agree that it can be played too seriously which can be its downfall in the end. But I think the movie is very well adapted to both the drama and comedic moments.

When I read the play the first time the whole baking Tamora's sons into meat pies reminded me so much of Sweeney Todd.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:18am

[paradox_error]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:20am

I get the humour, I just don't like it.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:26am

omg! mine's totally that one about the guy at the place where the girl says that thing, you know, and those people die but then it's all ok? omfg! it's awe-mazing!

[OneLastRefrain2]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:39am

um... Twelfth Night makes me laugh ..so hard. there's nothing like it

[Jon]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 2:09am

Twelfth Night is a perfect comedy - and its plot elemnts have been copied countless times. Hell, the new Elvis musical ALL SHOOK UP has a plot stolen from 12th Night!

Midsummer Night's Dream is brilliant as well.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 2:33am

Love TWELFTH NIGHT too. I wouldn't call it a perfect comedy, though -- only because it's a comedy somewhat tinged by darker elements of melancholy. Which is why I think it's a unique piece in Shakespeare's repertoire of comedies.

[BwayLover]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 4:14am

My favorites are:
Much Ado About Nothing
Macbeth
Twelfth Night
As You Like It
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Tempest

[Adoannie925]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 11:46am

"As You Like It"

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 2:33pm

Macbeth and The Tempest.

Hamlet's on the list, somewhere... but I saw the Hawke Hamlet and that kinda ruined it for me.

If you're ever in the Blockbuser on Beltline and Cockrell Hill Road near Duncanville, TX, you won't find that piece of crap because I pushed it under the aisle divider thing. No one should put themselves through that. Just though I'd share.

[FabalaCohen]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 2:39pm

Out of curiousity, has anyone ever seen/heard/read the Reduced Shakespeare Company's abridged Shakespeare? I used to take out the BBC tapes of it from my library, and it was my first introduction to a lot of Shakespeare outside of R&J and Julius Caeser. Hysterically funny.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 2:56pm

ooooooh William. I LOVE Hamlet and Othello. In school I helped a kid remember his lines as Hamlet by putting the words to a beat. And I wrote a term paper on Othello.

Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel
...
This above all: To thine ownself be true.

[zippyjen]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 3:04pm

mine- As you like it
my friend alli who is sitting next to me- ROmeo and Juliet

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 4:55pm

This above all: To thine ownself be true.

It's a huge pet peeve of mine when that line is misused -- it was once quoted in a commercial for PrideTV, and I cringed in embarassment. Anyone else get annoyed by its mis-employment?

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 5:04pm

Hamlet is my very favorite Shakespeare of all time, with Twelfth Night as an extremely close second. However, my favorite Shakespeare *scene* is the one in Act I Scene I of Midsummer between Helena and Hermia. "Call you me fair?!" Gotta love catfights.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 5:08pm

how was it misused? never seen it in a commercial... what was it for?

[sabrelady]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 5:57pm

Richard the Third for the History plays. As You Like It for Comic.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 9:08pm

BlueWizard, I agree with you re: the McKellan/Dench Macbeth. A brilliant, thrilling production and Roger Rees as Malcolm is a revelation.
Also, my favorite Hamlet is the Hallmark Hall of Fame production with, of all people, Richard Chamberlain. It's not available either on VHS or DVD but an LP recording was made of it around the time it was aired. If you can ever get your hands on it, give it a listen as it's wonderful. I also recommend the Burton-acted and Gielgud-directed version available on DVD.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 10:04pm

BlueWizard, I agree with you re: the McKellan/Dench Macbeth. A brilliant, thrilling production

Thinking about the production again, I decided to impulse-buy and ordered it on DVD (with an introduction by McKellen!); I await its arrival with thirsty anticipation.

how was it misused? never seen it in a commercial... what was it for?

I've heard many, many people misuse the quote, "To thine own self be true"; hell, even I've misused it until I realized it was spoken by Polonius (always a highly suspect character).

Many people assume it means, "Be true to yourself," but really it doesn't; the stress is "To thine own self be true." When Polonius mutters the line to his son Laertes in I.iii, he is really telling him, "Look out for #1! Put yourself first and lie to everyone else!" In its original context, the line has the opposite meaning of what people assume it means when it's quoted.

When PrideTV had a Pride Week commercial end with, "To thine own self be true," I laughed and thought, so they want everyone to go back into the closet?

Updated On: 1/15/05 at 10:04 PM

[Chloe]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 10:29pm

My favorite is Hamlet also. When I was thirteen or fourteen I saw a British production in Chicago that totally blew me away. I spent the rest of the summer walking around my backyard reciting the lines to myself.

Polonius' advice to Laertes is often quoted straight, but it seems to have been intended as an illustration of what a pompous old ass he was.

[Nina Myers]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 10:50pm

Of the ones I've read or seen performed, it's hands down, Much Ado About Nothing. In fact, in my Spanish class, my Spanish name is Beatriz :)

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 11:07pm

oh I see. that is funny. i bet a lot of people take it that way though, its a good quote either way.