Anyone for Shakespeare?

[hypehat]

To troll, or not to troll? Whether it is nobler on the board to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous frontmen, or to post arms against a Sea Of Tunes and by opposing end them?

I just posted some stuff about the bard in the MiC thread and, rather than clog that up any more than is necessary, thought it would be better to have a thread.

So....

What's your favourite play? Any favourite speeches? Did you really resent learning A Midsummer Nights Dream in school? Ever acted in any Shakespeare? Any good productions you saw? Ever been to The Globe?

Probably my favourite speech, or at least my favourite right now. Falstaff's sack speech from Hal part II. Roger Allam is fantastic here, and Falstaff is such amazing writing on Shakes' part.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpGMXRO1xo8

I am sending some emails and then I am going to watch Orson Welles' Chimes Of Midnight, possibly my favourite Shakespeare film? Although I want to see his Macbeth, the first  Shakespeare play I really loved.

At the moment I'm rehearsing Much Ado About Nothing and the more I think and talk and watch Shakespeare the better I'll do. I have the David Tennant 2001 radio play on pretty much constant repeat to get my lines. Did anyone see the Joss Whedon version?

The more youtubes in this thread the better btw

[smilethebeachboysloveyou]

I am sending some emails and then I am going to watch Orson Welles' Chimes Of Midnight, possibly my favourite Shakespeare film? Although I want to see his Macbeth, the first  Shakespeare play I really loved.

I was about to suggest Chimes at Midnight to you, until I saw that you had already posted about it.  Welles' MacBeth is probably the one that has the fewest Welles touches but it's still certainly worth seeing.

When I was in high school I made a home video of the Edgar/Edmund sword fight from King Lear.  I've never been to the Globe and haven't seen any productions of his plays apart from high school or college ones; I should probably get to work on that.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Love Shakespeare. Taught very badly in high school, or at least in my high school. Came away with the impression that I was supposed to think he was the greatest writer but didn't know why. Turns out, though, he is one of the greatest writers. There's a lot going on in every play, even the lesser known ones.

My personal favourites are the tragedies and some of the more tragic histories. I love Lear and Hamlet the most. To me, the best interpretations of Shakespeare are by Kurosawa - particularly Throne of Blood but also Ran.

[smilethebeachboysloveyou]

To me, the best interpretations of Shakespeare are by Kurosawa - particularly Throne of Blood but also Ran.

What is your opinion of The Bad Sleep Well?  It's probably the one that goes furthest from the play that it's based on, but I liked the combination of Hamlet with a noir-ish style.  I also thought it was clever the way that the film seems to identify itself as coming from Hamlet so that you expect it to play out the same way but are surprised when it doesn't.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

To me, the best interpretations of Shakespeare are by Kurosawa - particularly Throne of Blood but also Ran.

What is your opinion of The Bad Sleep Well?  It's probably the one that goes furthest from the play that it's based on, but I liked the combination of Hamlet with a noir-ish style.  I also thought it was clever the way that the film seems to identify itself as coming from Hamlet so that you expect it to play out the same way but are surprised when it doesn't.

To be honest, I've never seen that one. Unfortunately, I have always only been able to see the Kurosawa that I could get my hands on and some have been easier than others. I'm sure it's probably available online but I am a bit hopeless when it comes to all that. I will say that his noir-ish film Stray Dog is one of my favourites and since I love the other adaptations, I'm sure I would love The Bad Sleep Well too.

[Lowbacca]

For anyone interested in everything Shakespeare I can highly recommend this book:





My favourites are MacBeth, Midsummer Night's Dream & Titus Andronicus.





P.S.

Orson Welles' Chimes Of Midnight

at 

Good taste in Shakestuff!

[Alex]

You've never experienced Hamlet until you've read it in the original Klingon.

[Dudd]

I was reading a bit about Orson Welles; I never knew the man had so many incomplete films! In one case, though, he managed to complete filming on an adaptation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice - and then the reels were stolen. So as a bit of self-consolation, Welles filmed himself quite emotionally reciting the Shylock monologue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH2a45plqQc