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Post by shaxper on May 15, 2002 17:12:41 GMT -5
Which Shakespeare play do you like the least, or actively hate? Is there one that you can't imagine being anyone's favorite and, if so, why?
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Post by Ganymede on May 15, 2002 20:38:15 GMT -5
I don't particularly like the Taming of the Shrew. The whole scene in which Petruchio makes Kate see the sun as the moon grates on me. I know it can be staged as humorous, but reading it still irritates me. I just want to strangle Petruchio for his arrogance. And I get frustrated with Kate, who I'd like to see slug good old Petruchio in the end. Of course, these are the sentiments of a modern not a Renaissance woman. And I'm sure some industrius director could make this play shine.
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Post by shaxper on May 20, 2002 8:32:15 GMT -5
I think mine would be The Comedy of Errors (though I know Bardolph will kill me for saying so ). TCOR and Taming of the Shrew (to a lesser extent) are the only Shakespeare plays in which I have trouble finding any depth to the characters. TCOR, in particular, seems to be a simple over-used gag that gets drawn out for three and a quarter hours on stage. Yes, it has some great wit, but little else. I understand that this is a silly play (in ways, more silly than anything else Shakespeare has done), but that just isn't enough for me. I love Shakespeare's characters and language. TCOR doesn't seem to offer much of either.
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Post by Harry on May 23, 2002 20:52:26 GMT -5
The Comedy of Errors may have been Shakespeare's first comedy so it isn't too surprising that you find it his weakest. I have seen it performed and enjoyed the performance. You probably know that the play is based on The Menechmi Twins by Plautus. Shakespeare adds the twin servants.
I've never seen this noted in commentaries, but I think there is a possible reference to Lysistrata by Aristophanes in Errors. (Think Globally ;D )
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Post by shaxper on May 23, 2002 23:33:43 GMT -5
I have to expose my ignorance in saying that I'm not familiar with Lysistrata. Would you mind elaborating?
By the way, I agree that The Comedy of Errors can be a lot of fun on the stage, but no more so than many many other Renaissance dramas from the period. There just isn't much shakespeare in the play, though, I agree, this is probably because it was his first play.
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Post by MelanieS on May 25, 2002 9:32:52 GMT -5
"Loves Labours Lost". I stopped reading it in the middle. No plot, the "humour" I found incomprehensible and the whole thing seemed just tedious. Another play I didn't care about was Titus Andronicus, but because of the brutality. It was like a horror movie of the most bloody kind. And baking Tamora's sons heads in two pies and her eating them... There was this film with Peter Benchley as a drama critic and Jacqueline Bisset as a TV cook, and critics were being murdered left and right by a frustrated actor. He murdered each critic according to the Shakespearean play the critic had "atttacked" him for. Peter Benchley was the critic who had criticized him for "Titus", so his two poodles were put into two pies, and Benchley ate them and died of horror. I saw the film before having read Titus, and it revolted me then, and revolts me still. MelanieS
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Post by shaxper on May 25, 2002 10:22:30 GMT -5
Yes, Titus is certainly brutal. Have you read any John Webster yet? That Peter Benchley film sounds like something I may have to see though. Do you remember the title?
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Post by MelanieS on May 27, 2002 13:38:48 GMT -5
No, I have yet to read John Webster. As for the "Peter Benchley" film, I really ought to prepare my posts instead of jotting things down online as if I were chatting with a friend on the phone. Peter Benchley did that deep sea Jaws spin-off. I meant Robert Morley, and I think I may have some of the facts about the movie wrong too, because the title is "Who is killing the great chefs of Europe" (1978) and it's available on video, at Amazon I think for 19.99 dollars. But the killer did kill the victims because of bad criticisms he got for his plays, and they were Shakespearean... Sorry for the mix-up MelanieS
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Post by shaxper on May 27, 2002 21:50:12 GMT -5
His work is like Titus Andronicus taken to a new level. If you happened to see Shakespeare in Love, John Webster is supposed to be that creepy kid who says he loved Titus Andronicus No, no, no! We encourage that attitude around here!! I promise that no one's grading you (that I know of). Have fun, chat for pleasure. I'm only docking you five points for your mistake, after all ;D
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N.N.W
Money Lender
Posts: 35
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Post by N.N.W on May 29, 2002 7:32:40 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300] Did you know that Comedy of Errors is the only Shakespearean text that fits Aristotles principles of time, place and action...? As it was an early work, W.S. is still drawing heavily on the classics - both for theme and structure - [/glow]
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Post by shaxper on May 29, 2002 8:16:01 GMT -5
The Tempest maintains the unities as well. Funny that we only see this in the play believed to have been his first and the play believed to have been his last.
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N.N.W
Money Lender
Posts: 35
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Post by N.N.W on May 29, 2002 8:42:21 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300] It does doesn't it... that is really interesting. Tempest has many classical themes also... hmmm.... [/glow]
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Post by Horatio on Jun 20, 2002 1:04:06 GMT -5
I believe the comments on a movie somewhat like "Titus Andronicus" have confused two different films. The film with Robert Morley, "Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe" had the various chefs slain by a method related to each one's culinary specialty. (The chef who made delicious dessert bombes was blown up by a bomb, etc.). It was another film, starring Vincent Price, I believe, in which the revengeful actor destroyed each of his critics in a fashion related to the play and performance panned by that critic. The puppy dogs baked in a pie imitate "Titus" and the concept is pretty disgusting, though the film is a kind of black comedy and the play is supposed to be a serious attempt at tragedy. I cannot recall the name of the film for sure, but it was something like "Theater of Blood." Vincent Price's character has something of the gleeful maliciousness of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the ego of Dogberry. and the sheer meanness of Iago.
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Post by Portia on Jun 20, 2002 10:11:02 GMT -5
Coriolanus... painful...painful...painful. It might have been the fact that I was enrolled in a Shakespeare class that was full of grad students and a couple of us measly inexperienced. Quite a bit of information was talked about that went right over our heads. Nonetheless, even now when I am more well read, I consider this play my least favorite.
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Post by shaxper on Jun 20, 2002 10:55:36 GMT -5
Welcome, Horatio! Thanks for clarifying that information for us. As for Coriolanus, I've been meaning to read it lately, since it was the favorite WS play of a professor I studied under. He was so moved by some amazingly tragic scene in which Coriolanus humiliated himself on his mother's behalf, that I felt I absolutely needed to read it. I'm amazed to hear it bored you then, Portia. Perhaps my professor was a bit off his rocker. Well, I'll have to read it myself
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