Welcome to Shakespeare Week! Because I couldn’t participate in all the Shakespeare 400 anniversary hullabaloo leading up to his birthday/day he died, I have decided to have my own little celebration here on the blog for the week after the anniversary. There will be a new post here on Finding the Bard every day until next Monday. I am very excited…
Tag: theatre
Everything I need to know I learned from Shakespeare
Today is Shakespeare’s birthday and the 400th anniversary of his death. In thinking about how much Shakespeare means to me, I decided that the best way to celebrate his legacy in this special week would be to try and articulate what I have learned from him. 1) Nothing is simple. Being rich or powerful does not mean life is easy,…
Julius Caesar: A Study of Manipulation
What’s it about? Caesar has many friends and many supporters, but apparently not quite enough. Some are beginning to question whether he has grown too tyrannical and needs to be stopped. A group of them, including Caesar’s trusted friend, Brutus, agree on a plan. They kill Caesar (”E tu, Brute?). But then…well, things don’t go exactly as planned. What’s it…
Love’s Labour Lost: When efforts fall short
What’s it about? Four (wealthy/upper class) young men make a deal that they are going to study together for three years. They agree on a set of rules for this time, which includes not seeing any women. However, a princess comes to visit and, with her retinue containing a total of four women, well…let’s just say some pairing off definitely…
A few days ago, I got home late, feeling tired, extremely stressed, and overwhelmed with everything that I had to do. After a long day at work and a pretty miserable commute, I had a huge amount of additional work waiting for me at home. By the end of the night, I felt like I had reached my limit and…
Antony and Cleopatra: Control
What’s it about? There’s this guy named Antony. And this queen named Cleopatra. They are in love. But they make mistakes, and certain people don’t want them to be together, and they both end up killing themselves. What is it really about? Antony and Cleopatra are in love but there are complications and they kill themselves. It’s kind of a…
The Merry Wives of Windsor: The Ridiculousness of Relationships
What’s it about? Noted womanizer John Falstaff (one of Shakespeare’s most famous characters) attempts to seduce both Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, who then work together to get back at him. The husbands Ford and Page are unaware of this at first, but it culminates in a rather mean trick that they play on Falstaff at the end of the…
I absolutely loved this version of The Tempest. This play works so well with a woman in the role of Prospero. I think it actually works better in many ways, truth be told. As a father-daughter relationship, it’s slightly creepy, but when it’s mother-daughter instead, I don’t get that vibe. Maybe that’s just me. Also, I’ve got to say that…
Why Shakespeare?
As there are more weeks in the year than there are Shakespeare plays, about every month or so, my weekly post will be not be about a specific play but something else related to Shakespeare. Today, as the first of these posts, I want to talk about one simple question: Why Shakespeare? Part of the reason that I decided to…
Let Shakespeare’s women speak for themselves – CapX
Let Shakespeare’s women speak for themselves – CapX cantankerousquince: There’s a debate going on on a teaching forum and I’d like people’s input on what you make of it before I add my two cents to the misogyny and bullshit that’s being put about. Fascinating article. Shakespeare can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways. And there have been…