Le Shakespeare Thread

[Shaun]

-expects this to bomb spectacularly-

But at some stage in their lives almost everyone has read a work of Shakespeare's surely? If not they've certainly used his coined words, seen something with plots or themes pioneered/created by him, at the very least had cultural references to him.

So...what's your favourite play?
(I'm making a poll with 14 (+other) of the most obvious)
Which didn't you enjoy? Favourite characters? Comedy, romance, history or tragedy?

[Shaun]

I studied a bit of Macbeth, The Tempest and Henry V in school/sixth form. I didn't enjoy the Tempest at all - it was too long for me, and whilst the characters were some of his most interesting, the plot never really went anywhere and didn't appeal to me. Henry V obviously has the big speeches and the recent adaptations in its favour but again I never really connected with the work. And I did too little of Macbeth to pretend to know about the play.

However - recently I purchased 3 for £5 in a discount store (The Works) - As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream - and I've loved all three. AYLI is much funnier than the other two, Rosalind's a much better character than the majority of Shakespeare's females, and I found a lot more message that related to me than others. The Merchant of Venice angered me with how hypocritical it would appear under today's context: the continual racism towards the 'Jew', Shylock (not to mention the Moroccan gentlemen who comes to woo Portia who I've forgotten), and the injustice through which they not only stole from Shylock, but had the audacity to enter a bond where the agreement was a pound of flesh were it not paid (warning signs: don't go into these kinds of bonds...) and then convict him as a criminal for it (and then seize his business and possessions). A Midsummer Night's Dream was more amusing, with the error committed by Puck, the ever-changing loves and fantasies, and the parallels with the Gods (Titania and Oberon).

So yeah - those would be my three favourites, but I need to get more really.

[Angus]

Richard III is my all time favourite, closely followed by Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry V, Romeo & Juliet, The Merchant of Venice,Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. I have watched many different productions of these plays and am always struck at how contemporary and relevant the themes are no matter what setting they are in.

Some of my favourite soliloquies are pure genius ; Hamlet's "To be or not to be", Macbeth "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow"; Richard III "Now is the winter of our discontent"; Romeo & Juliet "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks"; Henry V "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more"; Anthony and Cleopatra "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety"; Julius Caesar "Cowards die many times before their deaths". The secret of Shakespeare's genius is that he was a magnificent poet as well as a genius playwright - I have often been moved to tears. His works cover the whole range of human emotions and predicaments.

It's strange because I was bored stiff by Shakespeare at school where we were forced to learn lines by rote instead of in context, and it wasn't till I started going to the theatre in my teens that I really appreciated the plays. Now I own most of them on DVD and will often re-watch a favourite.

[Barbie]

Studied Macbeth. Hated it.

Saw midsomers nights dream when i was about 10 was hilarious at the time with naked people and bunnies

Romeo and Juliet is a bit cliche now. Not that thats Shakespeare's fault.

Don't think i've ever heard of any others!

[Angus]

Studied Macbeth. Hated it.

Saw midsomers nights dream when i was about 10 was hilarious at the time with naked people and bunnies

Romeo and Juliet is a bit cliche now. Not that thats Shakespeare's fault.

Don't think i've ever heard of any others!

I agree about Romeo and Juliet, the story has been done to death in many incarnations, though I think my favourite was the Leonardo di Caprio version and West Side Story musical version. I never much cared for Midsummer Night's Dream (nor many of his comedies), though I enjoyed the open air production at Regents Park some years ago, purely because the setting was so magical and perfect. As for Macbeth, it's one of those dark tragedies that you either love or hate - it's not everyone's cup of tea.

[Jords]

Ive only read/seen Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest.

Studied at school Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest (twice - once in primary school as well as secondary).

Id say my favourite was Macbeth.

[MTVN]

I studied a bit of Macbeth, The Tempest and Henry V in school/sixth form. I didn't enjoy the Tempest at all - it was too long for me, and whilst the characters were some of his most interesting, the plot never really went anywhere and didn't appeal to me. Henry V obviously has the big speeches and the recent adaptations in its favour but again I never really connected with the work. And I did too little of Macbeth to pretend to know about the play.


I'm doing The Tempest atm (got an exam on it in january) and it is a bit long but it is definitely one of the most interesting of his plays that I have read, looking at the influences and context behind it all.

[ILoveTRW]

Romeo and Juliet. The best bit is the ****** singing "young hearts run free never be hung up....." (don't know the name of the song)

[Ninastar]

I've read the Tempest but I cant remember it. It was in year 9 and I think I was the only one in my class who didn't despise it

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

Romeo and Juliet. The best bit is the ****** singing "young hearts run free never be hung up....." (don't know the name of the song)

:joker:

that film is epic though :amazed:

when they first see eachother through the fish tank and desree is singing :lovedup:

[InOne]

Studied Macbeth, quite enjoyed it. But my fave has to be Othello :love:

[Jack_]

"young hearts run free never be hung up....."

umg, epic song. -listens for the rest of the day-

t3G5IWESfqg

:dance:

[BB_Eye]

Did Much Ado About Nothing have Falstaff in? Yeah that, lol.

You forgot Brutus though.

We Macbeth at school and I never took an interest, but I loved Verdi's adaptation, which was actually his first opera. He also adapted Othello.

[Tom4784]

Hamlet and Romeo & Juiliet.

I used to like Macbeth but we did it 5 years in a row at school so I became bored of it.

[Z]

Read quite a few of Shakespeare's works in school from 1st-6th year (studying it up to Advanced Higher level) and narrowed it down to Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, Othello and Antony & Cleopatra. Everyone knows the story of Romeo & Juliet and rightly so because it's a great play, but I think its over-exposure probably puts me off it a little bit. As far as 'getting' plays goes, I think I connected the most with Macbeth, but my favourite is Othello for the plot. Antony & Cleopatra is the only Shakespeare play I read that was based on historical facts, I think it's an underrated play, I enjoyed it a lot. I've also read Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream and started The Tempest in 2nd year but our teacher decided to do something else haha.

[Tom4784]

I've always wanted to read more but I can't really get into reading plays like I can with other things, I need to see them performed to enjoy them.

[Z]

I've always wanted to read more but I can't really get into reading plays like I can with other things, I need to see them performed to enjoy them.

I think you need to really want to read them to be able to do it; they're quite complex in parts, I know that I would have given up if I didn't have a teacher explaining the difficult parts to me. Half the battle is trying to comprehend the language in modern language, and then you need to understand the imagery... Quite satisfying when you finish though!

[Tom4784]

I think you need to really want to read them to be able to do it; they're quite complex in parts, I know that I would have given up if I didn't have a teacher explaining the difficult parts to me. Half the battle is trying to comprehend the language in modern language, and then you need to understand the imagery... Quite satisfying when you finish though!

It's less to do with the language and more the written layout of plays, I can't really enjoy reading scripts.

[Ross]

Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice & King Lear. In that order too.

[Jessica.]

Romeo and Juliet is amazing! <3

[Jack_]

Romeo and Juliet is cute I suppose. I've never really been a fan of any of his other work.

[Ramsay]

King Lear

[\PJ/]

It has to be Macbeth, i love the way it's so twisted.

[Niamh.]

I choose Hamlet as I know it the best, I did it for my leaving cert in school and loved it

[Marc]

Gotta love a bit of Shakin' Stevens

[Vladimir]

I hated Hamlet when I first read it, but now I realise it's not that bad. Romeo And Juilet is so-so.

I also like Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing. I prefer his comedies though.

[Angus]

Whatever your preference there's no denying that Shakespeare is probably the greatest every playwright - who else can boast around four and a half centuries of their works being performed in every corner of the globe, and providing inspiration for so many other artistic forms of expression? There are probably very few places on earth where he has not been heard of. Best of all he was English and enriched our language so much - many of our adages and expressions have been lifted directly from his plays.

[MTVN]

Whatever your preference there's no denying that Shakespeare is probably the greatest every playwright - who else can boast around four and a half centuries of their works being performed in every corner of the globe, and providing inspiration for so many other artistic forms of expression? There are probably very few places on earth where he has not been heard of. Best of all he was English and enriched our language so much - many of our adages and expressions have been lifted directly from his plays.

Christopher Marlowe?

[Angus]

Christopher Marlowe?

Certainly Marlowe was an inspiration for Shakespeare and there's more than a nod to him in some of Shakespeare's earlier plays. There are even conspiracy theories that Marlowe faked his own death and continued writing under the assumed name of Shakespeare! Marlowe himself was heavily influenced by Edmund Spenser and even guilty of a fair bit of plagiarism.

However Shakespeare, whilst inspired by Marlowe, took his art to a whole new level in my opinion. The only Marlowe's plays I really like are Doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine the Great, and of course there are bound to be similarities in style between contemporaries such as Shakespeare, Spenser and Marlowe, but I stand by my assertion that Shakespeare is globally known, whereas the likes of Marlowe and Spenser are not.