Category Archives: Shakespeare

July 19, 2012

Thought of the Day 7.19.12

By ritalovestowrite

‘Tis the Shakespeare insult mug from our cupboard. Because sometimes inspiration IS as close as your morning cup of coffee.

Well, today I’m thinking that you, my clever, well read, blog followers must be in wont of a few additional Shakespearian insults to heap upon mankind. The response to yesterday’s list was pretty amazing (thank you!) And whilst I was compiling that list I kept finding quotes from/to/about this Falstaff guy…So, dear reader, I give you…

The Henry IV collection

You starvelling, you eel-skin, you dried neat’s-tongue, you bull’s-pizzle, you stock-fish–O for breath to utter what is like thee!-you tailor’s-yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing tuck! (Henry IV, Part 1) [ wow that’s all one curse! You might want to break it down and use a bit of moderation, lest some one thing you a bow-case.]

Peace, ye fat guts! (Henry IV, Part 1)

Falstaff sweats to death,
And lards the lean earth as he walks along. (Henry IV, Part 1)

Thou art as fat as butter (Henry IV, Part 1)

Thou clay-brained guts, thou knotty-pated fool, thou whoreson obscene greasy tallow-catch! (Henry IV, Part 1)

You are as a candle, the better burnt out. (Henry IV, Part 1)

That trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey Iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years?  (Henry IV, Part 1)

You scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian! I’ll tickle your catastrophe! (Henry V, Part 2)

Matthew MacFadyen as Prince Hal and Michael Gambon as Falstaff in a scene from the National Theatre’s presentation of Henry IV in 2005. (Photo credit: Catherine Ashmore)

My secret Shakespearian wish… If you had a million dollars and could endow a classical theatre company what would your wish be?

My wish?  I’d  endow my two favorite Shakespearian troupes — the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory and the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company — for a Summer of Hal. Since they generally put on two shows a piece …they could do Henry  IV Parts 1 and 2 and go once more into the breach Henry V in rep. [For the fourth show I’d love to see another Jane Austen adaptation, maybe Persuasion?] …Oh, We few we happy few who could witness such a summer as that!  (Now if only I had a million dollars!)

[Discuss]

 

2 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in postaday, Shakespeare, Theatre, Thought of the Day, Writing

July 18, 2012

Thought of the Day 7.18.12

By ritalovestowrite

Today I’m thinking about Shakespeare. Why? because I got to see Baltimore Shakespeare Factory’s Love’s Labour’s Lost last Friday and I’m going to see Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s Romeo and Juliet this Sunday. Two very different plays and two very different approaches. How lucky am I to live in a city that offers two ways to experience the Bard?

So instead of the regular birthday tribute (Shakespeare’s birthday is April 23rd for any one who is keeping track) I give you… Shakespearian insults. Because you never know when you might need a really tell some one that they are “a flesh-monger, a fool and a coward.” (Measure for Measure).

An 1870 oil painting by Ford Madox Brown depicting Romeo and Juliet’s famous balcony scene.

Here are a few from Romeo and Juliet:

… He’s a man of wax
You kiss by the book
He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not, the ape is dead
She speaks yet she says nothing
He is not the flower of courtesy
You rat catcher
A dog, a cat, a mouse, a rat to scratch a man to death
A plague on both your houses
Thou detestable maw
Thou womb of death

A scene from Love’s Labour’s Lost as put on by the Acting Co. of New York in 1974. Here the boys try to fool the girls into thinking they are a bunch of visiting Russians.

Here are a few from LLL:

Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise,
Three-piled hyperboles, spruce affectation,
Figures pedantical; these summer flies
Have blown me full of maggot ostentation:
I do forswear them.

They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen the scraps.

From other Plays:

A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality. (Alls Well That Ends Well.)

Thine face is not worth sunburning. (Henry V)

There’s no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune. (Henry V)

Thou art as loathsome as a toad. (Troilus and Cressida)

Thou art like a toad; ugly and venemous. (As You Like It)

I must tell you friendly in your ear, sell when you can, you are not for all markets.” (As You Like It.)

Thou art a flesh-monger, a fool and a coward. (Measure for Measure)

You secret, black and midnight hags (Macbeth)

Thou subtle, perjur’d, false, disloyal man! (The Two Gentleman of Verona)

“Thou art a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave; a lily-liver’d, action-taking, whoreson, glass-gazing, superserviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way” (King Lear)

“Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood.” (King Lear)

“I’ll beat thee, but I should infect my hands.” (Timon of Athens)

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5 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Baltimore, Maryland, postaday, Shakespeare, Theatre, Thought of the Day

July 14, 2012

Labour’s of Love’s

By ritalovestowrite
English: Title page of the first quarto of Lov...

English: Title page of the first quarto of Love’s Labours Lost (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Love’s Labour’s Lost opened at the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory Friday night at the Great Hall Theatre at St. Mary’s Outreach Center on 3900 Roland Ave. The company moves to their outdoor space at the Meadow at Evergreen Museum and Library at 4545 N. Charles Street (between Loyola and Notre Dame) this weekend and runs thus August 5th.

The small company did a great job with this wordy show. The pacing was crisp, the comedy was spot on and the acting was tight. LLL is essentially a Shakespearian sit-com/rom-com and all the lovers on stage were delightfully witty. But this production really shines when the comedic characters strut onto the boards.  Chris Ryder’s Costard, Brian Hanson’s Boyet, Jess Behar’s Sir Nathaniel, Kerry Brady’s Holofernes, Kathryn Zoerb’s Moth and especially Ann Turiano’s Don Armado steal the show. The intimacy of the Factory and the way in which they involved the audience makes the comedy all the more engaging.

Contemporary songs add to the fun. The cast and director had a Q&A with audience members after the show to discuss how they brought the Bard’s play to life.

The cast, having partially changed out of their costumes sit at the edge of the stage for a Q&A.

 

The theatre at St. Mary’s Outreach Center has a thrust stage complete with balcony. The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory actors perform with out mics and with the audience lights up.

Later this season the group will present the Taming of the Shrew . For info or tickets call or email the Factory at info@theshakespearefactory.com or call 410-596-5036.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Baltimore, Shakespeare, Theatre

June 6, 2012

Will (and Jane) this Summer in B’more

By ritalovestowrite

Frankly, when the wonderful Baltimore Shakespeare Festival closed its doors last year I thought it was curtains for live classical theatre in Baltimore.

Then I discovered the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. Their  summer venue under the stars at the old Patapsco Female Institute in Ellicott City is a bit of a drive, but this is SHAKESPEARE!

The CSC announced this spring that it has found a new indoor facility in downtown Baltimore. The  Merchantile Trust and Deposit Company building on East Redwood will allow for an eight month production schedule as well as extended educational programs. And they’ll continue with their summer tradition of performing alfresco at the PFI.

This summer the troupe will present two of the greatest love stories ever written. Huzzah!

Mass-produced colour photolithography on paper...

Photolithography on paper for Toy Theatre; Romeo and Juliet  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Catch the Bard’s star crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet as the CSC open’s its season this weekend (June 8, 9 & 10 is opening weekend). Two R&J has another full weekend then it begins to run in repertory with CSC’s other summer production…

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

The most famous of Jane Austen’s novel’s Pride and Prejudice takes stage June 22nd. There’s a special REGENCY WEEKEND to launch P&P (June 22, 23 & 24).

There is a strong argument for READING Austen. But when it is performed really well, and really faithfully I love it too. I got to see EMMA performed last winter in PA, and it was delightful. And, of course I’ve seen every Austen film out there from the A&E Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth to the Bollywood inspired “Bride and Prejudice”. I doubt there will be any wet shirts on stage at the CSC but knowing the caliber of their productions I have very high hopes for this stage version of P&P.

Try and come during Regency Weekend. There will be a costume booth where you can try on period outfits, English Line Dancing, a talk on “Kitty and Lydia” with some  JASNA;MD folks (on Sunday) and Jane Austen trivia with me on Saturday!  (If you can’t make opening weekend the show runs in repertory with Romeo and Juliet until July 29th.

For tickets to the Romeo and Juliet or Pride and Prejudice you can go to http://www.chesapeakeshakespeare.com/tickets.html

English: This diagram, or map, illustrates the...

For anyone who has stumbled upon this post and DOESN’T know the plot of Pride and Prejudice… this might help.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And there’s more good news on the Shakespeare front. The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory, which had been performing in Carroll County has moved to Charm City and taken over the Meadow at Evergreen Museum this summer.

The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory presents the Cannon as it would have been done in Bard’s day, in natural light (so the actors can see the audience as much as the audience can see the actors), minimal sets and contemporary music. We saw their Macbeth this spring and it was nicely done, indeed.

That’s the Doctor up in the tree, btw. He won’t be in the BSF’s performance, but how cool is that?

They will be doing Love’s Labour’s Lost from July 13 – Aug 5, and

the Taming of the Shrew from Aug 2 – Aug 26.

I have yet to see either of these to plays live so I’m very much looking forward to packing a picnic and heading to Charles Street to catch these.

For information on the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory go to  http://theshakespearefactory.com/

So in summary… Your summer should be filled with lots of great Shakespeare and Austen.

Breakdown:

Hope to see you under the stars this summer.

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BTW here’s my list of must brings to an alfresco theatre production: HAT, Sunscreen & Sunglasses (if its during the day), bug repellant, bottle of cold water, lawn chair or blanket, light sweatshirt/jacket (if its at night)  snack or picnic (optional), wine (optional), chocolate (optional, but always recommended.)

1 Comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Baltimore, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Theatre