Shakespearing
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Shakespearing #19.2: Another Interlude
Shakespearing #19.2 by David Foley Another Interlude: Tamburlaine Since it was Marlowe who first got me started on my Shakespeare project, I thought I’d pause and take in the wonderfully bloody and inventive production of Tamburlaine, Parts 1 and 2, at Theatre for a New Audience. I’d never read the plays before, but managed to… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #19.1: More on Much Ado About Nothing
Shakespearing #19.1 by John King More on Much Ado About Nothing Once again, I am rudely commandeering David Foley’s excellent blog about Shakespeare’s plays, this time because his latest post reminded me of Joss Whedon’s remarkable follow up to The Avengers, Much Ado About Nothing. If a superhero movie demands that characterization needs to be… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #19: Much Ado About Nothing
Shakespearing #19 by David Foley Much Ado About Nothing Why are Beatrice and Benedick so funny? Maybe you can’t appreciate the force of the question unless you’ve been reading a lot of Shakespeare lately, unless you’ve struggled through the sometimes dusty corridors of his humor, laboriously reconstructing jokes and trying to imagine how they landed four… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #18: Henry IV, Part 2
Shakespearing #18 by David Foley Henry IV, Part 2 Maybe because I read Henry IV, Part 2 in fits and starts, over a few weeks, it strikes me as less a play than a series of virtuosic vamps whose central theme doesn’t become clear until the end. That theme turns out to be the apotheosis… Continue reading
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Shakespearing 17.2: Lears
Shakespearing 17.2 by David Foley Lears (An Interlude) Note: In my project of reading all of Shakespeare’s plays in order, I’m still a long way from King Lear. What follows are thoughts about seeing a recent production. When I entered NYU’s Skirball Center a couple of weeks ago—exhausted from four hours of teaching, a little… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #17.1: More on Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespearing #17.1 by John King More on Merry Wives of Windsor Pardon my commandeering David Foley’s wonderfully textual Shakespearean blog for one week, in order to prolong the magic of the discussion of The Merry Wives of Windsor. I have read Merry Wives, even though I probably have only read a little more than half of… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #17: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespearing #17 by David Foley The Merry Wives of Windsor The Merry Wives of Windsor was one of three Shakespeare plays I’d neither read nor seen when I began this project. (The other two were King John and The Two Noble Kinsmen.) I can’t say I was missing much. Riverside’s introduction repeats the tradition that… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #16: Henry IV, Part 1
Shakespearing #16 by David Foley Henry IV, Part 1 I wasn’t looking forward to re-reading Henry IV. It’s not that I don’t like it, but its central trope has become stale from a hundred Hollywood films: the wastrel son redeeming himself when the chips are down. Do we really need to run that tape again?… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #15: The Merchant of Venice
Shakespearing #15 by David Foley The Merchant of Venice Antonio is sad. Shakespeare begins The Merchant of Venice in psychological media res. The merchant’s first line is a response to his friends: “In sooth, I know not why I am so sad./It wearies me, you say it wearies you[.]” “Your mind is tossing on the… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #14: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Shakespearing #14 by David Foley A Midsummer Night’s Dream An actor friend tells me A Midsummer Night’s Dream is his favorite Shakespeare. That makes sense. The play is a kind of ur-text for the imaginative possibilities of theatre. In it, Shakespeare pushes forward the discoveries he was making about new ways of activating theatrical space.… Continue reading
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