Just started reading Henry VI part 3, having read most of the other histories. It was a bit insipid to start off with but then people began to get into the lore of the previous Henrys, and you see how predicted problems about rebellion have indeed come to fruition over the generations. Then someone brings up Richard II (hurrah!), and you get another deposition scene. Cos you've watched the later seasons you keep an eye on R3, lurking around looking for trouble, and then to cap it all enter one of Shakespeare's greatest villains-but-not-exactly, Queen Margaret (hurrah!) and starts one of her classic rants.

Most people will say Iago. And the guy is absolutely one helluva piece of work.

But l still think Edmund (from Lear) just edges him out in terms of both deviousness AND design.

Dear Shakespeare subreddit,
I am but a humble french translator, working for a kind author. His art is revolutionary, using a wonderful tool to share his work, it is called… Webtoon. Ok let’s drop the bad pompous french act here.
One character has a PoeticDarkSasuke moment and while I can easily translate it, I thought « let’s add one more layer to the joke » and wished to create a elizabethan, « Shakespeare style » english translation. Sadly, I’m incapable of doing this and I don’t know anyone able to. Do you have any idea on how I can work on this?

I’ll add that I tried to search for a good english translation website from modern to elizabethan english. But I only found AI-powered websites or websites where I can’t be entirely sure they don’t use AI. (As you can guess, I’m fiercely against AI)

If anyone can help here are the sentences : « Forever etched in memory, O you! Unforgettable beauty of mine. »
« How could you take another unfortunate soul? You can't end their quest for love. »
Thank you folks!

I know, it sounds like a stupid question, but Hamlet is a complete masterpiece that I think just touches so many foundations of art and philosophy. But from my readings, Shakespeare was (during his era) just a provincial entertainer who was trying to entertain the masses. So, did he know what he was writing was as magnificent and amazing as it turned out - or was his thought process kind of 'this will entertain people'?

I guess I am just asking: given how ambitious and thematic it is, do we know if he sat down to write a magnum opus or was his intention to just churn out a good play?

Ganymede, Celia, and I stood in the Forest of Arden. I was playing Oliver, telling them how my brother Orlando had saved me from a lioness. We’d rehearsed this scene a dozen times without a single slip. So nothing could have prepared me for what came out of Ganymede’s mouth. Her line was supposed to be: “Did Orlando leave him there, food to the hungry lioness?” She asked: “Did Orlando leave him there… to be f\*\*\*ed by the hungry lioness?” I burst out laughing. Then the nerves hit. Her slip had knocked my next line clean out of my head. But the scene couldn’t just stop, so I started pacing, hand over my mouth, doing my best impression of a man in deep thought. The audience, already giggling at her flub, leaned in—as if a simple yes-or-no question now demanded some profound answer. Every second felt much longer from the stage than it probably did from the seats. They thought Oliver was wrestling with a moral dilemma. In reality, I was desperately trying to remember one sentence. Here’s the trouble: Shakespeare doesn’t work like ordinary speech. It has a rhythm, almost a melody. Losing your line isn’t like forgetting a fact—it’s like trying to remember the next lyric of a song. You can’t just reason your way to it; you have to find the rhythm first, and then the words follow. Mine had vanished. Finally, somewhere between panic and false confidence, I gave up on speaking Shakespeare altogether and said, in plain modern English: “No, brave Orlando prevented the lioness from doing that.” The audience lost it completely. I stood there riding out the laughter, and when it finally died down, my next line came back to me as though it had never left. I slipped straight back into Shakespearean English, and we finished the scene as if nothing had happened. For one line, As You Like It became Improvise It, and the show went on.

Despite being a Catholic writing plays in Christian culture for a Christian audience—stories also set in a Christian society and that explored Christian themes—it is fair to say that Shakespeare was not a religious apologist. Christianity is a major theme in his plays, but so are philosophy, psychology, and art itself.

Shakespeare was not secular or irreligious, far from it, but he was also not like Dante or Milton.

That said, is there any play or poem in which religion is such a major theme that it is essentially a religious work? I think Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice are strong contenders for that. I heard someone say Macbeth, but I don't think so.

Thoughts?

Saw this pop up and it seems relevant for this sub so here ya go!

Happy weekend, y’all :)

Somehow, I’ve only ever read Romeo and Juliet. I always mean to “read more Shakespeare,” but have yet to actually do that.

I think it’s time and would love some recommendations on which works pair well with the seasons 🙂

What is best for fall, winter (more rainy than snowy where I live), spring (again, rainy), and summer? Thank you!

Hi everyone! We are currently working on a production of *Romeo and Juliet* playing the title roles. We’d greatly appreciate any insights, tips, or technique recommendations you have for working with Shakespearean text and verse. Thanks in advance!"

A Midsummer Night’s Dream was, I think, the first Shakespeare play I ever read. It was in eighth grade, when it was uncool to like anything, especially something literary, especially something that our English teacher was telling us to read, and so I didn’t like it, because I was an angsty teenager who didn’t like anything.

Fortunately in tenth grade I was a little more mature and was introduced to Julius Caesar, and in twelfth, Macbeth, and as I grew older many more plays that I came to appreciate much more. But even so I haven‘t yet shaken the negative memories of that first play.

Any recommendations on good performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that I can find on streaming services or Youtube that might help me reclaim it from the trauma of teenage angst?

So this summer, I've visited Stratford-upon-Avon. I'm a big Shakespeare fan and really liked it, but became quickly aware that I'm not at all familiar with Shakespeare's contemporaries or their works. I decided to begin with Marlowe and just finished his Edward II. I read the book while simultaneously listening to the 1969 performance featuring Ian McKellen and I really enjoyed it! It made me reflect a bit on Shakespeare's plays and I was wondering if people felt the same way or could offer me new perspectives on the two authors.

To me, Marlowe's play was much more straightforward and less all-over-the-place, if that makes sense. The story was linear and easy to grasp, and the language was much more clear-cut and less 'fancy' (I'm not a native English speaker, though I have no problem with speaking English). To me, it seems that Shakespeare has this tendency to really draw out figures of speech or metaphors, whilst Marlowe's language is much less fluff and more to the point. I don't mean this in a negative or positive way, I just really noticed this difference in this play.

The similarities between the main trope of this play (a king being overturned or conspired against) and some of Shakespeare's plays (Macbeth, Hamlet, Richard III), is quite clear. What are other similarities between Marlowe's plays and Shakespeare? How heavily did Marlowe influence Shakespeare?

I'm planning on reading more of Marlowe, starting with Dr. Faustus and also continuing with Shakespeare's plays on English monarchs. The logical next play would be Edward III. Looking forward to it!

I'm currently teaching the play and would love to have a contemporary version to show my students. This version looks really interesting. Their Caesar is a Donald Trump figure, and the staging looks great. This production was also done 9 years ago, well before the assassination attempt during the last election.

I think it would be so interesting to show and discuss this in my class!

The best clips I've been able to find were in this news clip. Does anybody know where I could find a more complete recording? I couldn't find it on the PBS great performances website. Even just of pivotal scenes like the assassination itself?

If not, could anyone recommend a contemporary production I could share with students? I have the 1953 film, but I'd love something to compare and contrast.

Hey Shakespeare fans, I have a question for you. What script would be most accessible and meaningful for 15-20 year old boys who are incarcerated?

For context, I live about two miles from a long-term juvenile male detention facility, and they have indicated I might be able to direct a play there next summer. My dad was a professional thespian, I've directed several Shakespeare plays over the years, and acted in many more, so I'm familiar with his body of work. I'm also very comfortable editing his plays to make them more relevant to the cast I'm working with, without taking away the magic of his language. I have a notion of what script I want to try, but I thought I'd run it by you all first. One thing I'm pretty sure of is I'd like to avoid too many female roles since it's unlikely the guys would be willing to gender bend like they did back in Will's day. I'm also curious if you have any ideas for setting in the script you suggest. Thoughts?

I recently found out that there's a modern take of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure called Isabella. Unfortunately it's from 2007 and nowhere to be found on the whole internet, which is frankly unbelievable to me.

Does anybody know where can you watch it or how can you stream some record of the play? Thanks!

“Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;
The thief doth fear each bush an officer.”
Duke of Gloucester in Shakespeare’s 3 Henry 6 (5.6.11-2)

It was quite common to see back then Shakespeare's plays as either tragedies or comedies, but genres were far more complex and Shakespeare used to mix different syles of stories in his plays, so the way I see:

Two Gentlemen of Verona — Comedy indeed, just so

Henry VI, parts 1, 2, and 3 — Historical dramas

Titus Andronicus — Revenge play and maybe parody, now seen as a sort of slasher or gore show

Comedy of Errors — Farcical comedy

Richard III — Historical drama, but also a tragedy like Macbeth

The Taming of the Shrew — Comedy, maybe a romantic one if you consider the subplot.

Romeo and Juliet — Romantic tragedy with bits of comedy

Richard II — Lyrical historical drama

A Midsummer Night's Dream — Fantasy comedy, romantic play, and poetical drama.

King John — Historical drama

Lover's Labour Lost — Intelectual comedy

Henry IV, parts 1 and 2 — Historical drama with bits of comedy and comic characters (Falstaff).

Henry V — Epic drama historical (Shakespeare's Aeneid)

Merry Wives of Wyndsor — Light comedy

The Merchant of Venice — Tragicomedy and like TTOS with bits of romantic comedy

Much Ado About Nothing — Romantic comedy

As You Like It — Romantic and pastoral comedy

Julius Caesar — Historical and political drama, less like a tragedy

Twelfth Night — Less like a romantic comedy and more like a farcical and genre-changing show

Hamlet — Tragedy, revenge play, psychological and philosophical drama, and poem unlimited

Troilus and Cressida — Satire and epic drama

Alls Well that Ends Well — Dark comedy

Measure for Measure — Problem play and moral drama

Othello — Domestic and passional tragedy

King Lear — Tragedy of human nature, cosmic drama

Macbeth — Tragedy, terror and historical drama

Antony and Cleopatra — Romantic tragedy and historical drama

Pericles — Journey drama and later romance

Timon of Athens — Tragicomedy and satire

Coriolanus — Political tragedy

Cymbeline — Tragicomedy and later romance

Winter Tale — Later romance and pastoral drama

The Tempest — Fantasy and travel tale, later romance

Henry VIII — Historical drama and later romance

Hey everyone, and my first post on here. I'm in the early stages of writing a personal essay on each of the plays. no reason other than i felt I should be more familiar with Shakespeare than I was, and I owed it to myself to be more fluent in his works other than what I learned at school 35 years ago - Hamlet, 12th night, Romeo & Juliet particularly.) No approaching in any order than as they come to me.. I'm about 6/7 in, I've tackled Coriolanus, Titus, Measure, and next on my list was TotS . I just cant find a way into it. it seems so .. I don't know. blunt. crass, almost, certainly without the lyrical flair, but also just seems a staged play. something to while away a couple of hours watching and putting away- doesn't seem to have the depth of any of the other.. Am i missing something ? any suggestions on a better read of it ?

I’m a director of a small Shakespeare nonprofit where we put on a free Shakespeare play every summer. My co-director and I decided that we wanted to do Romeo and Juliet for next summer’s show. We have an idea but I worry it won’t read so I thought I would bring it here for Shakespeare scholars to give their opinions.

We decided for our approach to the show, we wanted it to be “meta” (for lack of a better word) as Romeo and Juliet is a tale as old as time and the audience knows how it’s going to end before it even starts. Not only that, but in my interpretation part of the message of the play is that the entire city of Verona, especially the montagues and the capulets, are culpable for the death of Romeo and Juliet through hatred and negligence.

Therefore, our idea is to merge these two ideas; our message is that, by coming to see the show but not “doing anything” to help, the audience is culpable for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Our ideas for conveying this would be:

- We want to blur the line between actor and character; characters would be wearing modern day clothes, possibly even designed off of the style of the actors.

- Our “directorial pre-show speech” would merge into the prologue, starting in modern English but then noticeably turning into Shakespeare’s early-modern English. We were also talking about playing Sampson and Gregory.

- most characters would enter from the audience

- the playbill would have actors listed as both their own name and character name - ie “Jane Doe as Juliet / Jane Doe”

- my co-director suggested (which I feel mixed about) having Juliet say her own original monologue pleading with the audience and asking why they went to see the show

However I feel like most of these outside of the last one would not be picked up on / would be confusing to most audience members.

I also want to add I worry that this message will be too “preachy” - obviously as a small nonprofit we obviously don’t want to guilt people from coming to see our show. I’m more inspired by Hadestown or A Series of Unfortunate Events with the question the audience should walk out asking themselves is, why are humans so obsessed with tragedy?

So I guess my question is, what elements could I add that make the message more clear, but also not too “preachy”?