#i like my rsc complete works and what ive read of the individual plays a lot but there's just one thing about the complete works
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I think everyone wants to own a complete works of Shakespeare and I want to get everyone a complete works of Shakespeare that is right for them
#as long as it's not one of those dime a dozen copies w squished text and no notes 🖤#b&n book annex don't interact. canterbury classics don't interact#i have a friend that i went antiquing w recently who got a decameron illustrated by rockwell kent#and their birthday is coming up and my toxic trait is that i wanna get them the complete works illustrated by rockwell kent#even though im not sure that's the most readable copy for a 21st century reader to begin with#i havent actually read a play in one of those admittedly. i know they have the cambridge notes in the back of the book#but that's a lot more work than having it at the bottom or side of the page#idk if they'd be down for that much flipping tbh. i know flipping isn't my favorite#especially in a big book#and idk if the cambridge notes would even be that approachable for them? idk the annotation style#tales from diana#ive been trying to get a taste for more editions of shakespeare lately and mostly that's just been within copies of individual plays#and i feel like this is a journey i kinda started too late#like i read titus andronicus in a folger edition which probably wouldve been gamechanging to me in 2018#but as a reader w years more experience it was just kinda giving me more than i needed. i found it excessive#versus when i was a beginner i often felt lost even w the notes in my riverside shakespeare#i felt like it was still above my reading level (and it was) especially when it would reference things i was barely familiar with#whereas in 2024 it's like my riverside is my baby. and but for its large unwieldiness and perilous condition. i could read from it forever#i read not a shakespeare play in an arden edition recently but philaster by beaumont and fletcher. same editing team though#i thought the notes were sometimes a little excessive but they certainly weren't kinda basic like folger's#i thought at times maybe they could split it up w some of those historic or cultural commentary sort of notes#like those were what i would rather flip to the back to read later. as opposed to taking up like half the page#oxford english classics kinda does that too but w their longer annotations i think flipping to the back makes sense#bc arden somewhat is flooding the white space abd straining my eyes. even though other than format it's very similar editing#i like my rsc complete works and what ive read of the individual plays a lot but there's just one thing about the complete works#that i have a qualm with. i respect that they have a single column for the text#as opposed to two-column... i understand for some it scans better and helps w comprehension#i wish the notes on the bottom were in two columns though. bc the way they run on w such a wide margin#i genuinely lose my place a lot. in the small text. kinda hate that part of the reading experience#and when there's lines of prose it can also be harder to scan
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45 Shakespeare Questions: 1, 2, 4, 12. 41
1. which plays have you read?
As of a few weeks ago, all of them! (Eyeing the sonnets and long poems next....)
2. which shows have you seen/watched performed or filmed?
OH MAN this is a complicated question. If we count our weekly zoom productions, then all of them!
Though I admit that’s a bit different from seeing a full production so, not counting that.... (most of these are the filmed/streaming versions. I can’t wait for live theatre to come back!):
-All’s Well (a Very Mediocre production on youtube. If you have recommendations, please let me know because I want to see a good one!) -As You Like It (student production) -Love’s Labour’s Lost (RSC) -Merchant of Venice (RSC) -Merry Wives of Windsor (Globe) -Midsummer (a few student productions over the years) -Much Ado About Nothing (student productions and also the Tennant & Tate version) -Pericles (well.. I was *IN* Pericles in high school. I don’t know if that counts technically. But i’m counting it!) -The Tempest (another one I was in! But I’ve seen lots of filmed versions too, notably the @synetic-theater‘s wordless production which was SUPER cool!) -Twelfth Night (student productions) -Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 (RSC) -Henry V (RSC & Branagh) -King John (Stratford Festival) -Richard II (Tennant’s RSC production) -Richard III (BBC version with Ron Cook which I do not recommend--it is SO LONG) -Antony and Cleopatra (RSC--I LOVED THIS production so much) -Coriolanus (National Theatre Hiddleston production) -Cymbeline (RSC: weird production, but their Pisanio is goals) -Julius Caesar (Donmar Warehouse. I’m in LOVE with their Caesar.) -King Lear (So many. My favorite so far is Ian Mckellen’s National Theatre production) -Macbeth (another one I was in! But also lots of productions over the years--most recently the RSC production with Eccleston which I hated lol) -Othello (RSC) -Romeo and Juliet (Globe) -Titus Andronicus (Globe)
I’m having a crisis over this question because it’s making me realize that.....I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full production of Hamlet?!?! HOW CAN THIS BE TRUE? But I really cannot think of a single actual production I’ve seen.... I might have watched the Branagh version in college, but I don’t feel confident enough about that to list it.
4. favorite comedy?
If we’re counting the romances, then The Tempest! If not, Twelfth Night.
12. character you can’t bring yourself to care about
The People Of Tumblr are going to kill me for this but.................Horatio. LIKE. HE’S FINE. I DON’T DISLIKE HIM. I just feel overwhelmingly neutral.
41. what kind of editions/versions do you like to read?
I have a Norton Complete Works, which I like! It has some great notes and introductions. (It’s also over 12 years old and has survived some heavy use and many, many moves!) That being said, it’s HEAVY and not particularly comfortable to carry around. @whereforebase and some friends gifted me several of the Pelican editions, which are lovely and and portable and super aesthetic. I also have my eye on the Arden and the RSC complete works..... though maybe for the sake of my back, I should focus on collecting individual editions.
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