#i love ros and guil so much

[imabiscuitinthousandworlds]

"death is not-being, true death is the absence of being, of existing, it's not a state of being dead it's not anything" ros wanders off guil disappears. "dying isn't an action you take it's unbecoming" one second they're alive the next they're dead. one second they are (still there) the next they're not. no transitional periods no active dying first they are and then they're not. they aren't anymore. not-being. someone else states their death which is not visible because they're not. they're not anymore. they're dead. there's no applause or encore or drama in death. there isn't anything and neither are they

[agentravensong]

reread rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead this afternoon in prep for movie night (so i can pick up on what stuff got cut in the adaptation) and. man. man man man.

[saffaggot]

EXCSE ME??? THERE WAS GONNA BE A MUPPETS ADAPTION WHERE GONZO AND FOZZIE PLAYED ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ??? HELLLOOO ????? 

[lonz-ee]

rereading ragad for the third time this year. “guil: there must have been a moment at the beginning where we could have said— no. But somehow we missed it (he looks round and sees he is alone) Rosen—? Guil—? (he gathers himself). Well, we’ll know better next time. Now you see me, now you—“ IM NOT OKAY

I’m obsessed with tragedies that you know are tragedies from the beginning. I am obsessed with Horatio ending the play surrounded by the dead. I’m obsessed with Achilles and Patroclus not being able to grow old because they’ve been taken from the world too young. I’m obsessed with Romeo and Juliet lying dead, side by side. I’m obsessed with Orpheus turning around and Eurydice crumbling to dust over and over. 

I’m obsessed with stories that are so engrained in our society that we know how they are gong to end, and that they are going to end with everyone dead or destroyed. I’m obsessed with the fact that we read them anyway. I’m obsessed with the hope that it could turn out differently and the willingness to feel that despair again. 

[gilmores-glorious-blog]

okay okay okay so i just watched the pbs great performances hamlet and it was. SO GOOD. oh my god. here are my many, many thoughts:

- the singing starting the show is fucking amazing

- the opening funeral scene and then the transition to the wedding goes so hard

- ophelia’s song having lines from hamlet’s letters to her .. …

- this polonius casting is GOD TIER like yeah. that’s what he looks like. that’s correct.

- i don’t like that they cut the opening ghost scene :/

- omg this horatio <33 i love him sm

- horatio’s black nail polish is everything to me

- ophelia is so hot oh my god

- i love a production that plays up the sibling dynamic between ophelia and laertes

- on that note, ophelia and laertes making fun of polonious is always so fun

- the modern aspects with masks and stuff are so interesting

- the ghost possessing hamlet???? oh my god i’m obsessed why have i never seen that done before

- the actor rolling his eyes back so that you only see the whites of his eyes while he’s possessed is so fucking cool

- i love productions that have hamlet cut his hand on his sword idk why i just do

- also horatio not even hesitating to cut his own hand? i’m insane

- ah fuck,,,, hamlet and horatio grasping each others bloody hands… horatio clasping hamlet’s hand with both his hands,, i’m unwell 😭

- gertrude and claudius being super horny for each other always makes me so uncomfortable

- these ros and guil costumes are great

- big fan of productions that make claudius be super charismatic it’s always such an interesting choice

- god this polonious is so good, he’s so fucking funny

- i love hamlet’s rings <3

- hamlet taking a selfie with the stacie abrams poster is crazy

- hamlet’s personalized handshakes with ros and guil are so cute

- it’s interesting that it’s fully set in america and that all the lines referencing denmark were cut out/changed

- i’m trying to figure out what hamlet was reading but i can’t and it’s driving me crazy 😩

- hamlet smacking polonious on the ass was crazy

- god i love a production that leans into the comedic aspects of this play,, it may be shakespeare’s most famous tragedy but it’s also funny as fuck sometimes

- the incorporation of singing/rapping throughout the show is so good

- also polonious as the one white guy in the room being like. ‘erm actually i don’t like the rapping 🤓☝️’ ,,, stfu man

- i need to know who wrote the lyrics for these songs bc they’re so good and they incorporate the original text so well

- fucking hell man,, his to be or not to be was amazing

- the “where’s your father” moment was so good

- oh my god horatio’s costume change,, the pink suit,,, i love him :’)

- i wish productions didn’t cut down the passions slave speech as much as they tend to do :/

- god ophelia’s dress is GORGEOUS

- polonious being the only one wearing a mask was wild but also so real (as someone who has often been the only person masked in a room)

- god this claudius is really good i appreciate the depth he brings to the role

- hmm interesting place for an intermission idk how i feel about this

- polonious in comfy clothing,, rest in peace peepaw 😭🫡

- polonious’ body lying on the bed during the entire closet scene is so fucked

- sometimes i wish i didn’t know this play so well so i could watch adaptions without noticing every single line they leave out,,,

- jfc,, hamlet wiping the blood off his knife onto the bedsheets,,,

- gertrude not hugging claudius back 👀

- claudius punching hamlet >:(

- idk how i feel about the decision to make ros and guil know about hamlet being sent to his death

- let’s be honest i’m mostly here for solea pfeiffer’s portrayal of ophelia’s madness

- the running makeup and the messy hair. YES.

- i hate that i have a certain melody to ophelia’s songs in my head so when i hear other versions with different melodies i’m like. hmm. incorrect.

- holy fuck she’s so incredible… the ophelia ever oh my god

- YESSSS INCLUSION OF THE HORATIO LETTER SCENE FUCK YEAH (i hate when adaptations don’t include this scene)

- horatio is reading the letter like omg pirates my boyfriend is so cool

- it’s always so funny to me that claudius and laertes make a plan, a backup plan, and a backup backup plan for killing hamlet and it still backfires and kills them both (i mean it does also work to kill hamlet. but still.)

- the portrait of king hamlet watching the entire show goes so hard

- this gravedigger is so amazing i’m obsessed

- ugh 😭 the singers singing the same song at ophelia’s funeral as at the king’s 😩

- oh FUCK ophelia coming out at her funeral.. the watery lighting… i’m going insane

- horatio holding hamlet and comforting him :(

- laertes apparently being able to see the ghost of ophelia makes him as a narrative foil to hamlet all the more juicy

- the eat a crocodile line is always so random lmao

- aw fuck…. laertes singing really got me… :(

- oh my GOD this osric is so fucking funny

- lmao osric beefing with horatio

- horatio in the background of the fencing match cheering on hamlet <3

- claudius standing and rubbing gertrude’s shoulders knowing she’s about to die :( this isn’t fair i’m not allowed to be emo about them

- hamlet offering laertes the sword and then laertes stabbing him with it,,,

- gertrude’s realization of what happened right before she dies was so good

- claudius cutting his own hand on the sword was a powerful choice

- it’s always funny to me when productions completely cut out the fortinbras plotline

- horatio catching hamlet as he falls :(

- horatio singing to hamlet after he dies… i am so incredibly unwell 😭😭

- THE GHOST WAS VOICED BY SAMUEL L. JACKSON?!?? crazy.

overall, amazing production. i loved the musical elements. definitely my favorite ophelia and polonius i’ve seen, possibly my favorite laertes and claudius as well. the hamlet/horatio relationship wasn’t quite as prominent as i would’ve liked it to be, but it was still really great, and i enjoyed analyzing all the little moments they did have.

[raziraphale]

I've learned not to trust my memory, so I wanted to make a note for myself of some things I enjoyed from the Neptune production of RAGAD before it all leaks out my ears. It's mostly for me but thought I'd post it here in case it's interesting to anyone else.

Note for people that aren't me: this is the only production of RAGAD I've seen live. I've seen the movie and the 2017 NTL recording as of writing this, for reference. So, forgive me if I gush about elements/choices that are common to RAGAD productions and not unique to this one lol. Also I was an English major but not a theatre guy outside some Shakespeare, so also bear with me if I'm lacking some specific terms.

Performances:

I feel like this almost goes without saying but Boyd and Monaghan are excellent as Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. Their chemistry is great. There was an excellent rhythm to their dialogue together that was really fast-paced without feeling artificial (imo there is a certain point where performers talk so fast it can only feel fake. They were all believable enthusiam).

I particularly liked Monaghan's Rosencrantz! like there was just something so earnest about him. He had this character tic of chewing on his finger most of the time out of anxiety or inattention and that stuck out for me for some reason. It was endearing. Also the line "I wanted to make you happy" made the whole theatre let out a wounded animal noise.

Also Boyd's Guildenstern really did a good job of projecting an aura of "person trying really hard to appear in control but may also snap any moment". Control freak recognizing control freak o7

The Player (Michael Blake) was amazing. He had such huge stage presence that you really believed the character was a seasoned performer. I fully believe this man could successfully sell me snake oil with the power of his presence alone.

Personal note but I was jazzed to see Drew Douris-O'Hara as Alfred. I'm not a regular Neptune patron so I don't know how often he appears in their productions, but I have seen many a Shakespeare By The Sea show in my time so he's a very familiar face. Always a really fun presence.

I also feel like I have to mention Ophelia (Helen Belay) even though she obviously doesn't get much to do here. The actress really sold every small appearance though like my heart broke a little every time I saw her in anticipation for her off-stage fate. Less important but have you ever seen a woman so beautiful you started crying?

Costumes:

I really liked Ros and Guil's tattered suits. They looked like they were dragged behind a horse. These are the clothes of two guys that have been trapped in a play for like 50 years, truly.

They also had an inverted colour scheme (Ros had a blue suit with a green waistcoat, Guil had a green suit with blue waistcoat) that really emphasized the two-sides-of-the-same-coin/ yin & yang vibe. Also the colours weren't really shared by the rest of the cast much (they tended to be a bit more muted) so it made them stand out as separate from the rest of what was happening.

Also personal note but I was enchanted by Monaghan's slightly stupid-looking grown-out fauxhawk. He basically had a lesbian mullet haircut. That combined with his single dangly earring was a Look.

The Player's coat was gorgeous. It felt grand but also appropriately dated/worn. It wasn't fully a feather jacket, but it had a smattering of large feathers that got more dense as it went down. It kind of reminded me of a vulture, honestly, which I think is fitting, with him being an opportunist that loves some corpses.

Script:

Misc. Stage Stuff:

Unless I'm really mistaken, I think they cut/modified the few lines with some outdated racial terms (I have two specifically in mind, referring to Chinese and Inuit people). So unless I just somehow missed hearing those, that's nice.

Just a note to say that the line about who the English King is will depend on when they get to England got a huge laugh. Thank you to King Charles' cancer for making everything funnier

The lighting !!! It really did a lot to separate the scenes from Hamlet from the rest of it. The stage was dark for most of it, with cool lighting (like a blue darkness). For the Hamlet portions, though, the lights were suddenly bright and warm yellow. That combined with the differences in the performances gave a strong impression that the curtain had just suddenly risen on a more traditional production of Hamlet right in the middle of Ros and Guil just doing whatever.

I really liked how they used the two risers on wheels they had (not sure if that's the right word -- they were those three-tiered platforms I remember from doing choir in school. Kind of like bleachers). They looked like they belonged on an empty stage and also gave the actors something interesting to climb on. They were able to reposition them pretty easily with the wheels, which really worked for the portions on the boat tbh. They just pushed them together so that the lower tiers touched to create a half-pipe-shaped skeletal "boat". They could climb "above deck", or even go below while still being fully visible from whatever angle. The whole thing was spun around a lot during the pirate attack, which was fun.

The risers also separated the stage really well in the first two acts. For most of it, there was one on the left side facing the audience, for characters to sit on, and one on the right facing backwards and partially obscured by the curtain they had covering that side of the stage. The curtain was backlit, so you could see the silhouettes of anything behind it. At some points, you could actually see shadows of events in Hamlet happening in the background while Ros and Guil were doing their thing in the foreground. Unfortunately I didn't get the best look at them, bc I was sitting at far right of my row, so the far right of the stage was partially out of my sight line. Still a really cool effect!

They did turn the risers fully around to face the back during the players' performance of The Murder of Gonzago, with the curtain pulled across. You saw the shadow of the king standing up and storming out.

For the final scene, they did the expected thing, where Ros and Guil are alone in the dark, illuminated by a single narrow spotlight each. The spotlight goes out when each of them die and they disappear from view. The detail that made me insane though is that each time a spotlight went out, they played the sound of a flipped coin hitting the stage and the audience was so quiet it felt like a gunshot both times.

After all the deaths they had Rosencrantz and Guildenstern start from the opening scene again tossing coins for a bit before the final curtain. They did not escape the narrative 😔

Will add more if anything else comes to mind?

[lizardrosen]

How Is It that the Clouds Still Hang on You

Bridgertons performing Hamlet, part one! This wouldn't have been possible without @glintglimmergleam!

Pre-play, Anthony’s Hamlet is the eternal student, the idle rich somewhere between seventeen and thirty who still doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up. First sons really only have one job, and that’s to someday be their fathers; and Hamlet, like Anthony, is sure he’s getting it wrong no matter what he does. Anthony at least has the estate and his younger siblings to look after, but Hamlet only has the vague notion of someday being king, and looking through the script for hints of who Hamlet used to be, Anthony thinks for the first time that the prince must have been lonely even before his father died.

His only recourse was to take nothing seriously and sell himself as the clown of any group, and he usually managed to believe what he was selling and even enjoy himself. When Claudius popped in between the election and his hopes, those hopes curdled inside of him and he started putting up firmer, spikier walls, where before there was only wordplay and multi-layered classics references. (Anthony is actually hopeless at this kind of thing; he had to ask Benedict about “When Roscius was an actor in Rome” and “Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou!” but what was he going to do, not make Hamlet a classics nerd??)

Gregory memorizes the roles with the most lines first, of course, so he’s already gotten the bantering rhythm down for playing both halves of a comedy duo attempting to be spies. “My lord, you once did love me” is regret for the distance in age with his oldest brother, and the distance in social status for Rosencrantz and Hamlet. Osric, he unlocks when he decides this vain and silly courtier idolizes both Laertes and Hamlet in much the same way that Gregory looks up to his oldest brothers, so he and Benedict talk about it and come to the conclusion that Laertes might trust Osric enough to ask him to help kill Hamlet, but Osric would never go along with it, which means that in this production Laertes didn’t tell him what he was getting Hamlet into.

Now he has to bring the soldiers on the watchtower to life. He whirls as if to face an unexpected noise, and answers himself rapid-fire.

— Who’s there! — Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold thyself! — Long live the king! — Barnardo? — He.

It’s almost a knock-knock joke but the truth is that no one in this play really knows who’s there or if they can be trusted, and it’s an uncertainty hidden in plain sight right from the opening lines. For this dialogue to work, it has to be two people meeting in the dark and he can’t just play both roles like he does for Ros and Guil.

“Hey, Daphne, my favorite sister, how would you like the second speaking role in Hamlet?”

“Hold still, your collar’s askew, I need to fix it. Only the second role?” she asks. “Not the first?”

“Daaaph, cut it out, my shirt is fine! And Barnardo can pretty much be combined with Marcellus and not much will change because they’re both there to back up Horatio’s story, and he’s there to back up theirs. Francisco’s more like Gertrude, he never gets to see the ghost.”

“Not a mouse stirring,” she quotes. “But he’s wrong about that and so is the queen — there’s so much more stirring in her kingdom than she’ll allow herself to see. Yes, I think you’re right about giving me Francisco. You’ll make a good director for next year’s play.”

“Titus Andronicus?” he asks with a bloodthirsty grin.

“Well, we’ll talk about it.”

At first Francesca has trouble deciding how to distinguish Claudius from his dead brother — are they more alike or more different? No face paint for the ghost, she decides, and in fact they should have almost the exact same costume with perhaps a different colored sash, and it’ll depend on how she carries herself.

Claudius is personable and popular except when he’s alone and the thought of his own sin wraps around his neck, while King Hamlet has forgotten everything but the purgation of his sins, and the vengeance he must see visited on his killer before he may rest. The ghost is not all there, still half in the fires of hell, but he also has a supernatural gravity that snaps all the attention in a room to him. It’s a kind of authority Claudius wishes he could project, but as good at public speaking as he is, he always seems a little bit desperate and out of his depth, so he turns up the charm even more.

Francesca finds what they have in common, too, more than either would care to admit. “Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatched” says one; “my crown, mine own ambition, and my queen,” says the other. Both kings save Gertrude for last, which could either mean that she’s an afterthought or that she was the most important thing to lose or gain.

Francesca is a Bridgerton which means she’s a romantic, so she decides it’s the latter. They both just really love their wife, enough to kill a man, enough to tell Hamlet not to contrive against his mother aught, enough to come back from the dead for a few more moments in her bedchamber, enough to send Hamlet away to be executed in England instead of imprisoned in Denmark simply because Gertrude asked.

By the time Claudius gives his speech about marrying Gertrude, Hamlet has a permanent clench to his jaw whenever he’s in public or in the same room as Claudius — that shouldn’t be too hard, says Eloise, since that’s his default expression, and Benedict, who’s probably seen Anthony laugh more than anyone else, has to agree with her. But when he’s left alone, though forbidden to go to Wittenberg, he can at least relax enough to stop trying to hold back the things he shouldn’t say in front of the nobles. “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable, seem to me all the uses of the world!” is just full of bitter laughter, giving in to the cosmic joke that Nothing Matters. But his aspect changes completely when he sees Horatio, and he picks Hyacinth up to spin her around, even though she’s almost gotten too heavy for that.

Hamlet cannot believe that Horatio would lie to him about a ghost, or tell him anything until he’s sure of what he’s seen, but he still warns himself not to hope too hard, in case nothing comes of it, it’s something he wishes he had not seen. And despite the dull but persistent heartbeat of “nothing matters, nothing matters,” always singing at the back of his head, his father’s spirit does appear, and when Hamlet follows, he learns that there is a meaning — an awful, perfidious one, but still.

So what if he has to kill a man (so what if Anthony had to decide, eleven years ago whether they should try to save his mother or his sister), at least it’s a purpose, and when he wipes clean the tables of his memory he can fall backwards into his prior persona of taking nothing seriously, but now with the bitter armor of actually not caring what happens next.

[rosencrantzsguildenstern]

Hamlet......the eternal blorbo......character meme pls (also i7 trigger if you'd like)

OKAY. i was at school all day but here we go

(did gaku already here)

hamlet:

gah. hamlet. one of the most famous blorbos of all time. the thing about him is that he's not only tragic and well written, he's also, like, funny? relatable? the college-educated prince i think would have been someone much harder to connect to in shakespeare's time— definitely not impossible, and he's written as someone you can connect to, but still— but in this day and age the world is FULL of depressed college students, and hamlet's genuinely charming. i recoil at adaptations that frame him as a clear asshole (apart from immortal ros&guil performances that are clearly just having some fun with him) because while you can say 'oh, he killed those people, he mistreated ophelia, he caused the problems' and all that, you can and should sympathize with him, and a performance where you get to enjoy every moment of his being onstage is a good one; he makes a kind of sharp-tongued joke that an audience should be able to laugh at. i'm sad about him, too, but the tragedies that REALLY make me sad tend not to be hamlet-brand; what draws me to him is just like. his energy. and his tragic fall is done very well (of course it is, it's one of the most well-liked plays of all time)

tenn:

compared to hamlet tenn isn't as much of an all timer but on god. i'm obsessed with him. stream hidden region mv right now.

i always get hyped whenever a character is a collection of archetypes i've never seen before and on god. tenn. nice guy who acts like an asshole who acts nice. his layers. but that's such an oversimplification too... i want to dissect him. he's so stubbornly self sacrificial my boy LET PEOPLE HELP YOU. not me tho i wont help u i'll hit u with a baseball bat for being ableist to riku . but he's really good

ryuu:

RYUUUUUUU i tend to like the characters who are like... weird and complicated and really unique concepts and ryuu is not that like he DOES have complexity + every idolish7 character also has a cool twist that takes them beyond an archetype (i think every) . but i do love him he's just like. lovable. like how could u look at ryuu and NOT like him. i also really like when he gets mad like when he scares yaopapa or REALLY GOOD SCENE the times he like. very seriously and calmly, at a very mentally low state, gets antagonized by ryou and just. verbally eviscerates him. they make really good foils because he's everything ryou's not: he's down to earth, he deeply cares for people and isn't afraid to show it, and he understands himself. he's got moments of anxiety and self doubt, but he's managed to build himself up from that as trigger's grown closer. ik other fans like him when he's dumb/oblivious, i tend not to laugh as much at those moments (though some are iconic) bc i really like him as someone who like. knows what he's about. he's also kind of the touma of trigger; when i first met trigger, they were antagonistic and tenn and gaku were always bickering, so i saw them as villains, and ryuu was the member that endeared me to himself first (pretty much as soon as he stepped onscreen lol)

[oof-i-did-it-agaaiiin]

Last night I saw the ros & guil production I almost auditioned for. I didn’t post about it then cause I’ve been too caught up in dress rehearsals for the show I did opt for, and I’m glad I did, I’ve gotten so much joy from this show and the people involved. The r&g production was fun, a lot of cute moments with the ensemble and Rosencrantz was very lovable. But my enjoyment of the show paled in comparison to the enjoyment I got from simply being next to and hearing the laughter of the person I was there with, someone who I met through theatre at my college. I guess this week and every week I learn more and more that love is not as difficult to find as you think. It comes with time and patience, and simply baby steps of showing yourself and they will appear too. Today a friend who I once thought of as reserved was comfortable enough to be weird around me. People are easy to love.

[moonlarked]

My favourite thing about Polonius as a character is that he’s so incredibly long-winded to the point even the other characters get annoyed…except when he dies. Then, it’s literally:

“I am slain” [dies]

And I cackle every time and it’s one of my favourite scenes in Hamlet for that reason…

What are some of your favourite scenes?

The “I am slain!” gets me too lol, it’s too in character.

As for some scenes I like…

1. Well, while we’re talking about polonius, the scene when he runs into hamlet and hamlet calls him a fishmonger is really funny to me and it’s one of the scenes where hamlet just perfectly embodies the emo teenager who’s completely and absolutely done with the adults around him - those tedious old fools! - and polonius is very obviously trying to get information from him and hamlet’s just not having any of his shit. Polonius says that he’s going to take his leave and hamlet says he could not take anything he would desire more - except hamlet’s life, of course. Aside from the obviously serious note of hamlet’s depression under that it’s the edgy teenager vs oblivious adult that gets me.

2. I love hamlet’s confrontation with his mom, and not just because of the absurdity of “killed a guy, talked to air, called you a whore, what’s up?” The scene is one of the only times the two interact and it’s the only one where they interact one-on-one and it’s great because we really get to see hamlet’s feeling of pure betrayal from his mom and the pain and hurt he hides under his snark and edge. Like I’ve said before, I do sorta understand the situation gertrude was in - she’s still the figurehead of a country and has to appear strong - but she didn’t do anything to help her grieving clearly mentally ill son. And maybe it has to do with gender roles and how men were supposed to be “strong” but she abandoned him. And this scene is him screaming at her “why? why did you do this to me? I loved you! I love you! And you didn’t help me, not one bit! and now I’m stuck in this horrible situation and I can’t ask you for help because you abandoned me!”

3. The pipe scene! Ah, I love that joke and the lead up to it is just *chefs kiss* “and you thought you could play ME?? You can’t even play a pipe!!” Obviously there’s that similar feeling of abandonment where his two old friends are betraying him, which adds a nice layer of angst to that whole situation - I know he was already onto them from the moment they introduced themselves but here he’s just letting it all out, and it’s great.

4. Something that’s not talked about much is the scene where hamlet tells horatio that he killed ros and guil. And it’s interesting because there are a few ways to play horatio in this scene - he could be merely inquisitive, he could be loyal and nodding along, or he could be taken aback and shocked at what his friend has done. I personally think the third one is my favorite interpretation- and the one I’m using for my version of horatio! - because it lends a lot to his character, and it lends a lot more that he still follows hamlet afterwards. He is horrified at what hamlet has done, and yet he still begs him to not go into what is obviously a trap because of his devotion.

I could talk about some more, and maybe I will add on later, but if I do it now we’ll be here all day. Anyway, thanks for the ask!

[withasideofshakespeare]

Y’know what, I agree! I think watching Shakespeare is great! I’m an actor; I need people to watch Shakespeare if I mean to make any money!

Even as an English student, I often put on a recording of a play as I read along with it for my initial read-through. (Especially useful when you’re reading a lot of plays and will be tested on your memory of who says which lines!)

But ultimately, I get the most from plays when I read them. I think that watching them or reading alongside a production is a great way to experience them for the first time, especially if you don’t read a lot of early modern literature, but I don’t think you’re going to pull as much from them by watching them as you would if you really slowed down and read them.

For me, close, deep, critical reading takes time. I think you can train your brain via practice to pull more from quickly reading something than most people, but I don’t think that anyone—no matter how much they read—will ever get the maximum amount of death out of reading quickly.

Sit down, read slowly, and read the footnotes as well as the text! Maybe even annotate as you go! By doing so, you’re not just giving yourself more time to absorb the text but more time to think about what it means to you. This is how you start drawing connections between different pieces of media and tying it back to your lived experience. That’s how the fun stuff happens. That’s where you start becoming a writer and an artist in your own right.

It doesn’t have to be particularly serious:

What if Benedick *did* kill Claudio? Wait, Much Ado is a Shakespearean comedy. I’ve read Twelfth Night… I know that the comedies love cross dressing! What if *Beatrice* got to have her comedic heroine crossdressing moment as *she* kills Claudio?

Hotspur’s so full of energy… in a kind of autistic way. Like me! Oh my god, what would he do if he *were* me and had to work my restaurant job? Probably punch his boss!

The murderers in Richard III are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern-levels silly. …what if they ARE Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?! Mid-15th century Hamlet where Ros & Guil get off the ship from Denmark in England as intended, but not-quite-king-yet Richard intercepts them and has them kill his brother since they probably don't have any really intense personal feelings on the matter as foreigners?

Or it can be a little bit more serious:

Reading The Argonautica, I noticed that the scene where Medeia and Jason meet at the temple of Hecate is really similar to that scene in Marlowe’s Hero & Leander where Hero and Leander meet in the temple. I know that Marlowe took inspiration from Musaeus’ version of the same story, so I wonder if that detail would be the same if I read a direct translation of Musaeus’ Hero & Leander? Maybe this is an example of how different story telling traditions borrow from what came before them or maybe it’s coincidental! (Or maybe Marlowe is referencing the Argonautica??)

Macbeth has an almost invisible subplot about Edward the Confessor! Malcolm mentions it just once in that scene with Macduff and it gets overshadowed by the rest of the scene but it’s interesting to me! I wonder why Malcolm mentions it? Is it kind of his goal to be a divine healer king like Edward but for a whole nation rather than individual subjects?

And maybe you write fanfiction about it! Or a research paper (if you’re that kind of nerd /j)! Maybe you just sit with it because it’s fun to think about these things! These are thoughts you’re probably not going to have time for if you just watch a play once rather than really getting into the nitty-gritty details.

The one thing I’ll (maybe) disagree with OP on is that I don’t think everyone has to read these plays. I think everyone should experience reading one at least once (I don’t know that I would’ve discovered how much I love them if I hadn’t!) but if you prefer to watch them, you do you! I’d even say that there’s a lot you can get from seeing them on stage that might not occur to you while reading—blocking details, tone of voice, maybe even sarcasm you would’ve missed if you were just reading. But I agree strongly that there’s real value to be had from reading dramatic literature rather than just watching it. Those lines *are* there for a reason and there might be things that you pull from them that nobody has ever pulled from them before.

I’ll leave you with this: the process of close reading shouldn’t be boring, whether you’re reading Shakespeare or something else entirely. Let yourself have fun with literature, be it a book, a play, or even an academic journal article. There’s almost always something to be gained from really involving yourself with a piece and pulling everything you can from it!

every time someone says that Shakespeare is better seen than read just know I am shaking and shuddering and forcing myself not to argue because GOD. God. Because yes, I mean, Shakespeare didn’t even write down his plays in their entirety; they weren’t written for publication; they were quite literally written to be performed. AND. And Every story has meaning. Every word in a story has meaning. That’s just true, and it’s inevitable that one is going to miss some of that meaning if one is watching it onstage. Acting is not meant for analysis unless one is pretentious or a theatre critic. Acting is not designed for analysis. One doesn’t even have footnotes if it’s onstage! and I personally suffer when I don’t have footnotes for Shakespeare. Footnotes are my best friend and I love them. but that would still be fine if all the Shakespeare we see onstage was good Shakespeare but oh my god there is so much bad Shakespeare in the world. Holy goddamn fuck there is a lot of Shakespeare where the actors clearly have no idea what they’re saying or sexual assault is implicitly condoned or everyone’s just reciting lines or the entire concept of the show is apologizing for doing Shakespeare or Juliet is stuck in a register three octaves above sounding like a normal person and oh my god. Oh My God. YES, reading Shakespeare is hard. YES, it’s going to be boring at some points. Everything is boring at some points. But it’s not a magic cure-all to watch it onstage. Onstage Shakespeare has a whole other set of problems. One medium does not have a monopoly on Shakespeare. One medium is not inherently better. There are different things that you will get out of what medium you experience it through. I can’t think of a good conclusion and I’m losing my gol-dern mind so I’m just going to leave it here. Read some Shakespeare. Good night.

[fauna-a]

Things I’ve read in 2021: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard

CLAUDIUS: Thanks, Rosencrantz (turning to ROS who is caught unprepared, while GUIL bows) and gentle Guildenstern (turning to GUIL who is bent double). 

GERTRUDE (correcting): Thanks, Guildenstern (turning to ROS, who bows as GUIL checks upward movement to bow too - both bent double, squinting at each other)... and gentle Rosencrantz. (Turning to GUIL, both straightening up - GUIL checks again and bows again.)

[...]

ROS: I want to go home. 

 GUIL: Don't let them confuse you. 

 ROS: I'm out of my step here - 

 GUIL: We'll soon be home and high - dry and home - I'll - 

 ROS: It's all over my depth - 

 GUIL: I'll hie you home and - 

 ROS: - out of my head - 

 GUIL: - dry you high and -

 ROS (cracking, high): - over my step over my head body! - I tell you it's all stopping to a death, it's boding to a depth, stepping to a head, it's all heading to a dead stop – 

GUIL (the nursemaid): There!... and we'll soon be home and dry... and high and dry... (Rapidly.) Has it ever happened to you that all of a sudden and for no reason at all you haven't the faintest idea how to spell the word - "wife" - or "house" - because when you write it down you just can't remember ever having seen those letters in that order before...? 

 ROS: I remember... 

 GUIL: Yes? 

 ROS: I remember there were no questions. 

 GUIL: There were always questions. To exchange one set for another is no great matter. 

 ROS: Answers, yes. There were answers to everything. 

 GUIL: You've forgotten. 

ROS (flaring): I haven't forgotten - how I used to remember my own name - and yours, oh yes! There were answers everywhere you looked. There was no question about it - people knew who I was and if they didn't they asked and I told them. 

GUIL: You did, the trouble is each of them is... plausible, without being instinctive. All your life you live so close to truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye, and when something nudges it into outline it is like being ambushed by a grotesque. A man standing in his saddle in the half-lit half-alive dawn banged on the shutters and called two names. He was just a hat and the cloak levitating in the grey plume of his own breath, but when he called we came. That much is certain - we came. 

[kvothes]

for the director’s commentary ask: can u talk about casting the les amis in your hamlet fic? I love that story so much and I’d love to hear how you decided who’d play what! (and any other thoughts on that gorgeous fic!)

oh EXCELLENT question thank you yes i did put a lot of thought into this

BE is an unusual fic in that enjolras is somewhat of an outsider to the hamlet gang, because i didn’t want to cast him as any of the characters. none of them worked for me. he’s not a hamlet, he’s too much of fire and action, and he could never be a horatio - a character much more suited to the pollux side of the coin.

grantaire, however, i loved as hamlet. the melancholy is there, which wouldn’t have suited any other character save perhaps éponine (who becomes director). so R is hamlet, E is on the outside but still Involved.

from there it felt natural to put cosette as ophelia, joly and bossuet as ros and guil. i made feuilly into horatio based on pure vibes and favoritism. the one bit of casting i was never fully happy with was montparnasse as laertes—it’s just not quite right—but i wanted him to be an antagonist and he’s too young for claudius.

some people aren’t in the show—notably courfeyrac, off in his own production—simply because i didn’t want it to feel like i was massively shoehorning characters in. like that one kpop tweet. you know?

and because it felt more realistic to have adult friend groups that ranged across places and productions, even if they often get irrevocably tangled. it’s still maybe a bit convenient. but i like my choices

[lizardrosen]

Hamlet Liveblog 2011, ACT TWO

I found a notebook from college when I went through the text of Hamlet line by line, and now I'm sharing the best parts! Act One

Act II, Scene 1

People who deserve backstory: - Reynaldo - Polonius current Will: I have always been exactly this way, omg

2.1.64 "by indirections find directions out" - theme of the whole freaking play! Polonius is maybe not as much of a fool as he seems. Similar to Hamlet pretending to be mad

2.1.88-89 "he fell to such perusal of my face / As a would draw it" - he wants to remember her as she is before he loses it - and he knows he will

Why stage it like this? Perhaps it is more effective to see his madness through the eyes of someone else

2.1.100 "This is the very ecstasy of love, whose violent property fordoes itself" - now he believes that Hamlet loves Ophelia and that it's killing him to be repelled like this (Perhaps it is)

Act II, Scene 2

2.2.6-7 "Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man / resembles that it was." - what people see and what Hamlet contemplates

2.2.28-29 "Put your dread pleasures more into command / than to entreaty" - Rosencrantz doesn't understand why the majesties are not following the status quo - are they on friendly terms? He doesn't know

2.2.70 "Never more to give the assay of arms against your majesty" Does this mean Claudius has no more foreign relations to deal with? Now Shakespeare can move onto what he really cares about: the domestic/internal stage. current Will: This was partially correct! I was drawing a connection to Othello and Macbeth, where the foreign armies are defeated offstage very early on and never really come up again, and it's true that Fortinbras becomes less of the focus for a while, but he's still a threat on the edges of the play.

2.2.93-94 "Mad call I it, for to define true madness, What is't but to be nothing else but mad?" - You'll drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what madness is, or you'll avoid the question and never know if you're insane or not. In short, this place is a madhouse.

2.2.139 "He is a prince, out of thy star" - again with the celestial spheres and orbits!

2.2.160 "I'll loose my daughter to him" - she's a tool or plot device

2.2.174 "for if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog" - what does this have to do with honesty? When there's no integrity, lies grow easily; or a cute girl in the public gaze gets pregnant and diseased

2.2.201-203 Polonius: Will you walk out of the air, my lord? Hamlet: Into my grave? Polonius: Indeed, that's out of the air. Hamlet is considering his own mortality, but Polonius turns his comment into a joke

2.2.209-210 "You cannot take from me anything that I will more willingly part withal; except my life, except my life, except my life" Hamlet is tired of Polonius and his mindless words, and he's also still thinking of death, so he wants to die and finds it fitting that Polonius would be the one to kill him

2.2.215 Guil: My honored lord (formal) Ros: My most dear lord (impulsive and trusting)

2.2.234-5 "Denmark's a prison" - Hamlet's bound by fillial duty to seek reveng, and he needs to watch as his uncle slips into his father's throne and sheets "Then is the world one" - Rosencrantz is trapped by trying to figure out where he is and why, so he has no free will, no reference point, besides Guil, who's just as confused but more upset

2.2.242-43 "I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams" Okay, there's a lot of stuff here - hints of claustrophobia; wants to be king somewhere; is it the infinity of space that gives him the dreams, or would he already have them? universes within universes, relative sizes, and the suffocating distance between electrons nutshells associated with fairies and Queen Mab, which is appropriate since she blows men's dreams way out of proportion

(and then I tried very earnestly to analyze the whole "a dream itself is but a shadow" dialogue, but mostly through the lens of coming up with headcanons for Ros and Guil, which is not a very good critical lens actually, and twelve years later it makes approximately zero sense, so I'll spare us all)

2.2.256 "In the beaten way of friendship" - it's like a beaten path, so longstanding, but also maybe just there out of habit and no real affection; or beaten like broken down and in disrepair because he doesn't trust them and has bigger things on his mind

2.2.262-63 "Come, deal justly with me" - genuinely hurt that they don't tell him the truth, also perhaps an order to obey "come, come, nay, speak" - in some versions he actually says 'knave', which belies his claims of friendship earlier "What should we say, my lord?" - Guil is hurt by this; maybe Ros was gesturing and trying to communicate something, or he was trying to figure something out. Anyway, Guil was jolted into the present and remembered about delving

2.2.271 - "by the obligation of our ever preserved love" - Hamlet uses their prior relationship (may be present still) to pressure them into telling him everything. He might not really value them anymore and is jealous of the love they bear each other, (and wonders why he can't have the same with Horatio)

Question: Would R&GaD have gone any differently if they knew about the ghost?

2.2.282-290 He knows that man and earth and sky are beautiful "majestical" creatures, but can't feel it and sees it all as "this quintessence of dust"; "What a piece of work is man!" Is he admiring mankind (in theory) or is he judging R + G for being sneaky? Or mocking them because they have no "apprehension" at all? (well, fear, but no understanding)

2.2.439 "like a neutral to his will and matter did nothing" - unable to think or act, like Hamlet hesitates to just kill Claudius

oh, interesting, I thought that the Hecuba speech was foreshadowing for Ophelia losing her mind after Polonius is killed, and not Hamlet being preoccupied with Gertrude's reaction to her husband's death! I think this has to be because I was unfamiliar with the Pyrrhus and Priam story

The Player can stir up passion in himself for a fictional character, but Hamlet can't do anything with his real motive. All people are characters for him, so he can sympathize with any of them.

2.2.550-51 "If a do blench, I know my course" - somewhat overreactionary (sic), but better than not doing anything; of course Hamlet can make himself see anything (see Othello's "ocular proof")

[mcytimagedescribed]

[ID copied for access: Images 1 and 2: Screenshots of the Truman Show. The Closed Captions read "Let me get you some help, Truman. You're not well."

Image 3: ARCHIVIST: Hm. You want a show so badly?  Fine.

Image 4: a twitter poll by @TubboLive. text of the tweet is "What do we do..." Options are "Exile Tommy", with 55.8% of the vote, and "Don't Exile Tommy", with 44.2% of the vote.

Image 5: The truth is, my biggest problem's you/I want to please you/But I want to stay true to myself/I want to give you the night out that you deserve/But I want to say what I think/And not care what you think about it/Part of me loves you/Part of me hates you/Part of me needs you/Part of me fears you/And I don't think that I can handle this right now"

Image 6: WILBUR: You're saying "do it", chat, but you're-- this isn't-- you aren't affected, you just want to see explosions, you guys aren't affected, I understand, I understand, I-- I've been hasty.

Image 7: TIM: All right. I don’t know what you are, I don’t even know if you’re listening. I don’t care. Just, if you’re there, I want you to know that I hate you. I hate you for, for witnessing what’s happened to us.

Image 8: “Male fantasies, male fantasies, is everything run by male fantasies? Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it's all a male fantasy: that you're strong enough to take what they dish out, or else too weak to do anything about it. Even pretending you aren't catering to male fantasies is a male fantasy: pretending you're unseen, pretending you have a life of your own, that you can wash your feet and comb your hair unconscious of the ever-present watcher peering through the keyhole, peering through the keyhole in your own head, if nowhere else. You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur.” ― Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride

Image 9: a tumblr post by @elytrians. text: *coughs up blood* how do i look? do i look good? was that hot?

Image 10: She had once counted how many times she could spot a camera watching her during her morning run: thirty-one in ten minutes. At least, it had been back then. Last time she had tried it there were hundreds. They tracked her movements, and made so much noise she could not have ignored them if she tried. It was halfway between the mechanical whir of a focusing lens and the low rattle of mean-spirited laughter. Carmen didn’t go running anymore.

Image 11: The last scene of the Truman Show, edited to add a twitch chat full of PogChamp emotes.

Image 12: a comic of two squares talking. RED: I realized something. BLUE: Yeah? RED: This comic could just end. Without warning. The Creator could just get bored. BLUE: No closure, no catharsis, nothing. RED: Our recent few strips would make for unsatisfying ends. Maybe we should give every comic a satisfying conclusion. BLUE: But that’s life. Life doesn’t always have a satisfying ending. RED: This isn’t life, this is a comic. We can control it. We can make sure there’s a happy ending. BLUE: We can’t control jack shit. The comic’s ending is up to the Creator.

Image 13: a comic of Technoblade. He is sitting amongst scattered papers with his hands on his face. The scattered papers have the titles of various Technoblade DSMP Youtube videos written on them. Text on the image reads: “It can hurt, knowing you’re just a character with predetermined lines instead of a person with feelings. The voices are the audience and they’re constantly critiquing your performance.”

Image 14: ROS: I wish I was dead. (Considers the drop.) I could jump over the side. That would put a spoke in their wheel. GUIL: Unless they're counting on it. ROS: I shall remain on board. That'll put a spoke in their wheel. (The futility of it, fury.) All right! We don't question, we don't doubt. We perform.

Images 15, 16: Bo Burnham stands outside a house on a stage; there is a spotlight on him. the caption is [disembodied applause] He tries to reenter the house. the caption is [disembodied laughter].

Image 17: WILBUR: It’s better to play along. Give them what they want. Put on a show. Who cares who it hurts, as long as it’s fucking—influential? God, I hate it so much sometimes, I want to scream. And then I think, would they like that? Would that be entertaining enough for them? Still have to give them their performance. Even when I was dead I was still—I rehearsed my resurrection. TECHNO: Dude, you need therapy.

End ID.]

if you can live your life without an audience, you should do it.

The Truman Show // MAG188 - Centre of Attention // Twitter: TubboLive // Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant) - Bo Burnham // Wilbur Soot VOD (Oct 17th 2020) - [DreamSMP] Speedy Stream Festival What festival // MAG117 - Testament // Margaret Atwood - The Robber Bride // @elytrians // MAG188 - Centre of Attention // The Truman Show (edit by @parakeet) // Untitled #15 by @that-house // something about a truman show complex, greek heroes, and the illusion of free will. by @yuker // Tom Stoppard - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead // Bo Burnham - Inside // you're fairly certain there's a curtain somewhere by @irrealisms

[IDs under cut]

Images 1 and 2: Screenshots of the Truman Show. The Closed Captions read "Let me get you some help, Truman. You're not well."

Image 3: ARCHIVIST: Hm. You want a show so badly?  Fine.

Image 4: a twitter poll by @TubboLive. text of the tweet is "What do we do..." Options are "Exile Tommy", with 55.8% of the vote, and "Don't Exile Tommy", with 44.2% of the vote.

Image 5: The truth is, my biggest problem's you/I want to please you/But I want to stay true to myself/I want to give you the night out that you deserve/But I want to say what I think/And not care what you think about it/Part of me loves you/Part of me hates you/Part of me needs you/Part of me fears you/And I don't think that I can handle this right now"

Image 6: WILBUR: You're saying "do it", chat, but you're-- this isn't-- you aren't affected, you just want to see explosions, you guys aren't affected, I understand, I understand, I-- I've been hasty.

Image 7: TIM: All right. I don’t know what you are, I don’t even know if you’re listening. I don’t care. Just, if you’re there, I want you to know that I hate you. I hate you for, for witnessing what’s happened to us.

Image 8: “Male fantasies, male fantasies, is everything run by male fantasies? Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it's all a male fantasy: that you're strong enough to take what they dish out, or else too weak to do anything about it. Even pretending you aren't catering to male fantasies is a male fantasy: pretending you're unseen, pretending you have a life of your own, that you can wash your feet and comb your hair unconscious of the ever-present watcher peering through the keyhole, peering through the keyhole in your own head, if nowhere else. You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur.” ― Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride

Image 9: a tumblr post by @elytrians. text: *coughs up blood* how do i look? do i look good? was that hot?

Image 10: She had once counted how many times she could spot a camera watching her during her morning run: thirty-one in ten minutes. At least, it had been back then. Last time she had tried it there were hundreds. They tracked her movements, and made so much noise she could not have ignored them if she tried. It was halfway between the mechanical whir of a focusing lens and the low rattle of mean-spirited laughter. Carmen didn’t go running anymore.

Image 11: The last scene of the Truman Show, edited to add a twitch chat full of PogChamp emotes.

Image 12: a comic of two squares talking. RED: I realized something. BLUE: Yeah? RED: This comic could just end. Without warning. The Creator could just get bored. BLUE: No closure, no catharsis, nothing. RED: Our recent few strips would make for unsatisfying ends. Maybe we should give every comic a satisfying conclusion. BLUE: But that’s life. Life doesn’t always have a satisfying ending. RED: This isn’t life, this is a comic. We can control it. We can make sure there’s a happy ending. BLUE: We can’t control jack shit. The comic’s ending is up to the Creator.

Image 13: a comic of Technoblade. He is sitting amongst scattered papers with his hands on his face. The scattered papers have the titles of various Technoblade DSMP Youtube videos written on them. Text on the image reads: “It can hurt, knowing you’re just a character with predetermined lines instead of a person with feelings. The voices are the audience and they’re constantly critiquing your performance.”

Image 14: ROS: I wish I was dead. (Considers the drop.) I could jump over the side. That would put a spoke in their wheel. GUIL: Unless they're counting on it. ROS: I shall remain on board. That'll put a spoke in their wheel. (The futility of it, fury.) All right! We don't question, we don't doubt. We perform.

Images 15, 16: Bo Burnham stands outside a house on a stage; there is a spotlight on him. the caption is [disembodied applause] He tries to reenter the house. the caption is [disembodied laughter].

Image 17: WILBUR: It’s better to play along. Give them what they want. Put on a show. Who cares who it hurts, as long as it’s fucking—influential? God, I hate it so much sometimes, I want to scream. And then I think, would they like that? Would that be entertaining enough for them? Still have to give them their performance. Even when I was dead I was still—I rehearsed my resurrection.  TECHNO: Dude, you need therapy.

[brechtian]

Watching you react to rosencratz and guildenstern are dead is so fun that's literally one of my favorite plays of all time your thoughts on it are soo good

THANK YOU!! yes I loved it my copy is highlighted and marked to hell. I feel like ever since I read waiting for godot & fell in love with it there has just been a clock of inevitability ticking down until i read (and luckily watched!) ros & guil. I love the ending as well and the question of autonomy.. not only whether there actually Was anything they could do to prevent their fate but how much choice over their deaths they had. because it's not Really execution by the king; their parts are done after Hamlet gets captured, the only thing that matters is that they are no longer important to the story, they have been removed from it. So during that final dialogue it's like could they in theory sit in this dark liminal space forever? After being forced forward by fate and desperately trying to form some amount of identity and purpose in the margins, at the very end is the one action of real autonomy they are allowed when they die?

Not to mention the whole subversion of "theatrical" deaths. To instead die in a way that is much more honest to the feeling the experience of death that guil talks about throughout the play. love love love