Shakespeare update

I've made my way through a few more of Shakespeare plays. I read Antony and Cleopatra and watched a filmed version. I didn't love it and the version of the play was helpful but not overly exciting. I didn't love the play. I've also read The Merchant of Venice, there are many issues to think about in the Merchant of Venice, I don't know that they are resolved to my liking in the play...or even at all but that does seem to be common in the works of Shakespeare.
I have learned more about some of the plays, maybe I'm the only one, but I hadn't realized that Richard II came before Henry IV and has an impact on it. I'm currently reading the first part of Henry VI but I'm excited to watch the Hollow Crown, including Richard II through Henry V and then go back to read Richard II.

If you are interested in Shakespeare and in learning more, I would highly recommend the series Shakespeare Uncovered, now back with a second season. It's great seeing scenes acted, hearing actor's musings on the plays and their parts and also learning about historical contexts.
This just in, you can watch the whole series online http://www.pbs.org/wnet/shakespeare-uncovered/video/

Shakespeare Update

Okay, so here's the update on my goal to read the complete works of Shakespeare (or at least the plays). I believe I've been making good progress. I've been reading dramas and histories, most of what I have read are comedies and so there's a lot more dramas and histories to read and I'm trying to do them in chunks with a comedy now and again for relief.
Getting back to the point, here are the plays I've read:
King Lear - depressing, I don't care for tragedies
Henry IV part I - I actually read this in my Shakespeare class but that was a while ago and I'd forgotten a lot. It was alright.
Henry IV part II - I'd never read this before and it was interesting but there again I didn't love it.
Henry V - I watched the Kenneth Branaugh movie version of Henry V as I mentioned previous post and I liked it alright and I'd say the play was similar, there were parts I really enjoyed and other parts not so much.
I'm currently about half way through Othello, another tragedy, more depressing plot.
It is always enjoyable when I stumble across something I hadn't realized was Shakespeare or just something I've heard quoted without the source. 14 and 1/2 plays down and 22 plays to go, stay tuned.

Shakespeare revisited

Okay, so this is the first post in some time. I have made multiple attempts to read the complete works (or at least plays) of Shakespeare and mostly I just end up reading the ones I like/have and then get busy or lose interest.
This time it wasn't a really structured thing, I read Much Ado About Nothing, my favorite play and one that I own. To be fair I own the complete works, it's a text book from the Shakespeare class I took in college. It's huge, I call it "the beast" and it's not all that conducive to sitting and reading, somewhat ironically.
Jumping back from that tangent, I then proceeded to read The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I've read all these plays before and it was nothing new (though I will say Taming of the Shrew troubled me a good deal, I don't know that it has in the past) but it got me thinking about my goal to read the complete works and giving it another go.
I believe the first serious step was making up a list of the plays, I marked the plays that I had read recently and the plays that I have read ever. Some of the plays I decided I have read recently enough that I'm going to count them anyway, others I'm going to read again. For example, I read Julius Caesar in high school but hadn't read it since, so I reread it. I've read Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet within a year or two and I'm not wild about either, so I'm just counting them as read.
I've found that it's easier to read a play when I've either seen it performed live or watched a movie of it and so I'm watching old favorites (Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado) and trying out new movies (the Tempest with Helen Mirren as Prospera and Branagh's Henry V, which is a completely new experience).
The final step that I hope will bring success, is that I'm getting copies of plays from the library when I don't already own them in a smaller format, that way it's easier to read them.
So in addition to what I've already listed, I've also read Hamlet. As You Like It is the next up, I've read it before and watched Branagh's version (highly recommend) but I'm looking forward to reading it again.
Hopefully in a few months I'll still be making progress and will update you on it. Until then, check out the bard's work! I've been amazed to realize how much of our phrases, word and language come from him and his work as I've been reading and rereading.

The Tempest

Look at this, not even the end of June and I've finished the Tempest. I'd love to see the Tempest staged professionally, there's a lot of opportunity for cool special effects. It was sort of fun to remember back to when I was in a high school production of the Tempest, I think it was my first play. It was pretty fun, even though I had a tiny part and was costumed in a unitard (fairy, I think one fairy party was divided out to several of us). It's an enjoyable play. I'm not really sure what play I'll read next, probably a tragedy but I haven't decided yet, I've still got time to figure that out.

Finished Romeo and Juliet, maybe I just look at it from the wrong light. Maybe it's the fact that I hate tragedies and the going in with a sense of impending doom, knowing each crucial juncture along the way and still seeing things go wrong. The way I see it, there's enough tragedy in the world without going to watch it or read it for kicks.

So I haven't been doing well on the Shakespeare Project. As I may have mentioned, May's play was Romeo and Juliet, I realized on June 1st that I was about half way through. I've still yet to finish it. I still don't know that I agree with my Shakespeare professor that it's an amazing romance (I wrote a paper arguing that what R and J did was somewhat stupid, (I think I still got a B or better even though my teacher disagreed with me)). Perhaps because I think about where I was when I was R and J's ages, perhaps teens were more mature then but to me their love is puppy love not worth suicide. To be sure it's an interesting story... I don't know. I'll see about reporting back again when I do finish the play, which should be this week. Next up a comedy, I'm thinking the Tempest.

Oh wait, you mean I have to actually read or watch the plays for this Shakespeare project to work?
I did actually start reading Romeo and Juliette...like three whole pages. I'll have to work on that.

Much Ado

Much Ado About Nothing was April's play. I didn't ever watch it but it's my favorite Shakespeare play and the Kenneth Branagh version is a beloved favorite. I've seen the movie so many times that I see scenes in my head as I read them and I can tell where the movie deviates from the script. I can't really imagine a better version though the Branagh version does skip or simplify some lines and scenes, I feel like the edits make the movie and play go smoother for the modern audience watching without informative foot notes.
I love Much Ado for mostly for the fun and the wit, I love Benedick and Beatrice's exchanges, I love Dogberry's confused way of talking (Michael Keaton play's him wonderfully). Mostly I love Benedick and Beatrice, for me they are Branagh and Emma Thompson, I was first introduced to this play in middle school and we read and then watched the movie. Thompson's Beatrice has been the sort of person I've wanted to be like ever since. In my college Shakespeare class, my professor claimed that Hero and Claudio are the main characters in Much Ado, I will never believe that. Claudio is a whiny boy, Hero we hardly know or care about, Much Ado is about Beatrice and Benedick for me.
Anyway, the point of all these disjointed ramblings are that I love this play and wholeheartedly recommend it. I believe the next play for me is Romeo and Juliette. If you look for a version to watch, I'd go with this one.

The Scottish Play

I just realized that I should have gone for Julius Caesar for March, what with the Ides of March coming up ("Beware the Ides of March").
So yesterday, when I started this post, started watching Macbeth with Sean Connery and I got most of the way through, but I just don't know that I can bring myself to finish it. I had hopes that watching it would help me enjoy Macbeth more, not so. There's a reason that you've probably never heard of this vision; it's black and white and poor quality (I think it may have been made for tv), half the time you can't really see the faces of the actors. A highlight is hearing Connery and his accent monologue, but that doesn't do enough for me to want to finish. There are many good parts and well known quotes from Macbeth though, maybe reading it will be the way to go. Part of my problem is that I just do not enjoy things that are doomed to tragedy and watching things go from bad to worse. I realize this could be a serious set back in working my way through the tragedies...
Anyway I'll try the Patrick Stewart version and see if I like that any better. If not I'll have to just suck it up and read the play.

Comdey of Errors

I finally finished the Comedy of Errors. I haven't gotten around to watching any versions of this and I don't think I will as the month is almost over. I did remember the production I was in and enjoyed replaying those scenes in my mind.
I remember hearing that Shakespeare was a punster and I don't know that I've really noticed it all that much before now. Comedy is full of puns, quite a few of which are groaners. I must also admit that I would have been oblivious of at least half of them with out the footnotes. Comedy is light, it's silly and somewhat ridiculous but there are some great scenes and verbal sparring. Not a bad place to enter Shakespeare, or begin to revisit Shakespeare.
I've been reading from my Shakespeare textbook: Riverside Shakespeare, I have the second edition. This work has all of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets and some other things besides; it also has tons of information and footnotes. It is however a beast, it's huge, thick and heavy.

The play I'm planning to read for next month is Macbeth, the Scottish play. I think I'll try to watch at least one version before I start reading. I haven't loved my encounters with Macbeth in the past, hopefully this one will be better. I have enjoyed a parody of Macbeth, Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. For versions to watch, I recently received a collection of movies which included this version with Sean Connery. There's also this more recent version with Patrick Stewart that I might also watch.
For those that are interested in reading along, this version of the play is available online.

An Adendum

Okay, so last time I posted I was all excited about the Shakespeare project and was going to be reading two plays a month. It seemed like a simple task. I'm still working on the Comedy of Errors and I've been enjoying it and I'll finish it before the month is out but I think two plays a month will not be happening. There's a lot going on, and there are a lot of things I'm putting above reading Shakespeare. Part of my problem may be that I use my textbook from my Shakespeare class, it has the complete works, detailed footnotes to help the modern reader and weighs about a ton.
At any rate I'm still getting some Shakespeare into my life and I'm glad for that. I'll hopefully have a proper write up on the Comedy soon.

Shakespeare Project

I haven't posted in ages, I've been focusing my attention on my art blog. At any rate I've recently decided to launch a new project in my life, one that I think would be good for blogging.
I've loved Shakespeare, possibly since my introduction in middle school, maybe later, but I love it. One of the best classes I took in college was a Shakespeare class. Recently I saw a pbs program on Shakespeare's plays and it made me remember how much I miss Shakespeare and could use more culture in my life. I've decided from that to read and reread Shakespeare's plays.
I've observed in the past, that I have an easier time reading a play if I've seen some rendition of it, so I will be watching at least one version of the plays I read, and then reading and writing about them. I'll be aiming to read two plays each month. I think I'll be reading The Comedy of Errors first. Feel free to read and comment along with me.