Day 111: Oh I almost forgot!

I came across this the other day and I meant to post it with my Julius Caesar post. It's a film called "I, Cinna (The Poet)" by Tim Crouch, part of his series of solo shows based on Shakespeare's less characters. I particularly loved it because Cinna the poet is part of Mike's favourite scene in Julius Caesar, when the mob is attacking Cinna for being a conspirator against Caesar. "Get him for being a traitor!" they cry. "But I'm not that Cinna! I'm Cinna the poet!" he protests. "Get him for his bad verses!" they immediately answer. Poor poet can't win.

Day 110: And finally...What I Learned: Julius Caesar (Part 2 of 2)

I finally finished Julius Caesar...again. Technically, I suppose I could have skipped it altogether, considering I definitely read it in high school so I don't need to read it again in order to check it off my list. But I didn't like the idea of skipping over plays just because I had read them before. It seemed not to fit the spirit of the project.

So what did I learn the second time around? Probably less than I did the first time, back when I had weeks of class discussions, handouts, additional reading and a teacher explaining everything to me line by line. But I did learn that Julius Caesar has a LOT of great dialogue and that it is impossible to go through life without having heard at least some of it (Et tu, Brute? Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears...Beware the Ides of March...).

I also learned that if Caesar had just listened to his wife none of this would have happened. She TOLD him it was a bad idea for him to go out that day. But did he listen? NOOoooo. And look where it got him.

Day 83: Maybe I should have watched Rome...

Mike was always trying to get me to watch that show Rome. I tried but I could never get into it. Now Mike is breezing through Shakespeare's Roman plays and is bragging how easy it is to keep track of the characters because he just pictures the actors who played them on the HBO show. Grrr.

I am struggling through Antony and Cleopatra and I'm a little worried that I will soon be TWO plays behind instead of one. I think I've hit a wall.

Day 82: I think Love's Labour's Lost broke my spirit

Sigh. I don't know what happened. I was doing so well. A play a week? No problem! Then along came Love's Labour's Lost and it hasn't been the same since. The week after I finished that play (barely) I was supposed to read Julius Caesar. I ended up not reading that at all. Of course, it was a weird week. I had a death in the family and had to travel for a funeral. It sucked. So I guess I could be forgiven for not reading that play. I'll catch up later. But this week I'm supposed to be reading Antony and Cleopatra and I'm WAY behind in that one too. I just can't seem to summon the energy and focus. Is it the subject matter? Am I burned out? Is it because I'm dozens of reviews behind schedule on my other book blogs? Maybe. Or maybe it's because Love's Labour's Lost left a sour taste in my mouth...or whatever the equivalent to "sour taste" is ON MY SOUL. Damn you, Berowne!!

Berowne costume design from UVic Theatre Dept 

Day 77: Julius Caesar: What I Learned (Part 1 of 2)

This has been one heck of a week. What started out as an easy week re-reading a play I remembered from high school turned into a week of frantic travel plans and packing of funeral clothes. Shakespeare took a back burner. But as I spent time with my family and decided not to worry about anything else, I also remembered that I DID learn something about Shakespeare this week after all. 

I learned that scheduling nine months' worth of reading into a twelve month period was an excellent idea. I built "catch up" right into my schedule. So I'm forgetting about Julius Caesar for now. I've already read it anyway, so it's not even cheating. I'm not going to struggle to finish it and then put the rest of my reading plans behind schedule. I'll just tack it on at the end, or else read it when I have a few days in between plays (some plays only take a day or two to read, then I don't need to start the new one until the following Tuesday). It'll get done. Whatever. When I read it, I'll post a new "What I Learned" thingy.

In the meantime, here's a picture of a lady who would have made Shakespeare weak in the knees. She was a matriarch, a lady who lived through two world wars, tonnes of family dramas, a scandal or two, more losses than are fair, more fairness than most ever show, and did it all with a twinkle in her eye and a bite in her speech. She was a helluva lady, all 103 years she was here.

Day 74: Beware the Ides of March, Fool!

via

Word.

Not for nothing, but I once dated a guy whose birthday was March 15th and I'm pretty sure he was constantly planning to assassinate the Roman emperor. You know, as a birthday present to himself. You can never be too careful with those Ides.

Day 72: A Julius Caesar word cloud

Does anyone else think this looks like a zeppelin, riding atop a giant Brutus? Also, "Brutus" must have been said twice as many times as "Caesar." Interesting. Another awesome Shakespeare Wordle!

Day 71: New Play Tuesday! Julius Ceasar!

Finally I can get back on track with my original plan of reading all of the plays during the time of year in which they are set. The problem is that so few of the plays actually sticks to a specific month or even season (not to mention the ones that take place over many months or even years). 

via

But everyone knows "Beware the Ides of March" which means March 15th! So at least some of this play (the most important part) takes place on March 15th, which is this week. Hooray! 

Plus, as an added bonus, I've already read this play (AND I mostly remember it) so it's almost a freebie week for me. Score!

Day 41: More Lego Shakespeare!

Othello

Here are some more Lego Shakespeare, this time from brickshelf. Enjoy!