Timon of Athens is an undiscovered gem that makes this whole project worthwhile

I just finished Timon of Athens and I absolutely loved it. I didn't expect to like it, considering it takes place in ancient Greece (not a fan of Shakespeare's ancient Greek and Roman plays in general) and it's one of his least known plays. But it was absolutely hilarious! Granted, it's technically a tragedy so I'm not sure if I was supposed to find it so funny, but that's beside the point.

I'll write more about it once I've reached my goal (only a month left and still 10 plays to go), but for now I'll just say this: If I hadn't set this goal of reading ALL the plays, there would still be some plays that I probably would have read eventually, like King Lear or The Taming of the Shrew, but there's no way I would have read Timon of Athens. I mean, why would I have? Who would have recommended it to me? Has anyone ever recommended it to you? So if for no other reason than I got to discover this delightful gem, I am very thankful I set this task for myself. Well worth it.

Okay, more about this and the rest of the plays later. For now, I have some reading to do!

ACK! I only have six weeks left! WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG?!?

OH NO! My "break" from blogging has turned into a year and half. How did that even happen? In that time, do you know how many Shakespeare plays I've read? ONE! I've read ONE. I read The Taming of the Shrew (it was pretty good, actually). And that's it.

If you've read this blog before (and bless you if you have) you may know that the whole reason I wanted to read all of Shakespeare's plays in the first place is because back when I was twelve I decided I wanted to have read them all by the time I was 40. And now my 40th birthday is in SIX WEEKS and I'm nowhere near done.  But I still want to try because otherwise I feel like I'm breaking a promise to 12-year-old me AND I'VE HAD SO MUCH TIME.

So here goes. The rest of Shakespeare in six weeks. I can do this. I can do this. (God, I wish I had already finished the histories...damn those histories)

Next up: Um...let's go with Much Ado About Nothing...is that the one with Don Pedro? Have I already read that one? I'll have to go check.

UPDATE: Much Ado About Nothing it is! Wish me luck!

Day 182: What I Learned (so far) from The Taming of the Shrew...or at least the adaptations

As I said before, I'm skipping The Taming of the Shrew for now to focus on the histories, so I haven't read it yet. But I have learned a few things about it, particularly about the adaptations it has inspired. Here are just a few:

Kiss Me Kate (1948 stage musical)

via wikipedia

The classic Cole Porter musical takes place back stage of a musical version of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and the actress playing Katherine is constantly fighting with her ex-husband, the director.

Kiss Me Kate (1953 film)

via moviepostershop.com

It's like the musical, but apparently with more hilarious domestic violence.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999 film)

Julia Stiles is a high school student being wooed by a young Heath Ledger with terrible hair but an endearing singing voice.  It also inspired an ABC Family TV show of the same name (which I didn't see because I'm a grownup).

The Taming of the Shrew (1929 film)

via wikipedia

This film starred real-life husband and wife Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford who were actually in the process of getting a divorce during the filming, so much of the fighting is probably pretty real, though Pickford later said she didn't think the performances were very good (especially Fairbanks') and the experience was one of her worst on set. Interestingly, the film was presented as both a talkie AND a silent film, as only certain theatres were equipped with sound in 1929, so some showings were silent while others were not.

The Taming of the Shrew (1967 film)

Didn't people ever get sick of seeing Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton playing an onscreen version of their real-life tumultuous relationship? Oh right, they did--Cleopatra. They were like the Brangelina of their time except that only one of them was good looking. Nonetheless this version remains one of the most watched version of the bard's play.

The Taming of the Shrew (2005 television adaptation)

This version, part of BBC One's ShakespeaRe-Told series, was directed by Sally Wainwright and starred Shirley Henderson (Moaning Myrtle!) as a cutthroat politician seeking a husband in order to soften her public image.

Moonlighting (TV series) Season 3, Episode 7 "Atomic Shakespeare" (1986)

"Petruchio and Katerina" (aka David and Maddie) in Moonlighting "Atomic Shakespeare" (via The Most Unusual Weddings From Television)

And no discussion of Shrew adaptations would be complete without a nod to this episode of Moonlighting which cast David Addison (Bruce Willis) as Petruchio and Maddie Hayes (Cybil Shepherd) as Katerina, complete with a writing credit to William "Budd" Shakespeare. Watch the entire episode (via YouTube) below!

Day 178: The Taming of the Shrew Sock Monkey

The Taming of the Shrew sock monkey by David Jones (fineartamerica.com)

It's amazing how expressive little sock monkeys can be! I don't know...do you think it looks like Elizabeth Taylor?

Day 177: The Taming of the Shrew word cloud

The Taming of the Shrew Wordle from SCC English

Day 176: New Play Tuesday! The Taming of the Shrew

Source: zazzle.com

When I first devised my reading schedule for the year, I figured I would need to break up the histories by interspersing other plays throughout. Of course, that means it'll be even longer before I finish the histories. And the histories aren't so bad, anyway. Maybe I should just be reading them all in order. Oh well. The problem with my schedule isn't the histories. It's the fact that I haven't been reading anything for a couple of weeks now and I'm hopelessly behind.

So here I am at The Taming of the Shrew. It's one of the more famous ones, so I'm looking forward to it. Sort of. It's also very...uh...anti-woman, isn't it? I might hate it. I know Laura Bates used it as a way to talk about domestic abuse with her Shakespeare students in prison. Maybe I should re-read that part of her book. 

Oh and speaking of women named Laura Bates, you should check out this blog by (a different) Laura Bates called The Everyday Sexism Project. It's sort of on topic actually.