"Fie upon this quiet life! I want work."

[brynnmck]

troyswann and I went to see the Bard on the Beach productions of the Henry IVs (smooshed into one play, which they titled Falstaff) and Henry V this weekend, and they were WONDERFUL. The acting was uniformly excellent (Alessandro Juliani played Hal, and he was so good, funny and stirring and heroic by turns), and it was fascinating to see those shows staged

Comments

[catwalksalone]

Yay, I am so glad this was as awesome as you'd hoped!

I just read bits aloud to soupytwist and she said, "Dude, Shakespeare was all about the gay sex jokes." Can't argue with that!

[brynnmck]

SO TRUE. Also apparently we are supposed to ship the Dauphin with his horse, see this scene. Okay then! (And aside from the straight-up horsefucking implications--the more likely, seeing as France is The Enemy here--there is also the interpretation that, as I said to Sal, "The horse is his penis." Classy dude, that Shakespeare!)

HI MY KITKAT. *tackleglomps you*

[catwalksalone]

O_O

He REALLY loves that horse.

HI! *bearhugs like WOAH*

[brynnmck]

RIGHT? I was like, "Wow, they're really playing this like... oh. It's in the text. OKAY THEN." *snickers*

[fahye]

can we note the "thee" and "thou" action in that little speech

I wasn't aware it could express intimacy! I thought it was a subject/object distinction. EDUMACATE ME, I am intrigued.

(I am also SO JEALOUS, obviously, and thinking I should maybe...read the Henry IVs for once :D)

[brynnmck]

Thee/thou is actually the informal (like tu vs. vous in French, say), so it can either indicate intimacy or contempt, depending on the context. Like when Hal says it about Hotspur, it's intimacy (I assume, since Hotspur is--spoiler!--dead at the time and Hal is praising him); when Kent says to Lear, "What wilt thou do, old man?" it's a total OH NO HE DIDN'T moment. So with Shakespeare, anyway, those thee/thou moments are often significant in one way or another, and it's fun to think about. :)

You should read them! Or better yet, you should see them if you ever get the chance--beautiful as the text is, and super-smart as you are, I am such an evangelist for how plays really need to be SEEN in order to express their full flower of awesomeness. *g* But. Yes, I highly recommend the reading! If for no other reason than the excellent Hotspur/Lady Percy banter. :D

[fahye]

But wouldn't it be gramatically incorrect to say 'What wilt thee do?' or 'the earth that bears thou dead'? Thou = nominative, thee = objective. Wikipedia is only confusing me more, unfortunately, because it thinks the use of 'thou' to express intimacy or contempt was when it was used in place of 'you'.

I think I missed them when Bell Shakespeare did them last :( When I am a rich doctor I plan to be a PATRON OF THE ARTS and donate large sums of money to Bell Shakespeare, and perhaps I can use my Donor Influence to nudge them in the direction of the plays I'd like to see :D

[brynnmck]

... I think we're talking about two different things? You're right, afaik (grammatical terms are not my strong point at ALL), it would be incorrect to say it like that. But when a character is using the "thee" instead of "you," or the "thy" instead of "your," that's the red flag. So Hal could have said, "The earth that bears you dead bears not alive..." but instead he says "The earth that bears thee dead." Ditto Kent saying, "What wilt thou do" instead of "what will you do." Does that clarify, or am I misunderstanding what you're asking?

Ahahahaha. Using your powers for good! I LIKE THIS.

[qe2]

I am now suffering from serious theatre envy.

(Also Brynn envy. *GLOMP*)

[brynnmck]

Awwwww. *GLOMPS you back*

And hey, I got your card! That was so sweet, thank you! *EXTRA GLOMPING*

[qe2]

Is the least of what you deserve, darlin'.

[china_shop]

I'm suffering from Brynn envy and Sal envy.

I will say, however, that it was SAL who sporfled quietly with most unladylike, unacademic glee the Chorus delivered her line about Hal going around the camp to deliver his men "a little touch of Harry in the night."

Heeee! *hearts you both*

[brynnmck]

Aww! I was remembering the first time Sal and I met up in Vancouver, and our Skype conversation with you. That was so much fun! ♥ ♥ ♥

[llassah]

HOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTSSSSSPPPPURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hokay, go that out of the way! :D

I love that you saw those plays so close to one another- it's a great chance to get an idea of the whole arc of it- fathers and sons, low life and high life, the problems of inheriting a throne that has so recently been taken, divine rights, shakespeare mocking the welsh...(snarl) all the loose ends left over from richard II...I think richard II-henry V are my favourite shakespeares. Also, I love how many hotspurs *are* gratuitously shirtless-in the one I saw, when he's getting ready to leave and his wife is trying to make him tell her why, he changes his top for no good reason- it's like he's thinking 'I think I'll have this conversation in a different black vest, now'.

Also, I love how much shakespeare slash the directors put in- pretty much without fail. In the one I saw most recently, it was hotspur/hal/hotspur's uncle- it was *amazing*. There was this fantastic almost-love-triangle. God, now I want to see it again.

[brynnmck]

fathers and sons, low life and high life, the problems of inheriting a throne that has so recently been taken, divine rights, shakespeare mocking the welsh...(snarl) all the loose ends left over from richard II

Yes, yes, exactly! There's so much going on, and it's so cool to see it all play out.

it's like he's thinking 'I think I'll have this conversation in a different black vest, now'.

AHAHAHAHAHA. AWESOME. He was shirtless in the same scene in this, actually--he read the entire letter while shirtless, and then Lady Percy came in wearing this barely-opaque white nightgown, and then he proceeded to inform her that he didn't love her while teasingly fondling her breast. Ngggh. (As much as I love the slash, I looooooooove Hotspur/Lady Percy, too. SO MUCH AWESOME THERE.)

hotspur/hal/hotspur's uncle

Whoa. My brain is broken!