My icon is from the film version of The Revenger's Tragedy, directed by Alex Cox (Repo Man). The very last shot is horrendous and makes no sense, but the rest of the movie is great and extremely faithful to the satirical bugfuck bizarreness of the original play. Starring Christopher Eccleston (the Ninth Doctor Who) as Vindice, a creepy avenger who carries around the skull of his dead wife; Eddie Izzard, as a sexy sexy villain; and Derek Jacobi, as an evil Duke. Everyone dies and/or goes mad at the end. (This is not a spoiler for Jacobean drama.)
Most of Colonel Cully's dialogue is from The Duchess of Malfi, in which the Duchess's brother hires a hit man to off her for reasons which he is never quite able to articulate other than vague protestations of "honor," but seem to be sexual jealousy; there is a Cardinal who develops the delusion that he is a werewolf; the hit man, who reminds me a lot of George R. R. Martin's Sandor Clegane, sort of falls in love with the Duchess but that doesn't end well; everyone dies and/or goes mad.
The obscure but brilliant The Changeling has a prim and proper lady who hires a hideous servant to off her fiance; he demands sex in return, and she discovers that the two of them have a lot in common. It is every bit as disturbing, creepy, and filled with disturbing and creepy sexuality as that sounds. Everyone dies and/or goes mad.
Tis Pity She's A Whore has a very sexy brother-sister incest couple, and my all-time over the top stage direction. Everyone dies and/or goes mad.
I've at least heard of some of these. I feel slightly less ignorant now. The Revenger's Tragedy is the play they perform in Tam Lin, right? I expect it would make more sense if I weren't trying to follow the play and book characters at the same time. And if I could actually see the play, of course.
Everyone dies and/or goes mad at the end. (This is not a spoiler for Jacobean drama.)
Actually the Duchess of Malfi's brother's official reason for trying to have her killed is that she's secretly married her secretary (she was a widow) and gotten pregnant by him. This supposedly besmirches the honor of her family, since she and her brothers are aristocrats and the secretary is a poor nobody. But both brothers (the "werewolf" cardinal is her brother, too) are so obsessed with policing the Duchess' sexuality that there seems to be distinctly incestuous subtext (on their side--the Duchess does not reciprocate) in this play, too.
Oh yeah--"The Duchess of Malfi" and "The Revenger's Tragedy" are both by John Webster, who makes a brief appearance in "Shakespeare in Love" as the kid who complains that Shakespeare's latest play should be more gorily over the top, or something to that effect.
My icon is from the film version of The Revenger's Tragedy, directed by Alex Cox (Repo Man). The very last shot is horrendous and makes no sense, but the rest of the movie is great and extremely faithful to the satirical bugfuck bizarreness of the original play. Starring Christopher Eccleston (the Ninth Doctor Who) as Vindice, a creepy avenger who carries around the skull of his dead wife; Eddie Izzard, as a sexy sexy villain; and Derek Jacobi, as an evil Duke. Everyone dies and/or goes mad at the end. (This is not a spoiler for Jacobean drama.)
Most of Colonel Cully's dialogue is from The Duchess of Malfi, in which the Duchess's brother hires a hit man to off her for reasons which he is never quite able to articulate other than vague protestations of "honor," but seem to be sexual jealousy; there is a Cardinal who develops the delusion that he is a werewolf; the hit man, who reminds me a lot of George R. R. Martin's Sandor Clegane, sort of falls in love with the Duchess but that doesn't end well; everyone dies and/or goes mad.
The obscure but brilliant The Changeling has a prim and proper lady who hires a hideous servant to off her fiance; he demands sex in return, and she discovers that the two of them have a lot in common. It is every bit as disturbing, creepy, and filled with disturbing and creepy sexuality as that sounds. Everyone dies and/or goes mad.
Tis Pity She's A Whore has a very sexy brother-sister incest couple, and my all-time over the top stage direction. Everyone dies and/or goes mad.
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Everyone dies and/or goes mad at the end. (This is not a spoiler for Jacobean drama.)
Snrk.
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I cannot possibly be the first person - nor yet the hundredth - to think of rewriting the Star Wars movies as Jacobean drama. Right?
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Oh yeah--"The Duchess of Malfi" and "The Revenger's Tragedy" are both by John Webster, who makes a brief appearance in "Shakespeare in Love" as the kid who complains that Shakespeare's latest play should be more gorily over the top, or something to that effect.
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