Comments | ides_of_april: Even the Orchestra is Beautiful

lareinenoire in ides_of_april

Even the Orchestra is Beautiful

Apr 12, 2010 23:43

Title: Even the Orchestra is Beautiful
Author: lareinenoire
Play/Poem: Antony and Cleopatra
Recipient: likeadeuce
Rating: R
Summary: When Antony met Cleopatra, all hell broke loose. What else did you expect?
Warnings: Profanity, drunkenness, drug use, major character death, references to suicide, bad life choices, rampant musical theatre references, shameless backstage ( Read more... )

fanfiction, play: antony and cleopatra

Comments 29

likeadeuce April 13 2010, 04:18:27 UTC

Oh, wow, this is absolutely awesome! Of course, 'Antony & Cleopatra' should happen in the world of College Republicans and YouTube. And the musical references are perfect. Of course, it's 'Cabaret'. I love, among other things, the sense that Antony is doing this not just because of Cleo but because he's good at it, and if you've got the music in you, you've got to sing. Evil frat-boy Octavian is perfect (I've probably said before, just about my favorite thing about A&C is Caesar's complete failure to be on the same wavelength).

And I can't stop raving without saying how great the point-of-view is. The stage manager's voice is pitch-perfect, and darkly funny (love the Rick Blaine reference, particularly), and it really fits with the play, where there's often a sense of observing the heroes from a bit of a distance rather than being intimate with them.

And the ending, wow -- I should have expected tragedy, of course, but it still really hit me. Well done, indeed. Just what I wanted and then some!

likeadeuce April 13 2010, 04:26:27 UTC

Also I really want to know what was going on in the Senator's office

lareinenoire April 22 2010, 02:47:51 UTC

Like I said, I got the idea from the Eric Massa scandal that happened to be going on while I was writing the fic. But it's somehow considerably less icky in this context...

I am so glad you enjoyed this fic -- your prompt, as I've told you, was too much fun to resist!

selenak April 13 2010, 05:30:06 UTC

Fantastic! Complete with the Betty Draper comparison. What an awesome AU.

likeadeuce April 13 2010, 15:38:12 UTC

I feel like Betty could learn a thing or two from the women of Rome (and of Rome).

selenak April 13 2010, 16:39:12 UTC

Verily.

lareinenoire April 22 2010, 02:49:41 UTC

Oh, poor Betty. She totally could.

And I am totally not imagining SweetFortunesMinions!Richard III bonding with Don Draper. No...

resolute April 13 2010, 11:22:33 UTC

This is great! Amazing! And very, very funny. Congrats!

lareinenoire April 22 2010, 02:49:59 UTC

Thank you! I had a blast writing it.

jehane_writes April 13 2010, 13:41:00 UTC

Holy crap, this was just brilliant.

lareinenoire April 22 2010, 02:50:13 UTC

Thank you!!

cadenzamuse April 13 2010, 15:34:13 UTC

God, this is gorgeous. I love the narrator (light op? stage manager?) and the fact that you don't give us much by way of gender cues for hir. Also, I love that you tell us from the beginning that zhe is kind of amoral--or at least apathetic and covering hir own ass--but we don't believe it until we get to Octavian and the aftermath.

I'm curious as to how/why you chose a more Antony-centric perspective from the original, too. I like the tighter perspective, but it sort of stuck out to me as an interesting choice to make.

likeadeuce April 13 2010, 15:37:10 UTC

Without putting words in the anonymous author's mouth, I can tell you my prompt was like 3 paragraphs about Antony in eyeliner, and what the move from Rome to Egypt said about him. Nothing against Cleopatra, who I adore (and when I've written about the play in the past, I've written about her), but the prompt was pretty focused on Antony.

cadenzamuse April 13 2010, 15:40:13 UTC

Ahh, of course. *lightbulb comes on* Thanks for explaining that, likeadeuce!

likeadeuce April 13 2010, 16:41:26 UTC

And I found the prompt I submitted:

(1) Antony & Cleopatra. Antony/Cleopatra. My friend recently described the story of Antony & Cleopatra as "It's like the captain of the football team got dragged to a midnight showing of Rocky Horror by a hot girl and all of a sudden he didn't know who he was." I'd love a modern day AU (high school, college, politics, professional sports -- whatever scenario you can think of -- that plays with the gender-bending aspects of their relationship. Neither Rocky Horror nor literal cross-dressing is required, but could be fun. Genderswapping either or both characters is fine, but not required. If you really aren't into AU, an in-period story that references Antony wearing eyeliner would be great, especially if he flirts with Octavius at some point.

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