No Fooling

It is a truth universally acknowledged that there is nothing more daunting than playing one of Shakespeare's clowns. 

Shakespeare's insight into the human condition might have aged well over the past 400 years, but a lot of his jokes haven't... at least those told by designated fools. A general rule of thumb is that the more times you have to look up a footnote for a joke, the more likely it is you will want to punch the character telling it. I'm always immensely impressed when actors are able to make Shakespeare's fools vibrant and amusing in performance.

Also, King Lear's Fool is totally the Fool from Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters, and nothing will every change that for me.

Honorificabilitudinitatibus

Hey all. I'm postponing the rest of my "The Frozen Winter's Tale" series until after my visit to the Folger at the end of the month, as I've just got too much to do ahead of then to be able to give it the time, attention, and mental energy it needs. But it will be back! In the meantime, here's this:

Yes, I've memorized how to say "honorifcabilitudinitatibus".

Yes, I occasionally say it at random moments, just to show off.

Honorificabilitudinitatibus.

It's a lot of fun to say. 

The Frozen Winter's Tale

Chalk this one up under the heading of "Things That Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time But Now I'm REALLY Not So Sure". Apart from the winter theme, I'm not sure what Disney smash-hit Frozen and Shakespeare weird-late-romance The Winter's Tale have in common. LET'S FIND OUT!!!

Good Tickle Brain at the Folger!

FolgerLecture.jpg

Just a reminder that I will be giving a FREE pre-show talk at the Folger Shakespeare Library on April 29 at 6:00pm! 

This is going to be a lot of fun, so if you're in the D.C. area, please do stop by and say hello! I will have merch available for purchase and will be hanging around after the talk to sign stuff and chat.

For details, as well as info on how to reserve your FREE ticket, please visit the Folger website. 

As Duke Frederick Likes It

Last Sunday I went to see the not-quite-live broadcast of the National Theatre's production of As You Like It, which reminded me how utterly contrived the ending is. No, it's not the four weddings and spontaneous appearance of Hymen, god of marriage. It's the way in which Shakespeare deals with the Big Bad Wolf of the play: Duke Frederick. 

WELL, THAT DE-ESCALATED QUICKLY. 

Granted, the endings to most of Shakespeare's comedies are contrived, but As You Like It is one of the worst offenders as far as I'm concerned. Even Cymbeline lays more groundwork to justify the final, ridiculous scene of revelations than As You Like It.

Which is not to say that I don't like it. I just find it consistently hilarious.

Good Tickle Brain at the Folger!

I am really thrilled to announce that I will be giving a FREE pre-show talk at the Folger Shakespeare Library on APRIL 29th! Join me at the Folger Theatre at 6:00pm as I talk about how I got involved in all this Shakespeare comic madness, reveal to you my deepest artistic secrets, and draw a brand new comic live on stage - with your help!

Good Tickle Brain merchandise will be available for purchase, and I will be hanging around after my talk to sign stuff! Plus, if you stick around until 8:00pm, you can see the world-famous Reduced Shakespeare Company perform William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged). I saw a workshop production of this last summer at the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, and it's basically what would happen if you dumped all of Shakespeare's plays into a blender, added a hefty dose of pure silliness, and then turned it on. I highly recommend it. I can't tell you how excited I am about this.

I've been meaning to visit the Folger Library for ages (being both a Shakespeare geek and a library geek), so this is basically a dream come true for me. If you're in the Washington D.C. area, please stop by and say hello! For details on the event, as well as how to reserve your FREE tickets, visit the Folger website.

The Stratford Festival 2016 Season... in 3 Panels!

If theatre is my drug, then the Stratford Festival is my dealer. Here's what they've got on the playbill for their upcoming season:

The only thing I really don't like about A Chorus Line is every time I do any work related to A Chorus Line, I immediately get the song "Tits & Ass" stuck in my head for the next several hours. 

It's the play adaptation of the movie about a play! I'm looking forward to this. 

Classic. Can't go wrong. Unless, you know, someone says MACBETH...

I'm going to make an effort to see this, even though I am decidedly not an Arthur Miller fan. Everyone always spends too much time being acerbically miserable for my tastes. 

I love the Narnia books, so I'm always excited to see a stage adaptation of its first installment. Because MAGIC. 

This season's production is set in Newfoundland. If you wanted to, you could sign up to be taught a traditional Newfoundland dance and then be invited up during the performance to dance it with the cast. I thought about it briefly, and then I remembered (a) I can't dance, and (b) even if I could dance, the thought of dancing in front of actual people is such an alien concept that my mind can't even begin to process it. 

I love Sondheim. People often call Sondheim the Shakespeare of our age, which isn't really fair because, let's face it, Sondheim hasn't killed nearly as many characters as Shakespeare has. But I love Sondheim. Don't get me started. I will sing at you. 

The first part of a two-part adaptation by Graham Abbey of Richard II, Henry IV part 1 & 2, and Henry V. While I love the history plays in all their lengthy and occasionally long-winded gloriousness, I'm really looking forward to this. 

I mean... four history plays for the price of two! I'm hoping Abbey goes ahead and puts together Death of Kings, condensing the three parts of Henry VI and Richard III. MOAR HISTORY PLAYS PLEEZE.

..yeah, I got nothing. Pretty sure she doesn't actually turn into a giant rabbit, though. Oh well.

This will be... I think only my second time seeing Moliere on stage. I read Tartuffe in high school, but somehow haven't gotten around to seeing it, and I saw The Misanthrope at Stratford a couple years back. This one sounds like a lot of fun. 

AAARRGGH IBSEN. I pretty much loathed reading A Doll's House in high school and have avoided his stuff like the plague ever since. Should probably actually see Ibsen in performance at least once before I slam that door shut, though. 

OK, so this is a new, contemporary adaptation of the Aeneid, so I have no idea how accurate this is, but there should be people fleeing a thing and journeying to another thing at the very least.

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY, STRATFORD... oh, wait. You're already doing that.

Good Tickle Brain at the Folger Shakespeare Library!

On Friday, April 29 I will be giving a free pre-show talk at the Folger Theatre in Washington D.C., ahead of a performance of the Reduced Shakespeare Company's performance of William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged). If you're in the D.C. area, stop by and say hello! For full details, visit the Folger website. 

Thou and Thee

For some reason, I thought it would be good to do a comic about archaic English grammar. Just roll with it, could you?

It takes a very special sort of person to follow a stick figure Shakespeare webcomic in the first place, so I'm sure most of you already knew this, but I just wanted to spread the word, as I love following the "you" and "thou" usage in Shakespeare's plays.

If you want a more coherent overview of the you/thou thing, check out this page on Shakespeare's Words for a more informed viewpoint, plus a lot of cool examples of it in action.