Henry VI 1: Act III
Writing about this act has been an almost painful task.
It would have been too too easy to continue with the ‘Carry On Up the Dolphin’ theme I’d adopted for Act II, but I didn’t feel up to it, aside from referencing the incorrigible overfamiliarity of Charles:
Ay marry, sweeting, if we could do that,
France were no place for Henry’s warriors. (III.iii.21-2)
Continue reading “PTS 01/004: We need Talbots, not bastards …”
Happy Lupercalia, everyone.
A cheeky way of muscling in some commentary on one of my favourite plays, way ahead of SCHEDULE? Perhaps. I shouldn’t be discussing Julius Caesar (let alone Star Trek) until September 2018 …
Henry VI 1: Act 2 the act with that scene …
No, not the one in the garden. Surely, there’s only one thing worth talking about … in the words of Joe Jackson:
Is she really going out with him?
Is she really gonna take him home tonight?
Is she really going out with him?
Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me,
There’s something going wrong around here.
… are the Dolphin and La Pucelle an item or not?
The bookshelf has had an update …
subtitled thus:
Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? (Twelfth Night)
Allow me to introduce the non-Redditors amongst you to the Democratic People’s Republic of R/Literature. When you get there, it sounds great, doesn’t it?
Welcome to /r/literature, a community for deeper discussions of plays, poetry, short stories, and novels. Discussions of literary criticism, literary history, literary theory, and critical theory are also welcome–strongly encouraged, even.
and yet, all this fancy aspirational stuff doesn’t really mean a thing. Read the following from the bottom up.
This is, in many ways, one of the reasons why I started blogging …
Henry VI Part 1: Act 1
And off we go. First-time visitor? Click here and here to find out what Ponytail Shakespeare is all about. Then come back, read, and comment – either here or at the Shakespeare Reddit sub.
On to the play, and post two of God knows how many in this project.
I wonder if I lowered my expectations too far …
To shrug and say it was fine, good, OK, would be to do the opening act of Henry VI part I a disservice. Sure, there were moments of clunkiness – not least when the French Master Gunner feels the need to declare – to himself, his son, and thereby the audience – his employment:
‘Chief master gunner am I of this town’. (I.iv.6)
But overall, it’s been an entertaining start.
Continue reading “PTS01/002: Shameful Complacency; Priapic Dolphins”
Abstract for the busy: this paradigm crystallises or articulates my recent thinking about kingship/leadership as it applies in Shakespeare’s plays and, I increasingly suspect, beyond. It gained critical mass after teaching Richard III at Key Stage 5 (Age 16-17) in Autumn 2016, where I found myself returning again and again to questions of Legitimacy, Authority and Dynasty, in plotting not just Richard’s journey and motives, but Richmond’s and, in fact, Queen Elizabeth’s.
… Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot (Henry V)
So. As we enter February 2017, and the beginning of the ‘Ponytail Shakespeare’ project, I feel the need to quote Stephen King:
Continue reading “PTS00/001: I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips …”
As I’ve said elsewhere, I have a soft spot for the BBC Shakespeare Collection.
Continue reading “BBC Shakespeare Collection digital download on sale”
This isn’t a political blog, at all. It’s not supposed to be, at least.
But, for shame. I can’t sit by. Nor, I’d like to think, would Shakespeare …
Lou Reed sung, in ‘Dirty Boulevard’:
Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor I’ll piss on ’em
That’s what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses
Let’s club ’em to death
And get it over with and just dump ’em on the boulevard
And Shakespeare?
The Boar's Head, Eastcheap 