watch, read, or listen to all of Shakespeare's plays

I finally got around to watching Throne of Blood by Akira Kurosawa, and do you know what? I didn’t like it. The “Lady Macbeth” just seemed so pointlessly cruel and awful and I couldn’t see how he wouldn’t just quit listening. It bothered me.

I never did listen to Winter’s Tale. I may have to read that one; I’m definitely craving one in print.

Since starting this challenge, I have watched/read/heard:
*The “Shakespeare Retold” version of Macbeth with James McAvoy
*Throne of Blood by Akira Kurosawa
*Pericles on audio CD
*Titus, a film directed by Julie Taymore (1999)
*Tempest a film directed by Paul Mazursky (1982)
*The Merchant of Venice a film directed by Michael Radford (2004)

Yeah, this is going to take a while. I’ve got a LOT of threads going!

I’ve just got so much reading I want to do, and these audio CDs are so well produced – plus, I can keep my hands busy with knitting and crocheting projects while I listen.

So, another audio CD it is. I hope this story lives up to it’s great name (I’m a Helprin fan – ever hear of his Winter’s Tale? So wonderful).

I’ve added two more Shakespeare works to my small but growing list of plays seen, heard, or read. I’m getting the feeling that if Shakespeare were alive today, he would be a novelist, and his books would all be smash hits.

Since starting this challenge, I have watched/read/heard:
*Pericles on audio CD
*Titus, a film directed by Julie Taymore (1999)
*Tempest a film directed by Paul Mazursky (1982)
*The Merchant of Venice a film directed by Michael Radford (2004)

I just watched Tempest last night, with John Cassevettes, Susan Sarandon, Molly Ringwald, Raul Julia – there were parts of it that made me laugh a lot, and I could defintely see the influence of Fellini (especially La Avventura), but I didn’t love the film. Maybe if I were foreign, I’d love its quirkiness and different perspective?

Julia and the goats is pretty classic, though.

I’m going to read this play, I think, just to see how creative this adaptation actually was.

I take it for granted sometimes that I’ll remember what I’ve seen and heard and read, but as time goes by, the memory fades, so, a tally is in order.

Since starting this challenge, I have watched/read/heard:
*Pericles on audio CD
*Titus, a film by Julie Taymore

Well, that’s not very impressive, but the film Tempest should be in my mailbox right now, and it’s not like this is a race. I should probably think about reading a play soon, just to keep changing things up. Maybe I’ll re-read A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

I listened to a 2 disc dramatization of Pericles, one of a series called the Complete Arkangel Shakespeare. This was funny, fun, interesting, and a good story. Given all the shipwrecks and royal deceit and mistaken deaths, it’s like watching life in another plane and easier to imagine the gods doing rather than actual people.

I may look for a print copy of this play and try to find a couple of the quotes which struck me as being especially potent with truth and insight.

I’ve listened to the first two acts, and I like the story so far. Pericles goes to woo a princess, only it turns out she’s involved in an incestuous relationship with her father the king, so he doesn’t want her. Unfortunately, he figures this out from the riddle he accepted to attempt to gain the hand of the princess, so he must flee or be put to death by the king. He goes to a nearby kingdom (in present-day Lebanon, I think) where the people are starving and gives them the grain of his ships. In saving them, he gains an ally. I guess he keeps going after that but is shipwrecked, and he’s just wed the princess of that kingdom. This is like an ancient version of “The Mod Squad goes clubbing.”

I checked out a CD of Pericles from the library. I can listen to the play while I work on my yoga mat.

I think I’ll sort of blaze through these, whether or not I really get into or understand all that’s going on, and if one starts to grab me, I’ll do more reading, investigating of the literary criticism available, checking into companion study guides, etc.

The thought of trying to read all of Shakespeare’s plays has crossed my mind before, but it seems like such a huge commitment, and I don’t like it when great ideas are allowed to go stale through lack of activity, but thanks to 43 Things, I’ve been turned onto the idea that listening to a play on CD or watching a film of one would be a worthy stand-in, so I’m in.

I’ve warmed to this goal really quickly. Sweet!