i just got done acting in a production of hamlet. i was.... ah crap i can't remember who i played lol. the main gaurd at the beginning. he opens the play with "who's there?" marcellus! i think.... and i also played the murderer in the play within a play. that part was fun.

going into it i hated hamlet. but after seeing it a few times i thought it was pretty good, not the greatest thing ever written like some people think. 3 hours is too long.

i think my favorite is king lear, and then R and J. i'm not that crazy about his other plays.

i'd imagine his plays were just plain amazing 350 years ago. but plays and books don't hold up well from that time. i don't think there is any literature more than 200 years old that is ever read except for shakespeare, at least not in western culture.... oh, homer. maybe there is other stuff. maybe i'm just too shallow to appreciate it. but so are 6.8 billion other people.

Shakespeare requires effort and guidance. One of the great strengths of Shakespeare's works is that the more 'you' (the reader) bring to the text, the more that the text gives back to you. This sense of inexhaustability of interpretation, whilst not unique to Shakespeare, perhaps does not profuse itself across so many texts in such a rich manner.
Some of the criticisms I have read in the thread places 'the reader' in a passive position. All the wisdom should be revealed to me and if I cannot see it - then this carries an implied criticism of the work or artist. Shakespeare treats his audience with respect, as an adult; like life itself: the more you put into it, the more you shall get out of it.

Hamlet is in a league of its own.

i saw a beggar kid on the street today doing shakespeare sonnets. he was terrible.

Poetic talent is really easy to fake
when thy sentences doth no ****ing sense make

One of the things on my bucket list is to read every Shakespeare play, I think I'm about halfway through. Damn, some of those historical plays are just bleh --Richard II ftl.

At one point I would say Antony and Cleopatra.

Now, I think maybe Othello.

Hamlet
King Lear
Romeo and Juliet
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Tempest

are all excellent imo.

Of his 37 1/2 plays, I think I've read about 26 1/2.

It's hard to beat Lear.

But you guys have to remember that the plays are not really made to be read - they're supposed to be performed.

My absolute favourite is Macbeth.

Polanski did a terrific version of it.

Having taken a couple classes I'm fairly adept at understanding the Elizabethan English, but I still think I need to have read the play before being able to understand it casually enough to appreciate a performance.

I find the lyrical nature of the spoken prose really doesn't insist on being fully understood.

Lear is just absolutely ****ing horrible and depressing, especially as you get older (I'm 58)

Which is why it's so wonderful. The 2008 Ian McKellan version is pretty good.

MM MD

King Lear is like taking your soul to get its stomach pumped. Oooh, afterwards I feel so clean.

When I was young, I was pretty receptive to Shakespeare. For some reason, thanks to my mom I have been able to recite Macbeth's "Tomorrow" speech since I was about 9. The stories fascinated me before I could understand the language.

Sadly, in high school, I was too much of a pothead and scofflaw to even bother trying to care about the works I read. Hamlet was totally lost on me, and now it is probably my single favorite piece of work. I still think the Bard should be taught to precollege students. A select few will "get it," the lazy will be able to return to it later a little easier, and the apathetic will remain apathetic. More or less the case with every high school book, though in this instance the students are at least reading true masterpieces of world literature. I don't see the downside.

The ham never lets up!

Are you calling me a ham, hoss? Or is that a subtle erudite reference.

Back in the 90s, some soft-core porn chick I wanted to bang said she was really interested in "classic theater," so I took her to see a production of Hamlet, with Ian McKellen as Polonius.

We're watching it and it gets to Hamlet's big soliloquy: "To be or not to be..."

Girl leans over and whispers to me, "THAT'S where they got that from!"

A little later, she leans over again and says, "You know, this guy's got a way with words."

...

In my defense, she had a spectacular ass.
...but at least I didn't marry her.

King Leer
As You Lick It
A Midsummer Night's Wet Dream
Two Gentlemen on the Veranda
Corey's Old Anus
Oh Oh Oh Othello

"A pussy by any other name would smell just as...smelly."

what do you guys think of measure for measure? i'm not familiar with it. i'm an actor and i was offered a part in it. i don't know if i want to take it. and i'd rather you guys just tell me if it's good or bad instead of having to read it for myself

What, are you holding out for a more established writer?

Take the part, Dude. It's ****ing Shakespeare. His lesser works are miles above most others' best works.

i'm not a particular fan of shakespeare. a lot of people HATE shakespeare. i like doing shows that my friends can come and see and enjoy.

i read the wiki, and it seems pretty good. i'll probably do it!

It will probably improve your own acting craft - so I say do it.