Five Questions About Shakespeare

Memed from pedanther and lost_spook

1) What was the first Shakespeare play you read or seen performed?

I remember my art teacher used to take us to Shakespeare plays; I think the first one was The Taming of the Shew.

I studied Macbeth for English class. I can't remember if that was before or after I tried reading Hamlet to see if it helped me make sense of my dad's copy of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.


2) What is your favorite Shakespeare play?

Hmm. I think possibly Macbeth. I'm not even sure why; as a Scot I should probably by outraged by its total ahistoricity. But it's just really well done, so you don't worry about that until afterwards.


3) What is your least favorite Shakespeare play?

Hmm, again. Shrew irritates me for multiple reasons. Titus Andronicus is kind of gross.


4) Who do you think wrote Shakespeare; are you a Stratfordian or Oxfordian?

Stratfordian; the arguments against seem pure snobbery. 500 years from now, there'll probably be people arguing that a man who went to High Wycombe Technical High School couldn't possibly have written the Discworld novels...

My favourite argument that maybe Shakespeares's plays were written by Shakespeare was given at the tour of Shakespeare's house; in the recreation of John Shakespeare's glove workshop, the guide said that there were some quite technical references to glove-making in the plays. And what would the Earl of Oxford have known about that?


5) Which Shakespeare plays have you read or seen or seen performed?

I think I've read most of them; I have a Complete Works that I bought when a trip to Europe stopped off in Stratford. I remember seeing Shrew (as mentioned above), Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth (several times, including a fantastic open-air performance at Cawdor Castle!) and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'm not ruling out the possibility I've seen others and don't remember, though.

I'm assuming "seen performed" means live. On TV, I remember watching the BBC animated versions of Dream and Macbeth, the modern dress Macbeth with Sean Pertwee, the modern dress Twelfth Night with Mel Smith as Sir Toby, Romeo + Juliet, and I have vague recollections of a version of Julius Cesaer where they were wearing togas over doublets...

(I also watched all of ShakespeaReTold, but while I enjoyed it I don't think that counts any more than West Side Story, Throne of Blood, The Lion King or Gnomeo and Juliet...)