KRC 2014: Hamlet's Shocking Plot Twist

So, my littlest fan from the Kids Read Comics convention last weekend wasn't completely satisfied with my new ending to Hamlet. She decided it wasn't nice of Claudius to poison Hamlet's father in the first place - and, let's face it, she has a point. Fortunately, she gave me the following suggestions on how to fix that:

In case you're wondering where this little dramatic genius comes from, she's part of the excellent Dim Sum Warriors team. Check out their stuff! You'll never look at your food in the same way again.

KRC 2014: The End of Hamlet

I had a really fun time at my first convention this past weekend. Thanks so much to the organizers for hosting such a fun, laid-back and enjoyable show, and thanks to my table neighbors, Emily Zelasko and The Amazing Cynicalman, for providing good company, advice and inspiration. Also, thanks to those of you who stopped by to say hello! I really enjoyed meeting and talking with you. 

The Kids Read Comics! convention is, perhaps unsurprisingly, full of kids, and I had a lovely time chatting with many of them about Shakespeare. Here, preserved for posterity, is a conversation I had with my littlest fan:

Well.... what was I supposed to do?

The Shakespeare World Cup: Groups G & H

The Shakespeare World Cup
The Teams | Groups A & B | Groups C & D | Groups E & F | Groups G & H | Group Stage Summary, pt. 1 | Group Stage Summary, pt. 2 | Round of 16 Summary | Quarter Finals Summary | Semi Finals Summary | Final Summary

Here we go, the last two groups in the Shakespeare World Cup!

And now for Group G:

Thank goodness that's over. Now I can sit back and enjoy the tournament without freaking out about how I'm going to connect Algeria with Much Ado About Nothing.

The Shakespeare World Cup
The Teams | Groups A & B | Groups C & D | Groups E & F | Groups G & H | Group Stage Summary, pt. 1 | Group Stage Summary, pt. 2 | Round of 16 Summary | Quarter Finals Summary | Semi Finals Summary | Final Summary

All You Need To Know About Henry IV, part 2

Tomorrow the RSC is live-broadcasting their current production of Henry IV, part 2, starring Antony Sher as Falstaff and Alex Hassell as Prince Hal! I just saw their production of Henry IV, part 1 at my local cinema this past weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. To help get everyone caught up for part 2, here is a handy-dandy guide to the play:

Forgot what happens in part 1? Check out my guide here!

Stop by tomorrow for the last of my Shakespeare World Cup team rundowns!

The Shakespeare World Cup: Groups E & F

The Shakespeare World Cup
The Teams | Groups A & B | Groups C & D | Groups E & F | Groups G & H | Group Stage Summary, pt. 1 | Group Stage Summary, pt. 2 | Round of 16 Summary | Quarter Finals Summary | Semi Finals Summary | Final Summary

Apologies! I was trying to get this finished on Sunday, but a weekend full of incident (including, finally, a local screening of the RSC's Henry IV, part 1) kept me from sitting at my computer for hours trying vainly to come up with a stupid rationale for each of these teams.

This was one of those projects that seemed like much less work when I came up with the idea. 

The answer is no, Ecuador will not have a bright start to the tournament. However, I was right about Honduras's tactics (aka KICK ALL THE THINGS).

Some non-World Cup stuff tomorrow, and then I'll try and fill in the rest of the teams on Wednesday. Tally ho!

The Shakespeare World Cup
The Teams | Groups A & B | Groups C & D | Groups E & F | Groups G & H | Group Stage Summary, pt. 1 | Group Stage Summary, pt. 2 | Round of 16 Summary | Quarter Finals Summary | Semi Finals Summary | Final Summary

The Shakespeare World Cup: Groups C & D

The Shakespeare World Cup
The Teams | Groups A & B | Groups C & D | Groups E & F | Groups G & H | Group Stage Summary, pt. 1 | Group Stage Summary, pt. 2 | Round of 16 Summary | Quarter Finals Summary | Semi Finals Summary | Final Summary

Ready for another round of "Let's Make Tenuous Connections Between World Cup Teams and Shakespeare Plays"? It's the game all the cool kids are playing this summer. Let's start with Group C!

And now Group D! 

Groups E and F are coming tomorrow! No rest for the wicked!

The Shakespeare World Cup
The Teams | Groups A & B | Groups C & D | Groups E & F | Groups G & H | Group Stage Summary, pt. 1 | Group Stage Summary, pt. 2 | Round of 16 Summary | Quarter Finals Summary | Semi Finals Summary | Final Summary

The Shakespeare World Cup: Groups A & B

The Shakespeare World Cup
The Teams | Groups A & B | Groups C & D | Groups E & F | Groups G & H | Group Stage Summary, pt. 1 | Group Stage Summary, pt. 2 | Round of 16 Summary | Quarter Finals Summary | Semi Finals Summary | Final Summary

The World Cup is officially underway! Let's take a closer look at some of the play/team match-ups and see why they are appropriate.

Before I start, I freely acknowledge that much of the rationale presented below is tenuous and circumstantial at best, and totally spurious at worst. That's what you get when you base your pairings on such arbitrary measures such as overall line count and FIFA world rankings, neither of which take quality into account. If you have any better ideas as to why a particular pairing works, leave me a note in the comments! I need all the inspiration I can get.  

And here is Group B! I'm quite pleased with how Group B turned out.

Tune in again tomorrow (Saturday) to see how Groups C & D fare!

The Shakespeare World Cup
The Teams | Groups A & B | Groups C & D | Groups E & F | Groups G & H | Group Stage Summary, pt. 1 | Group Stage Summary, pt. 2 | Round of 16 Summary | Quarter Finals Summary | Semi Finals Summary | Final Summary

The Shakespeare World Cup: The Teams

The Shakespeare World Cup
The Teams | Groups A & B | Groups C & D | Groups E & F | Groups G & H | Group Stage Summary, pt. 1 | Group Stage Summary, pt. 2 | Round of 16 Summary | Quarter Finals Summary | Semi Finals Summary | Final Summary

The World Cup starts tomorrow! YAY! Football (or soccer, depending on your geographic location and cultural preferences) is my soap opera of choice, and I am really looking forward to a month of international angst and drama. 

For those of my readers who are totally uninterested in football, I have selected 32 Shakespeare plays to stand in for the 32 international teams competing in the World Cup. They have been paired together courtesy of a very complicated scientific formula in which I listed the teams according to the totally not-arbitrary FIFA ranking system, then listed the plays according to line counts, and matched the plays together. Team captains were then appointed according to their own line counts (with Hotspur stepping to to replace Falstaff and Hal, both of whom captain other teams).

Six plays didn't make the cut: Henry IV, part 2 and Henry VI, parts 1 and 2 were disqualified for having parts with the same name already in the tournament, while Henry VIII, Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen were axed on account of excessive collaboration. Don't argue with me! My decisions are ineffable and incorruptible, just like FIFA's.

(That was a joke.)

So, without further ado, here are your competitors for this year's Shakespeare World Cup!

I'll be checking back periodically to explain why these totally arbitrary pairings work perfectly (Netherlands = Richard II! I mean, come on!) and to catch up with results. 

The Shakespeare World Cup
The Teams | Groups A & B | Groups C & D | Groups E & F | Groups G & H | Group Stage Summary, pt. 1 | Group Stage Summary, pt. 2 | Round of 16 Summary | Quarter Finals Summary | Semi Finals Summary | Final Summary