Review of "Pericles" at the Stratford Festival

OK, I'm trying something a bit different today... a review! I love going to the theatre, but I've never written actual reviews of the productions I've seen. Mostly this is because I am a terrible reviewer. I'm fairly easy to please and without any of the critical discretion of more seasoned reviewers. I'm also very soft-hearted, so if I didn't enjoy a production I am more likely to pretend I never saw it in the first place rather than say anything negative about it. But let's give it a try! The guinea pig I have selected is the first show that I saw at the Stratford Festival this season.... Pericles!

Now, the gentleman I was sitting next to might just be overly full of joie de vivre, but to have someone who, at the beginning of the show asked me "is the language in this play the sort of Shakespeare language you have to translate constantly in your head?", turn around at the end and say "That was terrific, everyone should see this!" is quite a positive testimonial. Especially because this was Pericles. And, let's face it, Pericles is nowhere near one of Shakespeare's more accessible plays. 

The only other time I've seen Pericles was again at the Stratford Festival, about twelve years ago. That was a decent production too, but this one was definitely cleaner, much easier to follow, and more stylistically cohesive. As I always say, I'm fairly frivolous and can get quite impatient with directorial Concepts (with a capital C) but in this case the Victorian concept definitely served the play, as opposed to being imposed upon it. I particularly enjoyed the double-casting (which I enjoy anyways, but which actively enriched the production in this case.)

I really don't need to say that the acting and the language-speaking were superb, because that's almost always the case at Stratford. Special mention to Deborah Hay, whose gigantic brimming limpid eyes in the already emotionally-fraught reunion scene managed to sneak through the chinks in my fairly robust emotional armor. 

Pericles isn't performed all that often, so, if you can, take an opportunity to see this production. (If you're on the other side of the continent, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is also mounting a production this season, and so you should totally see that one and then tell me how it is.)

Kids Read Comics Convention

I've been plastering this all over social media, but forgot to re-mention it here! This week, June 20-21, is the Kids Read Comics Convention in Michigan! Specifically, it's at the Ann Arbor District Library. I will be there both Saturday and Sunday, from 12pm to 6:00pm, selling a variety of Good Tickle Brain merchandise, including t-shirts! Here's a sneak peek and some of the stuff I'll be presenting:

If you're in the Southeastern Michigan area, stop by and say hello! I'm a very nice person and would love to chat with you, so don't be shy. If you're NOT in the Southeastern Michigan area, don't worry! In a couple weeks (hopefully, tech gods and my own limited intellect permitting) I will be launching my online store and you'll be able to order shirts and other merchandise there.

Hope to see some of you there!

Timon Who?

I was looking through my archives and I noticed that one play in particular never seems to feature in my comics.

If pressed, I'd probably say that my least favorite Shakespeare play is Timon of Athens. It's not a really fair judgement, as I've only seen it once, a number of years ago, and haven't revisited it since. At the time I remember thinking it was a miserable play. Of course... that's kind of the point. It's like complaining about Romeo and Juliet being "a bit of a downer". 

Nowadays it seems like Timon is the hipster of the Shakespearean canon. "I liked Timon of Athens before it was cool", I can almost hear people say. "Duuuuude, Timon is, like, a brilliant critique of our corrupt, emotionally-bankrupt and overly-materialistic society, man. It's deep." That may very well be the case. It's also not much fun.

I probably need to give Timon another chance. Have an opinion on Timon? Leave a note for me in the comments!

Rejected Shakespearean T-Shirts

My mind has been in t-shirt mode all week. The wheels are turning and hopefully we'll see some Good Tickle Brain t-shirts available for general purchase in the next month! In the meantime, here are some "just for fun" t-shirt designs that didn't make the cut.... this time. 

I'm sure I'm not the first person to have thought of Che-kespeare... but I'm still ridiculously pleased with myself about that one. That one might make it on to a t-shirt after all...

Good Tickle Brain T-Shirts!

I've been promising all my readers out there Good Tickle Brain merchandise for well over a year now, and am finally getting down to business - or, more accurately, getting down to figuring out what is involved in getting down to business.  First up is that cornerstone of any self-respecting institution... a t-shirt! 

Over the weekend I sent out a survey canvassing popular opinion on such things as t-shirt design, color, sizing, etc., so I could start figuring out logistics. Hundreds of you have responded so far, which is just fantastic! I'm still reading through the various comments you gave me (and I am reading them all, trust me), but at the moment it looks like this design, featuring snapshots from each of Shakespeare's plays, is winning out:

In case you're puzzled by which play is which, I offer you the following hint: they're arranged in alphabetical order, and the multi-part Henry IV and Henry VI have been condensed to one image each. 

A lot of you mentioned in comments that you would like to see a black version. (This was not surprising, as we all know theatre-folk live predominantly in black.) I didn't originally offer an option for black on my survey, as the black outlines and arms of my stick figures would disappear completely against a black background, but, after some tinkering with modest white outlines, I think I've come up with a solution that will look something like this:

This is not final yet, but is what I am currently leaning towards, with ladies' and possibly kids' versions as well. There will probably be one or two other color options as well.  I'd still love to hear from people, though. If you haven't already done so, please take my shirt survey. Also, feel free to leave a comment on this post, or get in touch with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr. I realize that, no matter what the final design is, some of you will be probably disappointed. I just want to make sure that the number of the disappointed is as small as possible! 

If this shirt is even moderately successful, there will definitely be other shirts, so all of you clamoring for three-panel play shirts or other designs (such as Smiley Shakespeare) can live in hope. Lots of you also mentioned wishes for additional items such as mugs and pins. Those will be coming too! If you have other ideas for products, please do leave a comment. All your input gets filed away for future reference.

I want to do this merchandise thing properly, so if it's slow getting off the ground, rest assured it's because I'm reading and learning and figuring out how to make the best merchandise available through the best online store possible. Because (cue cheesy line) my readers deserve the best. (Cue groans.)

Also, if you haven't yet, please do subscribe to the Good Tickle Brain e-mail newsletter, which brings my comics directly to your inbox once a week, and also features bonus reviews, recommendations, and social media round-ups not found on my blog!

The Fretful Porpentine

I just can't get away from Hamlet without calling your attention to a line that is a particular favorite of mine (and of P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster).

"Fretful porpentine" just flows off of the tongue.

(P.S. - It's a porcupine.)

The Stratford Festival 2015 Season... in 3 Panels!

It's that infuriating time of year when shows at the Stratford Festival in Canada (which I have been patronizing since the extremely early age of three) start opening. I say "infuriating" because I'm not going to be able to see any of these shows until my family vacation in August, and so for the next few months I have to enduring tantalizing hints on social media as to how cool these shows are going to be. It's like giving a starving man a plate of wax fruit.

(If anyone from the Festival reads this and feels like giving me free tickets to come up earlier, I should state that my schedule is extremely flexible and I have my own transportation. I also wasn't able to fit Anne Frank and Possible Worlds into our August trip, so if you have any spare tickets lying around for those shows in particular, that would be... I'm sounding a bit desperate, aren't I... sorry... sorry... carry on...)

Anyways... here is the line-up for the Stratford Festival's current season, with the theme of "Discovery: That Eureka Moment".

Things that Hamlet discovers: (a) his uncle killed his father, (b) plotting revenge is more complicated than he thought, (c) don't stab random curtains.

Things that Maria discovers: (a) seven is a lot of children, (b) curtains make great play-clothes, (c) most of life's problems can be solved if you just sing a lot.

Oh Carousel... You're so problematic... So very problematic...

Things that Billy discovers: (a) armed robbery is not a career opportunity, (b) killing yourself doesn't actually make things easier for your family, (c) you can steal stars, which hitherto we had thought were giant balls of flaming gas, but are actually cute little sparkly things symbolizing hope and reconciliation and stuff like that.

Things that Anne discovers: (a) even in the darkest times, the human spirit remains indomitable and free, (b) it's not always easy living in very close proximity with people for two years. 

Oh Taming of the Shrew... You're so problematic... So very problematic...

Things that Petruchio discovers: (a) ... I can't actually write anything here because, depending on directorial interpretation, he could either discover that that his grubbing pursuit of money has, in fact, led him to discover true happiness with a soulmate who is his intellectual and emotional equal, or he could discover that marrying a woman for her dowry and then emotionally and physically abusing her is a great way to get rich quick. Or anything in between those two. 

Things that Kate discovers: (a) upper-class English men are idiots.

....sorry, I've never seen this play before, that's all I've got. 

Things that Mobius discovers: (a) when you're hiding out in an insane asylum, you shouldn't be surprised if things get a little bit crazy.

I've never seen this play either. There are some fun plot developments in it that I've tried not to spoil. (SPOILER: HIS UNCLE KILLED HIS FATH-- no wait, wrong play.)

Things that Face and Subtle discover: (a) people are essentially gullible idiots, (b) when people stop being gullible idiots, you had better run for it.

This will be only the second Ben Jonson play I have ever seen! I am so very excited. 

Things that the boys discover: (a) don't make impetuous vows of celibacy, (b) don't write incriminating letters proving that you're planning to break your impetuous vows of celibacy, (c) don't try to fool the girls, because they are much smarter than you.

I've seen a lot of Love's Labour's Losts recently and am becoming very fond of it. Looking forward to this production.

Things that Oedipus discovers: (a) he murdered his father, (b) he married his mother.

End of story.

Things that George discovers: (a) that he's actually [SPOILER]

I haven't seen this one either. I'm digging its Star Trek vibe, though. 

OK, this is a TOTALLY NEW PLAY that will be making its debut at the Festival this season, so I obviously haven't seen it or read it or even been able to look up its summary on Wikipedia. It appears to be a contemporary account of Katherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII. So I have no idea what Kate discovers. 

Things that Pericles discovers: (a) he shouldn't throw people overboard without making sure that they're dead, (b) he shouldn't leave his daughter with dubious babysitters and then never go back to pick her up.

Come on, Pericles. Get your act together.

So anyways, that's my round-up of the Stratford Festival's upcoming season. If you've followed my stuff for a while, you'll know that I'm very fond of the Festival, and that they reliably put on very high quality productions of both classical and contemporary plays, so if you're anywhere near Ontario you really should make an effort to stop by and see a couple shows. 

(I should note that the Stratford Festival is not bribing me to shamelessly promote their season. I genuinely think they're awesome and super-fun.)