The Stratford 2018 Season... in 3 Panels!

It's that time of year again... The Stratford Festival's opening is just around the corner and it's time to take a look at their playbill for the season. Here we go! 

First up we have a classic musical that needs no introduction.

Then some Shakespeare! This production of The Tempest has a female Prospero, so... ignore the beard. 

Then it's everybody's favorite sci-fi/comedy/horror rock musical! 

Then a stage adaptation of a classic book. 

The following is possibly the production I'm most excited about. By all accounts this is going to be an extremely cinematic and visually stunning production of an underrated Shakespeare play. 

Let's lighten things up with some Oscar Wilde. No, not the one with the handbag. It's the one with all the letters. 

I knew nothing about the following Italian play, which is getting a new translation at Stratford this season. It seems to be half rollicking riotous comedy and half cynical dark comedy. Either way, I'm looking forward to it. 

This season's production of Julius Caesar features some great gender-neutral casting, with Caesar and Cassius, among others, being played by female actors. Very excited about this.  

DISCLAIMER. The following two plays are NEW plays, which means I don't have any idea what they will actually be like. What I do know, though, is the source material they are based upon. And so I present....

...and, with a similarly literary bent, we have...

One more Shakespeare! This one looks like it's going to be quite the production, with male/female Antipholi and Dromios. 

Finally we have this entry from what I call "The American Canon of Miserable Families Being Miserable", by Eugene O'Neill. 

SOUNDS LIKE FUN!

But in all seriously, I'm very much looking forward to this season at the Stratford Festival. Maybe I'll see you there! 

The Coriolanus Death Clock

I'm on vacation this week at the Stratford Festival, so this week's death clocks will be ones with lower body counts. Let's start with everybody's favorite blood-soaked warrior...

Given how much violence is talked about in Coriolanus, it's quite surprisingly to realize that only one named character actually dies. Of course, it happens to be the title character...

If you want more Good Tickle Brain action this week, take a peek at my Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram, where I'm posting updates on my adventures in Stratford, Ontario. 

Shakespearean Selfies, part 5

Time for some more Shakespearean Selfies! 

Exit, Pursued by a Bear: Coriolanus Edition

What would you do if you were confronted by a wild bear, as poor old Antigonus was in The Winter's Tale? I've already speculated as to what Hamlet's response would be. At the other end of the spectrum we have everyone's favorite psychopathic warrior, Coriolanus.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, BEAR.

Elections

As most of you probably know, the U.S. held its midterm elections yesterday. I generally aim to keep post-Stuart politics off of this blog, but I thought it might be fun to interview some of our favorite characters and find out what issues were important to them in this election. 

It turns out none of them are U.S. citizens, and thus are ineligible to vote, so this entire comic was an exercise in futility. Oh well. 

Three-Panel Plays, part 3

It's time for some more "editing with extreme prejudice" in the third installment of my Three-Panel Plays series! 

Oh no, it's Coriolanus again. I'm pretty sure we're all very familiar with Coriolanus now, thank you very much. 

Cymbeline is such a busy play that I had to chop out 90% of it to make it fit in three panels. I'm now itching to do a full-length guide to Cymbeline, because it's an adorable play that deserves more than three panels and I love it. 

Stop by on Monday to see how I handle Hamlet and Henry IV, part 1 ! 

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See all Three-Panel Plays here!

Coriolanus: One Page Summary

Coriolanus

Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Death & Marriage | One Page Summary

Before we leave Coriolanus behind, here's a quick one-page summary of the entire play, for those of you who haven't been paying attention:

And that's a wrap for Coriolanus! Fear not - I am sure he will reappear in various other cartoons. 

Having run the marathon that was Coriolanus in an attempt to get through the entire play in time for the National Theatre live broadcast, I will now be returning to my more sedate Monday-Wednesday-Friday update schedule. Content will still be mostly Shakespeare-related, with the occasional non-Shakespeare one thrown in for variety's sake. 

As for the next Shakespeare play to get the full Tickle Brain treatment? Well, one of my friends just finished his run as Edgar in a local production of King Lear... and the National Theatre's current production of King Lear will be broadcast live in May... and I will be going to see the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's production of King Lear in August... so I think the universe is trying to tell me something.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! 

Coriolanus

Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Death & Marriage | One Page Summary

Coriolanus: Death and Marriage Totals

Coriolanus

Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Death & Marriage

It is a truth universally acknowledged that if a Shakespeare play ends with a lot of dead people, it's a tragedy, and if it ends with a lot of marriages, it's comedy. Let's see how Coriolanus measures up:

For a play that starts out so bloody, it's kind of surprising what a low death toll there actually is in the end. Aufidius doesn't massacre Volumnia and throw Young Martius from the walls of Rome, Virgilia doesn't eat hot coals, Menenius doesn't impale himself on a sword. It's relatively demure. In fact, the only other tragedy I can think of with such a low body count is Timon of Athens. 

Tune in again tomorrow, where I will be presenting a one-page summary of the entire play. 

Coriolanus

Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Death & Marriage