Hey! If, like my parents, you’re not on Twitter but are interested in reliving my experience at the Blackfriars Conference last week, I’ve collected my main tweets on the subject here for your convenience. You’ll notice I had a strong focus on bears, as opposed to, you know, scholarly insight. If you want to read more about all the fantastic scholars and practitioners who presented at the conference, check out the American Shakespeare Center blog coverage.
For a quick overview of the conference (and a sneaky photo of yours truly checking her phone like a boss), check out this article: Blackfriars Conference brings hundreds of Shakespearians to Staunton.
And now! On to business! Or should I said… on to bearsness? (No, I definitely should not say that…)
The majestic Blackfriars Bear, infamous enforcer of presentation time limits, in its natural habitat.
Day 1
On my way to #blackfriars19 at @shakespearectr! I usually wear my own t-shirts to conferences, for brand recognition purposes, but this time you'll have to recognize me from the succession of bear-themed t-shirts I'll be wearing. One for every day! 🐻
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 22, 2019
Is there a #BlackfriarsBear hashtag? There should be. I'm starting it.
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 22, 2019
#Blackfriars19 Day 1 Report: Reunited with my trusty pocket dramaturg @KatePitt and many other dear Shakespeare geek friends. Wore this bear-themed shirt. #BlackfriarsBear pic.twitter.com/c90D9tQgFF
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 23, 2019
Day 2
Very much enjoying the #Blackfriars19 "Staging Eavesdropping in Shakespeare" session and seeing different riffs on the R&J balcony scene played out. As someone who's never in a rehearsal room, it's super illuminating to see the effect of staging on the text.
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 23, 2019
This was a REALLY fascinating take explored in the #Blackfriars19 "Staging Eavesdropping" session. I've only ever seen Juliet become aware of Romeo at "I take thee at thy word" and it was so cool to see what happens when she catches on earlier. https://t.co/kMKO9l5DML
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 23, 2019
I enjoyed this staging choice. https://t.co/35PrvYB71q
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 23, 2019
THE BEAR FINALLY STRUCK. #Blackfriars19 #BlackfriarsBear
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 23, 2019
An excellent plot, very good friends. #blackfriars19 https://t.co/sBYgQ6IHBi
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 24, 2019
#Blackfriars19 Day 2 Report: Met the legendary #BlackfriarsBear at last. The score from today's paper sessions was Presenters 11, Bear 1, but I'm confident the Bear will catch up in the days ahead. pic.twitter.com/r5d7MIXJnQ
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 24, 2019
Rounded off the evening with a very bizarre but hysterical performance of "Caesar & Cleopatra". Can honestly say I've never seen a Shaw production quite like that.
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 24, 2019
Day 3
My favorite thing about #blackfriars19 (apart from the #BlackfriarsBear, of course) are the papers that use @shakespearectr actors to illustrate points. The perfect intersection of academia and practice. pic.twitter.com/2VBRzylSEA
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 24, 2019
Do the professional conferences YOU go to have dance-offs between presenters and the bear who is sent out to enforce presentation time limits? No? Then you're living your life wrong. #Blackfriars19 #BlackfriarsBear @shakespearectr pic.twitter.com/xV1dpjLdfI
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 24, 2019
Carnage at the Blackfriars this afternoon. Conferences are dangerous business. #blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/NxqKojlcpi
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 24, 2019
Chaos breaks out during the honorific of Roz Knutson at #Blackfriars19. pic.twitter.com/axzyIToMVq
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 24, 2019
Today's #Blackfriars19 score report:
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 24, 2019
Presenters 12, #BlackfriarsBear 5
#Blackfriars19 Day 3 Report: Witnessed five brutal bear attacks, rocked out to Ophelia singing "Papa Don't Preach", and watched a bunch of goobers stab themselves (aka "Julius Caesar"). Typical Thursday.
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
I'M RUNNING A WORKSHOP AT #BLACKFRIARS19 IN LESS THAN TWELVE HOURS AND AM EXTREMELY TIRED AND ALSO WIDE AWAKE CAN ANYONE REMIND ME HOW TO SLEEP PLEASE I'VE FORGOTTEN
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
Day 4
CRAP I JUST REALIZED MY #BLACKFRIARS19 WORKSHOP IS ON **ST CRISPIN'S DAY** TALK ABOUT UNREASONABLE EXPECTATIONS AHHHHH https://t.co/hlOf3J4jxf
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
”'Interstices', 'solipsistic', and 'semiotics'... I'll get 'em all three all ready.” (Cartoonist at a Conference, Act 3, Scene 1) #Blackfriars19
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
Two deaths already at #Blackfriars19 this morning, thanks to Matthew Davis's marvelously-titled paper "Strange Ways to Die: Some Meditations on Non-Biological Causes of Death in Shakespeare". pic.twitter.com/pSerV8MAHH
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
18th Century actor Spranger Barry described by presenter Chelsea Phillips as a "legit snack".
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
This is the kind of cutting edge analysis you get at #Blackfriars19 and I am here for it. pic.twitter.com/SqlFaOOgJM
"If we go by Elizabethan life expectancy, more than half of you would be dead by now." @shakespearectr artistic director Ethan McSweeny on "authentic" original practices. #Blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/j7rqcmCGW5
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
Doing it with the lights on, @shakespearectr Original Practices style, with an actual OVERHEAD PROJECTOR. #Blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/TCQ5dnNwBC
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
Stick-figure Shakespeare. Intimidatingly fabulous. @GoodTickleBrain #blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/qc9eNGtFA7
— Sarah (@ASC_Sarahe) October 25, 2019
@GoodTickleBrain “so many people ask why my stick figures don’t have noses. It’s because you don’t act with your nose.” #blackfriars19
— Dr. Danielle Rosvally (@DRosvally) October 25, 2019
Mya Gosling @GoodTickleBrain, being a total boss, leading her workshop, Shakespeare in Three Panels: the Art of Early Modern Stick Figures #blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/K0V9hz75BK
— Kate Moncrief (@KateMoncrief) October 25, 2019
REALLY ENJOYING @AdmitMeChorus's paper on how Shakespeare geeks interact with Shakespeare performances as opposed to "normal" audiences who don't laugh at "quondam". #Blackfriars19
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
Body count at #Blackfriars19 is mounting. @richardmpreiss responsible for the senseless deaths of three more actors. pic.twitter.com/EeI8UuoSvA
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
Edmund: "Which of them shall I take? Both? One? Neither?"
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
Audience Member: "KILL THEM BOTH AND TAKE THEIR MONEY"@liarwalzak on the unpredictable joys of Audience Activation. #Blackfriars19
Even more effective that Chekov's Gun is Shakespeare's Laundry Basket. (From Sid Ray's paper on cueing laughter in "Merry Wives".) #Blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/l1Pg7wWAVR
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
The badass @DRosvally leading a colloquy on the language of violence in Shakespeare. #Blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/H12aRnSGJX
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
The colloquy on the language of violence, held in the basement of Blackfriars, is playing out over the sound of violent thumps coming from "The Devil's Charter" staging session above.
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
There's something to be said about this but I can't quite figure it what it is. #Blackfriars19
ONLY ONE BEAR TODAY. Do better tomorrow, #Blackfriars19 presenters. (So tragic to watch a disappointed #BlackfriarsBear peeking despondently through the curtains.)
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 25, 2019
#Blackfriars19 Day 4 Report: Had great fun running my 3-panel workshop, learned a lot from all the awesome people who came, and then watched @fightguy stab himself rather ineffectively, but to great effect in "Antony & Cleopatra".
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
Presenters 17, Bear 1. 😒
Day 5
.@OSShakespeare shares some great data from @shakespearectr showing people drink more while watching Shakespeare's histories than while watching comedies or tragedies. #blackfriars19
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
That's it. That's Shakespeare. https://t.co/IMopGIlJOi
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
I love conferences because you encounter words in new and exciting orders you never imagined, like "newly-enfranchised body part messenger" (from Steven Urkowitz's paper on the beheading of Suffolk). https://t.co/9MniFkkl6j #blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/ADjzhLn7V6
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
I regret to inform you that Professor Urkowitz was brutally mauled by the #BlackfriarsBear shortly after this. #blackfriars19
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
Bob Jones brilliantly co-opts the #BlackfriarsBear to demonstrate the power of paws in Shakespeare.
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
*checks notes*
I'm sorry, that should be "pause". #blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/OWoEXRjIUi
I just realized Prof. Kozusko is from Ursinus College and now I'm VERY MAD that he wasn't chased offstage by the #BlackfriarsBear. Talk about a missed opportunity. #blackfriars19
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
SAA president Katherine Rowe, delivering her keynote address, worries about antagonizing the #BlackfriarsBear before being reassured by Ralph Cohen that "the bear is on hold" for keynotes. #blackfriars19
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
Enjoying @thehiddenroom's crew exploring 19th century acting styles, here comparing the more refined gestures of Edwin Booth with those of his sightly less subtle brother, John Wilkes. #blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/NXbLDtsyGe
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
Following Garrick's guide to depicting terror (left) and flowing through Restoration-era Goneril gestures (right) with @thehiddenroom. #Blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/fSWpABplH3
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
#Blackfriars19: the only conference where you will hear esteemed academics say "oh god, oh god, I know that bear's coming" in panicked tones near the end of their papers.
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
Honestly not sure how the #BlackfriarsBear is going to top this assault on Professor Steven Urkowitz. #Blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/RK0zvbypOD
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 26, 2019
Day 6
.@mollytheharper demonstrates how to fend off the #BlackfriarsBear... IF you happen to be taller than it. #blackfriars19 pic.twitter.com/A9wkLp6UUu
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 27, 2019
The last #Blackfriars19 paper session is over, and the final score is:
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 27, 2019
Presenters 50#BlackfriarsBear 13
(This only counts full interruptions, not frustrating incidents when the bear arrived jusssst as the presenter ended.)
They say you should never met your heroes, but, in this case, they are wrong. #Blackfriars19 #BlackfriarsBear pic.twitter.com/Eoqi7X7J0C
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 27, 2019
Final event of #Blackfriars19, the Emerging Scholar keynote, and @KatieNWalker is demonstrating that "emerging scholar" means "scholar who is able to effectively deploy memes to get her point across".
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 27, 2019
I too had a wonderful first #Blackfriars19 at @shakespearectr. Check out my pocket dramaturg @KatePitt's conference tweets for all the non-bear-related joys we experienced. https://t.co/oUH3JUcan9
— Good Tickle Brain (@GoodTickleBrain) October 27, 2019