A stick-figure Shakespeare comic by Mya Lixian Gosling
This is it. This is my goofy little favorite Dream.
This is the 1968 Peter Hall/RSC production and it is a glorious mess. Technically it's a shambles: the audio and video quality are fairly atrocious. However, the performances are golden. Helen Mirren and Diana Rigg are probably my all-time favorite Hermia and Helena, and there is no scenery because Ian Holm has eaten it.
Just thinking about today’s 30 Days of Shakespeare pick makes me giggle.
I think the only times I’ve been less than enchanted by any production of Pyramus & Thisbe is when they’ve tried to turn it into something besides a disastrous amateur dramatic performance. This is not the time to be using art to explore issues of class disparity in Tudor England. This is the time to laugh immoderately because Snug missed his cue, or Flute’s wig fell off, or Peter Quince had a nervous breakdown. Take your social commentary somewhere else, please, and just let me enjoy this ridiculous, stupid moment.
If you’re in the Ann Arbor area, stop by Booksweet bookshop at 1pm on April 23 to hear me do a Q&A on Shakespeare adaptations and other fun Shakespeare-related things! Because it’s Shakespeare’s birthday! Details here.
Aaaand we’re back! Thanks for your patience.
Consulting pocket dramaturg: Kate Pitt
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like everyone is doing R&J right now. Also, I’m OK with never seeing Lear again in my life.
The final installment of my remastered Shakespearean Selfies! It’s been super fun to revisit and update these. I’ll have to do some more soon…
Consulting pocket dramaturg: Kate Pitt
And here’s the original:
If you’ve enjoyed this, make sure you check out Shakespearean Selfies, part 6, which didn’t really need to be remastered.
Sure, maybe you remember my scene-by-scene adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but do you remember the time I re-enacted the Rude Mechanicals using Star Wars action figures?
Well, luckily for you the Midsummer Night’s Dream play page is open for business!
OK, let’s put A Midsummer Night’s Dream to bed. If you haven’t been paying attention for the last couple of months, here’s what you missed:
And that’s that!
I’m taking next week off to re-group, and then will be taking ALL of March off to work on some very important projects that I’ve kept putting off. But fear not! I will be posting highlights from my archives and from Patreon here to keep you at least marginally entertained during my fallow period. Thanks for understanding!
OK! Time to add up all the deaths and marriages that took place during A Midsummer Night’s Dream and determine if it’s a comedy or a tragedy!
OK, those “deaths” totally don’t count, so this is definitely a comedy.
Tune in on THursday when we wrap this play up for good!
WE MADE IT
That does it for A Stick Figure Midsummer Night’s Dream! Well… almost. Tune in next week for a couple more wrap-up comics!
