King Lear: Dramatis Personae

King Lear
Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5
2.1 | 2.2 (part 1) | 2.2, part 2
3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6

Yes, it's time once again to embark on an epic scene-by-scene, in-depth look at a Shakespeare play. This time, ahead of the National Theater's live broadcast of their production, starring Simon Russell Beale, and the Stratford Festival's upcoming production, starring Colm Feore, not to mention Michael Pennington's current production in New York, I will be taking us through the wasteland of King Lear. 

I'll be posting a new scene from King Lear every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until it's done, with possible occasional interludes not involving sad, insane old men and their vindictive, manipulative daughters, for comic relief. Because a solid month of Lear might drive me insane. 

Onwards!

King Lear
Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5
2.1 | 2.2 (part 1) | 2.2, part 2
3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6

Till a Richard Killed Who?

So, the BBC announced it will be filming Henry VI and Richard III as a follow-up to their Hollow Crown series. Excitement!

I love Shakespeare's history plays. Henry V was my first real Shakespeare love, and when the Royal Shakespeare Company stopped by my hometown of Ann Arbor, MI in 2001 to put on the first history play tetralogy (the three parts of Henry VI, followed by Richard III), I nearly flipped out with excitement. I had never seen the Henry VI plays before, but I had a vague sense of the history involved and was really eager to see it come to life. 

We watched all three parts of Henry VI in a single day (which was hard on the posterior, but great for the soul), followed by Richard III on the next day. In that performance of Richard III I heard a fantastic passage that is often cut, but which so perfectly encapsulated the entirety of the tetralogy. Here it is, featuring Margaret of Anjou, the Duchess of York, and Queen Elizabeth:

It's hysterical. It's just an endless litany of Edwards and Richards and Henrys getting killed by each other. That's the Wars of the Roses for you. Here's the full text:

MARGARET
If ancient sorrow be most reverend,
Give mine the benefit of seniory,
And let my woes frown on the upper hand.
If sorrow can admit society,
Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine:
I had an Edward, till a Richard killed him;
I had a husband, till a Richard killed him:
Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard killed him;
Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard killed him;

DUCHESS OF YORK
I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him;
I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st to kill him.

QUEEN MARGARET
Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard killed him.
From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept
A hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death:

Anyways, after watching that marathon RSC performance (which you can read about in actor Nick Asbury's book, Exit Pursued by a Badger, which I highly recommend) I quickly read up on all the history behind the Henrys and Edwards and Richards, which was in many ways even more ludicrous than what Shakespeare put on stage. The Histories have been my favorite plays ever since.

See you on Monday! It's going to be LEAR time!

Very Tiny Classics: Beowulf

Saturday was Mini-Comics Day at my local university library. I really enjoy making mini-comics, especially as the limited nature of my artistic talent works very well with the limited nature of the format. At last year's Mini-Comics Day I debuted the first of my very-slowly-ongoing Shakespearean What-Ifs series. I was tempted to continue my work on that series at this year's event, but decided to take a break from Shakespeare and tackle another great Anglo-Saxon classic.

Yes, it's Beowulf time! Before we proceed, I must admit several things:

  1. I never had to read Beowulf in school. (What's up with that, Mrs. Graff?)

  2. I have never seen any of the films based on Beowulf.

  3. I have never read any of the novels or comics based on Beowulf.

  4. I first read Beowulf about two weeks ago, when, on a whim, I picked up Seamus Heaney's translation of it in a local bookshop.

  5. My only previous exposure to Beowulf consists of a couple episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess, in which Xena helps Beowulf kill Grendel because Beowulf can't handle it on his own.

So, you must realize that I am in no way well-versed (unintentional pun alert!) in all things Beowulf. Having said that, I think I managed to capture the essence of the epic in the following pages:

20130324-S-Beowulf.jpg

If you want to print out and fold your very own Tiny Classics edition of Beowulf, download this pdf, print it out at full scale, and then follow these incomprehensible instructions to fold it into an adorable little mini-comic. To see more of my mini-comics, go here.

To learn more about the extremely fun art of mini-comics, check out these resources. Mini-comics are super-fun to make and distribute. Don't let your perceived lack of artistic talent stop you from giving them a try. If I did that, I would never have started this website in the first place. Stick-figure mini-comics for everyone!

The Adventures of Lego Shakespeare, part 1

A little bit of a lazy post from me today, whilst I prepare myself to tackle King Lear next month. If you follow me on Twitter or on Facebook, you'll know that one of my friends recently acquired a Lego Shakespeare mini-figure for me, after much trial, error, and cunning. Naturally, I was really excited to see what sort of antics Lego Shakespeare could get up to, and have been posting the results sporadically on my various social media outlets. So, for those of you too wise and sensible to be on Twitter and Facebook, here are the results so far:

Lego Shakespeare's debut! Of course there had to be a bear involved. There always has to be a bear involved. 

I woke up one morning to find that The Globe, Hollow Crown Fans, and various other prominent Shakespearean Twitter accounts were encouraging people to post photos of their Shakespeare books. Decades ago, I had bought a very tiny copy of Henry V - my favorite play - which I used to carry around with me as a sort of Shakespearean security blanket. I managed to find it and had Lego Shakespeare pose for a photo with it, for scale.

I quickly discovered a challenging aspect of setting up Lego Shakespeare photo-shoots: finding things for him to interact with that aren't too big for the frame. I originally staged this with a paring knife, but it was so big that only the handle itself fit into the frame and you couldn't really tell what it was. So I substituted a teaspoon instead. The end result was funnier, because anything involving the word "spoon" is automatically funny. 

This has been the never-ending winter here in the Midwest (and across most of North America). So when I woke up to another four inches of freshly-fallen snow, I though it was the ideal time to take Lego Shakespeare outdoors. Unfortunately, Lego Shakespeare is not four inches tall, and was quickly overwhelmed.

Undaunted, Lego Shakespeare commandeered a T-47 snowspeeder and returned to the great icy wilderness. (In case you're wondering, the original quote is "Hath no man's dagger here a point for me?" See, "hath" sounds like the ice planet "Hoth" from Star Wars, so... hey, I said it was a terrible pun.)

This is my favorite Lego Shakespeare installment so far. I posted it, appropriately enough, on the Ides of March. It still makes me giggle, which probably says a bit too much about my psyche. (Also, note the stealth pun in "severity"... I'm quite proud of that one.)

These little tiny eranthis are always the first flowers to emerge at the beginning of spring, often coming up under the snow. Sure enough, when the snow around here finally started to melt, I spotted lots of squished-looked eranthis buds bravely poking up through the leaf cover. HOPE. That's what it is. 

Also, I am going to make a bold statement and say that nobody can sing "Hey ding a ding ding" without sounding incredibly silly. Anyone want to debate that point with me?

That's it from me today! My apologies to my Twitter and Facebook followers for not having anything new and exciting today. Tune in again next week, when "new and exciting" will be back on the menu, possibly featuring some more Shakespearean Selfies! 

Three-Panel Plays, part 19

This is it! The final installment of Three-Panel Plays! As Bottom would say, "alack, alack, alack". They've been a lot of fun to do.

There are only two plays that I have not seen live on stage. One is, ironically, Richard II; I have seen numerous film and filmed stage performances of it, but I missed it when it was last on at the Stratford Festival and haven't found a conveniently-located production of it since. The other is The Two Noble Kinsmen, which I have neither seen (even on screen) or read. I don't think that will change anytime soon.

20140319-S-Winter'sTale3Panels.jpg

OK, so remember how I had a hard time drawing donkey-heads? Drawing bears is even harder. I guess that looks more or less like a bear, but I thought I'd better label it just to make sure.

That's the end of my Three-Panel Plays! I've got some random stuff lined up for Friday and next week, but starting in April I'll be embarking on another scene-by-scene adventure.... this time of King Lear! Oh, this is going to be barrels of fun!

See all Three-Panel Plays here!

Three-Panel Plays, part 18

It's the penultimate edition of my Three-Panel Plays! 

Probably my favorite comedy. It's just so much fun. I'll eventually get around to giving it the full scene-by-scene treatment, but until then, here are a couple of Twelfth Night themed comics I posted earlier:

20140317-S-TwoGentlemen3Panels.jpg

Of course, ever since Shakespeare in Love, this play is better know as "the one with the dog in it". I left the dog out, due to space constraints. I hope the dog will forgive me.

Tune in tomorrow for that mostly-Shakespeare play, The Two Noble Kinsmen, and that mostly-a-comedy-but-also-not-quite play, The Winter's Tale! 

See all Three-Panel Plays here!

Three-Panel Plays, part 17

The third-to-the-last installment of my Three-Panel Plays series is upon us! My, how time flies when one is having fun. 

I hope you won't judge me unkindly, but out of all thirty-eight plays, this was easily my favorite one to draw.

I saw a fantastic performance of Troilus and Cressida at the Stratford Festival back in 2003. I don't actually remember much about it, except Patroclus full-frontal flashed Odysseus, Paris and Helen got it on on-stage, and there were lots of people running around with spears. It was a lot of fun. 

We're almost done! Come back on Monday for Twelfth Night and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. 

See all Three-Panel Plays here!