"Nighted Colour" Friday Sale!

November 27, 2015

Cast thy nighted color off and take up some cut-price Shakespeare gifts in the Good Tickle Brain Nighted Colour Friday Sale! From now until Monday, everything in the Good Tickle Shoppe is 20% off. Stock up on the Complete Works of Shakespeare, now in comic book, t-shirt, and tote-bag form:

Or peruse our brand new range of Shakespeare/Burbage campaign goods:

And various other silly Shakespeare gifts:

It’s the perfect time to pick up a gift for the Shakespeare geek in your life, especially if that Shakespeare geek happens to be YOU. All sale proceeds will go to support the operation of your (hopefully) favorite Shakespeare stick figure webcomic.

Visit the Good Tickle Shoppe today!

Macbeth, part 21

November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. readers! Today I'm thankful for periodic plot expositions.

While this scene is basically plot exposition, I'm very fond of it. First of all, Lennox's report is just FULL of eye-rolls. You can practically hear him rolling his eyes as he says things like:

And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late;
Whom, you may say, if't please you, Fleance kill'd,
For Fleance fled: men must not walk too late.

It also serves another purpose: the fact that Lennox feels the need to dress up his criticism of Macbeth in seeming praise shows how much Macbeth's reign has devolved into a reign of fear.

Remember, everything in the Good Tickle Shoppe is 20% off starting tomorrow!

Macbeth, part 20

November 24, 2015

THE STORY SO FAR: Macbeth has rather proactively fulfilled the witches' prophecy that he would become king of Scotland. But what do the witches think of it all?

There is a general consensus that this scene was actually written by Shakespeare's contemporary and occasional collaborator, Thomas Middleton, and then inserted into Macbeth after Shakespeare's death, presumably to up the showy occult factor. It is so rarely included in performance that I don't think I've actually ever seen it. Have you seen Hecate? Report on it in the comments!

"Nighted Colour" Sale Starts Friday!

In general I like to spend the days after Thanskgiving at home with my family, relaxing, reading, and shaking my head at the hordes of people thronging the streets in search of good Black Friday sales. However, as I am now apparently a small business owner, I feel compelled to flow with the tide of crass seasonal commercialism. And so..

Everything in the Good Tickle Shoppe will be
20% off from November 27-30!

I will also be adding some new products to me store at this time, specifically a Complete Works tote bag and Shakespeare/Burbage campaign t-shirts, tote bags, and bumper stickers! How exciting is that?!? I'm picking them up from the printer this week, and they should be available for purchase on Friday. Here's a sneak peek:

All in all, this is going to be a great weekend to pick up a holiday gift for the Shakespearean geek(s) in your life while simultaneously supporting Good Tickle Brain's continued operations! Remember to check out my holiday shipping deadlines, and thanks for your support!

Macbeth, part 19

November 19, 2015

If you're seeing things running through your head, who can you call?

I love Banquo's ghost. He's one of the most dramatic ghosts out there, popping up all covered in blood and totally invisible to everyone else. I absolutely love the line "Never shake thy gory locks at me!" and try to use it in everyday conversation as often as possible, which is not easy given the general lack of gory lock-shaking that happens on a day-to-day basis.

As far as staging is concerned, there's always a question of whether or not the audience should see Banquo's ghost. After all, nobody else at the dinner can see it. In Ian McKellen's version, Banquo is completely invisible and, for all we know, entirely a product of Macbeth's guilty and disintegrating mind. McKellen goes full-throttle crazy here, and is almost uncomfortable to watch. Very effective.

Ian McKellen's Macbeth

In the production starring Patrick Stewart, director Rupert Goold decided to split the difference. The banquet scene was staged twice, once before intermission and once afterwards. Before intermission, Banquo was visible. After intermission... he was not. In the filmed version they accommodate this by cutting between visible and invisible Banquo.

Patrick Stewart's Macbeth

The winner of the "gory locks" award goes, unsurprisingly, to Roman Polanski's film.

Jon Finch's Macbeth

Now THOSE are gory locks.

Macbeth, part 18

November 17, 2015

THE STORY SO FAR: Macbeth has murdered his way to the throne, but he's unhappy because, according to the weird sisters' prophecy, the throne will eventually pass not to his children, but to Banquo's children. So Macbeth arranges for Banquo and his son Fleance to meet with an "accident". The kind of "accident" that involves sharp, pointy objects.

If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?

Macbeth, part 17

November 12, 2015

It's been a while since we had our last murder. Let's fix that.

Don't ask me who the hooded and masked third murderer is. Nobody really knows. He could just be some random thug hired by Macbeth to boost their number, but directors tend to have more fun with him. In Roman Polanski's film adaptation, he's actually the slippery Thane of Ross, cementing his position as Macbeth's henchman-in-chief. In many other productions he's Seyton, Macbeth's loyal servant, sent along to keep an eye on proceedings. Whoever he is, he's not very nice.

Anyways... bye-bye, Banquo! Tune in next week, when... *flips quickly through play* ...Banquo comes back??? Oooooooo....

In other news, I am really excited to have designed some Team York/Team Lancaster bumpers stickers for the American Shakespeare Center's ongoing Wars of the Roses play cycle! You can get them now at the ASC's online gift shop.

Macbeth, part 16

November 10, 2015

The Story So Far: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have murdered King Duncan and seized the crown. However, they are not happy because it is not their children, but Banquo's children who are prophesied to one day become kings of Scotland. What to do, what to do....

This scene has a couple fun things to watch out for. It's the first time we really see cracks in Lady Macbeth's hitherto formidable armor. She's suddenly very uncertain. Part of this is undoubtedly because Macbeth has been pulling steadily out of her orbit. His refusal here to tell her about his plan to assassinate Banquo is a milestone in their relationship.

Macbeth also sounds increasingly unhinged in this scene. MURDER DOESN'T PAY, kids. Just keep that in mind.