Help with Shakespeare trivia

Cafe Society
21

In addition to Viola, Imogen in Cymbeline becomes page to the Roman general Lucius and accompanies him into battle, so it would certainly be plausible to have her handle a sword in performance, even though it’s not specifically mentioned in the text.

Cymbeline also has a totally goofy ghost scene in which all of Posthumus’s deceased family members pay him a visit, so it provides yet another answer to #3.

Any scene in Antony and Cleopatra that isn’t set in Rome (and Cleopatra is plenty seductive).

Do they have to interact? If not, Mamillius and Perdita in A Winter’s Tale would qualify (but he dies shortly after her birth, so they don’t have any scenes together). And there are Anne and William Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, but they don’t have much onstage interaction either. Imogen has a rather sweet scene with her two long-lost brothers (seriously, Cymbeline has everything!) although they don’t know they’re siblings at the time. Of course, none of this is exactly “well-known play” territory…

Do you want an interpretation that is so cliched and just-plain-dumb that most actors would shudder at it even though it’s popular with the general public, or one where there are multiple, reasonable ways to play it, but people tend to be so convinced theirs is the One True Way that they’ll fight over it? I’d vote for Oedipal Hamlet for the first one, and “exactly how sexist (or not) is The Taming of the Shrew?” for the second.

22

I recently saw a production of Hamlet in which Rosencranz and Guildenstern were women (and pretty evidently lovers), which gives a very interesting tone to the scene after the Players, especially given his blunt friskiness with Ophelia.

Stranger

23

This is a very good one. Another good one might be to have someone say “Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him well.” The correct quote is “Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio.”
Most people who are reasonably familiar with William Shakespeare know that he died on his birthday. It isn’t strictly true; we know the date of his baptism, and so we can infer his birthdate, but not with total certainty. What many people don’t know is that Shakespeare, probably the greatest English writer of his age, died on the same day in the same year as Miguel de Cervantes, probably the greatest Spanish writer of his age.

24

They both died on April 23, 1616. But at the time England was using the Julian calendar and Spain was on the Gregorian calendar, so Cervantes actually died ten days before Shakespeare. The really tantalizing connection between the two is that Shakespeare may have adapted some of Cervantes’ work in Cardenio. But the play, or at least anything that may have been written by Shakespeare, is lost. The thought of Shakespeare writing for Don Quixote and Sancho is something to be wondered at.

25

Katherina and Bianca are sisters, unless the production changes genders.

26

The theme song from the second series of Slings and Arrows - "Sorry; I won’t play ‘Makkers’ " About 1:15 in, unless you want to catch Eric Peterson (Brent Butt’s father from ‘Corner Gas’, among other accomplishments) in his cameo as the psychotic school teacher.

27
  1. Titus Andronicus features Lavinia plus at least four of her brothers (Lucius, Quintus, Martius, Mutius).
28

Hamlet kissing his mom. It’s not in the play.

29

A really fat Cordelia?

30

A Winter’s Tale has the famous stage direction “Exit, pursued by a Bear”.

Obviously, then, the actors onstage have a bear behind. :smiley:

I was going to suggest Richard III seduction of Lady Anne, but NAF1138 beat me to it.

31

Hijack: I highly recommend that series to anyone and everyone.

32

Means’t thou to enjoy him? Lear

33

Who is the 3rd Murderer? Macbeth

Enobarbus dies, how exactly? Anthony & Cleo

Shakespeare a Catholic?

34

There are no bad quartos, only misunderstood little books.

35

Complaints about the historical accuracy of the plays perhaps. There’s a whole society dedicated to redeeming Richard IIIfor instance. While it’s true that anything historically accurate in the plays is coincidental their truth value is totally unnecessary and would probably cause many to groan.

People who confuse the movie Shakespeare in Love with a biography of Shakespeare (and I’m sure some exist) probably would.

Directors who want a memorable new take on Shakespeare so they do something that’s far more gimmick than innovative. (“Let’s set ROMEO & JULIET in Nazi Germany!” or “A lesbian production of TAMING OF THE SHREW!”).

I recently watched Me and Orson Welles (great performance by McKay as Welles incidentally) in which Orson’s late 1930s radio production of HAMLET was mentioned. He had to condense the play to an hour so he cut the To Be or Not to Be soliloquy, stating that dramatically it was the most expendable part of the play. Since Hamlet if shown in its entirety can easily run four hours most productions are edited but his is the only one I’ve heard of that struck that one- I can see that causing massive groans.

Misattribution would probably bother Shakespearean enthusiasts. I’ve heard "Music hath charm to soothe the savage b[r]east"or “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” and lots of other familiar adages attributed to him by public figures over the years when in fact none were from his writings.

Somebody praising Mel Gibson’s Hamlet or saying West Side Story is better than Romeo & Juliet perhaps. Really dedicated Shakespeareans are very prejudiced as well: every famous Shakespearean actor has many detractors who claim he’s murdering the Bard. Praise Kenneth Branagh or John Gielgud or Maurice Evans and you’ll have some in the group sigh “ah, the greatest” while others will insist “ugh! What a total ham!”

36
  1. What are some of the well-known brother-sister roles, besides Viola and Sebastian?
    Laertes and Ophelia, Hamlet
37

Putting any Shakespeare play in a Nazi-type setting has turned into a groan inducing cliche in its own right. That’s not to say nobody should do it or it can’t be done well - Orson Welles did a facist Julius Caesar that was supposed to be great, and Ian MacKellen’s Richard III is amazing - just that it’s an obvious choice and an unoriginal one.

38

So I’m not the only weirdo! It’s one of my favorite scenes in all of Shakespeare not just my favorite seduction.

I particularly love this bit. Richard and Anne are talking usually over the coffin of Anne’s dead husband, who they both know Richard just had murdered. Anne hates him and says she wants him dead, so Richard hands her his sword and kneels in front of her asking him to kill him because* he loves her that much*.

This exchange follows:

For my money that’s the best back and forth between two characters in Shakespeare. He has better monologues and soliloquies, but I don’t think there is a better 2 person dialogue scene.

39

Thanks for the tip. I’ve watched the first four and I love them. A very nice balance of comedy and drama underscored by a real love of theatre and acting.

Now I, too, recommend it.

40

Groaner that has come up for me as a former working actor regarding Shakespeare is the idea that “Wherefore” means “Where” and not “Why”. It will drive experienced Shakespearian actors up a wall.

I have seen an argument arise between actors about whether Tybalt and Lady Capulet were cuckolding Lord Capulet.

Of course, there are the arguments on how to perform Shakespeare in the modern theater. More tension will come out of that than almost any other thing regarading Shakespeare. In fact at one time major violence (roving gangs) shut down performances in the U.S. that were not done in the acting style that they agreed with).

One of the best sources on all things Shakespeare is the book, Shakespeare 101.