The Play's the Thing - How Many of the Bard's Plays Have You Seen Live?

Cafe Society
1

Not movies or on TV, but live in a theatre or a park?

My list is:

Comedies

• The Tempest (Regina)

• The Two Gentlemen of Verona (my first ever; nagged the parents to drive three hours to the Big City of Regina to see it; thanks, Mom and Dad!)

• The Comedy of Errors (at the Young Vic)

• Much Ado about Nothing (ahh, Beatrice, you witty girl! Regina)

• Love’s Labours Lost (The Globe)

• Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford Festival and also Moose Jaw)

• Merchant of Venice (Stratford Festival, Globe)

• As You Like It (Stratford)

• Twelfth Night (Regina)

• Winter’s Tale (New Haven and the Folger, Washington)

Histories

• Henry IV, Part 1 (New Haven, Stratford Featival)

• Henry IV, Part 2 (Stratford Featival)

• Henry V (Stratford Festival)

• Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3 (merged into two nights; Stratford Festival)

• Richard III (Stratford Festival)

Tragedies

• Romeo and Juliet (Regina)

• Timon of Athens (Stratford Festival)

• Macbeth (Saskatoon, Stratford Festival)

• Hamlet (Stratford Festival)

So that’s 19 out of the 36 in the First Folio.

2

I know I’ve forgotten some. These are what I can remember:

Macbeth (Broadway)

Richard II (London)

Richard III (BAM)

The following were all at Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theatre:

Twelfth Night

The Winter’s Tale

All’s Well That Ends Well

Measure For Measure

As You Like It

The Comedy of Errors

Much Ado About Nothing

King Lear

The Tempest

Cymbeline

The Taming of the Shrew

Troilus and Cressida

Julius Caesar

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

3

All of them except King John and 2 Henry IV (ironically, since I wrote large chunks of my dissertation about the latter).

Ooh, and it looks like Atlanta Shakespeare is doing King John in June! Maybe I’ll be able to get the life list down to one…

4

Romeo and Juliet, by my daughter’s high school production.

I’m sure I must have seen at least one other, but nothing comes to mind.

(I’ve read a lot of them though, I’m not completely uncivilized)

5

Let’s see…

*Romeo and Juliet

Hamlet

Macbeth

Twelfth Night

Taming of the Shrew

Much Ado About Nothing

Measure for Measure

Midsummer Night’s Dream

The Tempest
*

6

Are you fretful because the list is incomplete? Or is that just your normal hairstyle? :slight_smile:

7

The ones I recall, mostly performed by the National Shakespeare company:

Tragedy:
Othello, twice – once with Avery Brooks and once with Patrick Stewart as a white Othello with an otherwise black cast
Macbeth

Comedy:
A terrific staging of A Midsummer’s Night Dream
A Winter’s Tale
The Merry Wives of Windsor
A tedious Comedy of Errors that we didn’t stick around to see all of

History:
Richard II
King John
One part of the Henry IVs, I don’t remember which

I feel like I’m leaving something out, but none of the other plays listed by other people are ringing any bells.

8

I saw The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) in London, so I’m pretty much done. :wink:

I’ve seen a few in the original form:
[ul]
[li]Romeo And Juliet[/li][li]Macbeth[/li][li]A Midsummer Night’s Dream[/li][li]Hamlet[/li][li]The Taming of the Shrew[/li][li]King Lear[/li][/ul]

Also The Donkey Show which retells Midsummer Night’s Dream in disco format, and a few Shitfaced Shakespeare versions of the above list.

9

COMEDIES

All’s Well That Ends Well
As You Like It - 2x
Comedy of Errors - 3x
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Merchant of Venice
Midsummer Night’s Dream- 2x
Much Ado about Nothing -2x
Taming of the Shrew - 2x
Tempest -2x
Twelfth Night
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter’s Tale -2x
(going to see Measure for Measure this summer at APT!)

HISTORIES

Henry IV, Part I
Henry IV, Part II
Henry V
Pericles
Richard II
Richard III - 3x

TRAGEDIES

Coriolanus
Cymbeline
Hamlet - 3x
King Lear
Macbeth - 2x
Othello
Romeo and Juliet - 5x ( 3 plays, a ballet, and an opera)
Titus Andronicus - 2x
mc

10

Just the one: Antony and Cleopatra.

But I did see it in The Globe in London…so that’s pretty cool.

11

Technically, all of them (abridged).

But for full plays:

Hamlet
King Lear
As You Like it
Twelfth Night
Richard II

If you count musicals, The Taming of the Shrew.

The rest of my Shakespeare viewing was on TV or in movies.

12

I saw Romeo and Juliet at the Globe in London; I was a groundling and stood near the stage for the whole show. It was a long time ago but I remember it was in Portuguese; there were several acrobats, fire eaters, and other circus-y elements to it, and the balcony was a Volvo, I shit you not. When Juliet was standing on the roof of the car, she was up on the balcony.

I also saw Ralph Fiennes in Richard II, but honestly it felt like that one would never end, especially after seeing that awesome production of R&J.

13

I’ve only seen Macbeth

Ive done Hamlet, Coriolanus, Winter’s Tale, As You Like It, and Cymbeline.

14

I think I’ve only seen Love’s Labours Lost and A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the theatre (well, the former in the theatre, the latter in a park.) It’s possible I may be forgetting one or two, though.

15

Hmm, let’s see

**Macbeth

The Tempest** (Multiple times, including the version at American Reperetory Theater directed by Teller of Penn and Teller)

**Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Winter’s Tale

The Taming of the Shrew

The Merchant of Venice

Henry IV Part I

Anthony and Cleopatra

**

Plenty of others, I’m sure (I was a member of a group that put on Shakespeare), but I’m blanking on them now. I’ve seen lots of others on film
When she was about 10, our daughter MilliCal put on a version of a Midsummer Night’s Dream using her dolls and toys on a miniature stage she made. I photocopied pages from my Classics Illustrated edition for her to use.

16

Only Romeo and Juliet, Shitfaced version. Twice.

Not sure how much that counts.

17

It depends; are you talking about you or the actors?

18

So far:
The Tempest
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Measure for Measure
The Comedy of Errors
Much Ado About Nothing
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
The Taming of the Shrew
All’s Well That Ends Well
Twelfth Night
The Winter’s Tale
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Richard II
Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 2
Henry V
Richard III
Romeo and Juliet
Julius Caesar
Hamlet
King Lear
Othello

My recently adopted hometown of Ashland, Oregon is famed for its Shakespeare Festival. Now that I can walk to the theater, I hope to see all the rest of them over the next few years.

19

Does tech and house crew count, or are we talking paying audience only?

20

I saw Cymbeline, King Lear, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the OSF in 2013. I vaguely recall seeing a production of Hamlet in high school, but I may be misremembering—I know we watched a couple different versions on film so that may be what I’m thinking of.