I’d go with Measure for Measure as well (as one of the supposed “problem plays”) albeit acknowledging that it is hardly underdone, and with some additional layers of subtext that we now experience in the era of mass media looking for (and sometimes concocting) scandal for fun and profit, just as Vincentio sets up Angelo to first be overzealous and then hypocritical (and as revealed at the end of the play, all to his own creepy interest). The Oregon Shakespeare Festival put on an excellent production of the play a few years ago set in a Hispanic ghetto and a female mariachi band as sort of a Greek chorus which was outstanding.
Hamlet is still the best fucking comedy I’ve ever seen, though.
To brie, or not to brie: that is the question
Whether 'tis nobler in the rind to munch on
The bits and bites of a hasty repast,
Or to wait on unto outrageous luncheon,
And by forbearing lose weight? To fast: To pudge
No more; and with a fast to plan to end
The heart-pains and the thousand natural shocks
The fat are heir to, 'tis a consomme
Devoutly to be wished…
Moral: Even when you see a temptation to go soft, you have a clear choice.
I agree that this play is underrated compared to Hamlet or MacBeth, and Falstaff is one of the greatest characters in English Literature; however, it is taught a lot in universities-- if you take literature survey classes, it is the Shakespeare play that is usually taught, on the assumption that everyone had Hamlet & MacBeth in high school, and quite a lot of people had* King Lear* and Richard III as well-- also, *Lear *is usually taught in basic writing classes for all freshmen that some people test out of, but probably 90% of college students take.
I agree that it is just as good as these other really great plays, but would hardly call it his MOST underrated. It probably should be among the “big” ones, and most people don’t put it there, but for MOST underrated, I think I’d look elsewhere.
The reason I didn’t pick A Winter’s Tale (and it was the first play that came to mind) is that it’s pretty well agreed that this play was a collaboration, so it’s not 100% Shakespeare. In all fairness, no play that has been produced is 100% the author’s-- much input comes from the actors and directors-- but the Shakespeare plays are probably 90% Shakespeare, except for the acknowledged collaborations, which may be closer to 50%.
I have never seen a performance of Cymbaline, and wasn’t enthralled when I read it, but perhaps like All’s Well, it needs to be performed.
Can we have a thread for most OVERrated play? I’d like to nominate Romeo & Juliet six or seven times.
I agree with those who have said Henry IV Part 1. It has by far the best comedy anywhere in Shakespeare.
When I was at school (many years ago) we did a school production of this play. It was the full play, not dumbed down at all, and I well remember the students laughing out loud again and again at different parts of play, and unable to keep a straight face while acting. And what makes it special is that they were laughing at Shakespeare’s actual dialogue and the over-the-top comedy situations.
The mini-play where Falstaff pretends to be King Henry reprimanding Hal, and then they change roles and Hal takes the part of his father, while Falstaff takes the part of Hal, is hilarious. So is the robbery at Gadshill and the scene afterwards.
I dunno - I just finished watching the BBC’s The Hollow Crown which is an adaptation of the two Henry VI plays and Richard III and there’s some fantastic stuff in there (along with a ridiculous amount of horrible death and betrayal) - it’s like a medieval soap opera with lots of throat-stabbing.
But Henry IV Pt 1 is definitely better. I’m still a bit ambivalent about Kenneth Branagh nicking some of it for his Henry V film.
And heartbreaking too, because it starts to foreshadow “I know thee not, old man.”
It’s part of the genius - and the occasional unevenness - of Shakespeare that he can suddenly break from one mood to the other like that (depending on how the director and actors play it).
I’m head of Literature at a high school here in Singapore and IMO it’s a lot harder for your average teenager to understand the comedies. Comedy tends to be very culture specific (and, well, the past is another country).
I taught my class of 2015 Twelfth Night and my current class of 2016 Hamlet. Taught another class the Shrew a few years back, too. I realised that they needed a lot of explanation as to why a lot of stuff was meant to be funny, whereas with Hamlet, they had problems with the big existential questions but grasped the general essence of tragedy (hubris, harmatia and all that).
In contrast with Remains of the Day (I know we’re going way off topic from Shakespeare) which was somewhat more understandable culturally, they did actually grasp the bleak comedy involved.
Caveat- I admit, as a Singaporean myself, that our educational and political system does very little throughout most of primary and secondary school to reward questioning, independence of thought, and initiative. Your results may vary.
It was one of the first of Shakespeare’s plays I ever got to see performed. (The very first was* Julius Caesar*; I must have been 13.) The Pandarus in this production was rather swishy, and I remember vividly how he spat out the last two words of the play before storming off.
A Winter’s Tale not only has the most awesome stage direction in the history of ever, as mentioned by NAF1138 above…
Exit, pursued by a bear.
(And, at the time, there was a bear-pit in the vicinity of the theatre. I can perfectly see Shakespeare using a REAL bear to chase off the hapless actor playing Antigonus)
…But, on top of that, A Winter’s Tale is one of the first modern English literary works that uses the word “dildo” (Act IV, scene iv: “…he has the prettiest love-songs for maids; so without bawdry, which is strange; with such delicate burthens of dildos and fadings, ‘jump her and thump her;’ …”)
I loved the way Montana Shakespeare in the Parks interpreted that stage direction. We, the audience, never saw the bear. We just heard it over the speakers, and saw the actor’s (very well-done) reaction to it. Judging by the actor’s reaction, the bear looked like it was about 20 feet tall, but then, I did mention that this was Montana.
I also like Titus. Historically it has always gotten a bad rap for being excessively gruesome and exploitative. I actually think it is quite good. There are several great speeches, but the entirety of Aaron’s raging vitriol in A5S2 is just terrifying and superb.