For reasons that need not concern you, I find it needful to get into my Burroughs-Libby continua skipper and pop back in time a few hundred years to [del]engage in a spree of murder, robbery, warmongering, sedition, vandalism, and murder on the European mainland[/del] help feed and house destitute widows and orphans. During this mission I’ll be popping back and forth between time periods-- as early as 1592, as late as 1613. During my off hours I’ll be popping over to London to watch various plays by Bill Shakespeare and others.
I hate travelling alone. Anybody want to hitch a ride? What do you want to see?
I am certainly talking about real plays. And as everyone knows, HvP is not/was not/will not be written, much less performed, until 2118; that is what finally brings Cthulhu back.
Any of them; whatever’s going. Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, some guy I’ve never heard of…
Would any of your [del]mayhem[/del] orphan-helping take you to France? I’d love to see some Molière or Racine, if that’s not too far out of your way and time…
I’ll skip the Histories and the Lesser Works. Corolianus would be boring whenever it was performed. But I’d like to see Hamlet, or Lear, or Twelfth Night, or…
But definitely Henry VIII. I want to see the Globe burn. I’m twisted that way.
I’d like to see Hamlet and As You Like It just to see of the old stories were true that Shakespeare played the Ghost in the first and old Adam the servant in the second.
I wanna come!! How long have we got? Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night because I love them so much, the Scottish play because I want to see if it’s true that there’s a scene missing from the version we’ve got, Love’s Labours Won because it’s not like I’m ever gonna see it any other way… And if we’re going to 1613, we should just about make The Duchess of Malfi. We’re going to miss 'Tis Pity She’s a Whore, though.
If I had to choose one it would be King Henry IV, part 1, with John Heminges as Falstaff. Though I’d like to see Burbage in action too. probably in Hamlet.
No reason to choose just one, but if I’m giving you a free ride to multiple destinations in space and time you had better bring me some sort of delectable yet low-carb pastry, or perhaps some hasenpfeffer.
Measure for Measure, because I want to know how the boy actor playing Isabella played her reaction to the Duke’s proposal.
The Merry Wives of Windsor, because it’s so much fun, and because there are a lot of little things I want to know about for scholarly reasons (like whether Mistress Quickly’s big speech about Windsor Castle actually got played on the public stage).
Henry V, also a lot of fun, and I really want to see how the king reacts when he realizes he has to condemn Bardolph to death. Also, I want to see what they do with the choruses.
Hamlet, because, HAMLET! How can you not?
Love’s Labor’s Won and Cardenio, for obvious reasons.
Non-Shakespeare:
Dr. Faustus, because anything involving trapdoors, demons, and fireworks would be awesome on general principle.
Edward IV, Parts One and Two, because I wrote large chunks of my dissertation about it.
I remember that episode of ST-TNG when Data was rehearing it. He explained to Captain Picard that he’d watch all the touchstone performances of the play, “Olivier, Branagh, Kulnark, Shapiro”
If there was time for more, I’d love to see comedy. Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure(my favorite), Much Ado About Nothing.
Or just about anything. Except I don’t think I’d like Titus Andronicus.
I’ll change my answer to this. I don’t care, just let me see them! But I wonder if they might not be terrible, with people throwing things and farting and blowing their noses…can we get a balcony seat?
I’d wanna see Henry V, because it’s always been a favorite of mine, or A Midsummer Night’s Dream, because I was in it (as Oberon) in high school. I still remember my first line: “Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.”
One of the best Shakespeare productions I’ve ever seen was a college performance of Macbeth, done in Japanese kabuki costuming, makeup and sets, with women playing the male roles and vice versa. Freaky but actually quite good.
