# Your favorite Shakespeare play **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 15, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734 "2007-08-15T21:11:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/21 "2007-08-16T00:07:22Z")
Favourite comedy: Much Ado About Nothing Favourite tragedy: Macbeth ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/22 "2007-08-16T00:18:08Z")
Favorite comedy: Much Ado About nothing - Favorite film adaptation: the one with Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, and Denzel Washington. Favorite Tragedy: Othello - Favorite film adaptation: The one with Kenneth Branagh ( 😉 ) and Laurence Fishburne. The characters, the emotions, they are all simply wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![stucco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/23 "2007-08-16T01:31:01Z")
_Hamlet_ is my personal favorite. My dad dragged me to see it when I was 14 at the reconstructed Globe in London. The only Shakespeare I’d read was _Romeo and Juliet_ so I expected Hamlet to be terribly boring. But I loved it to bits. It even survived my 12th grade English teacher’s week long 'is Hamlet really insane?" lecture series. I also really loved reading _Antony and Cleopatra_. It’s just ridiculous and grand and the language beautiful. I’d love to see it live. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/24 "2007-08-16T02:02:40Z")
**Hamlet** , not least because of **Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead**. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/25 "2007-08-16T02:53:38Z")
Scholarly favorite (the one that I wrote huge chunks of my dissertation about and find infinitely fascinating): _Henry V_ Most electrifying one I’ve ever seen in performance: _Titus_ – both the Julie Taymor film and the Washington Shakespeare Theater production this spring One that I can see over and over again: _Much Ado About Nothing_ Favorite underrated plays: _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ and the _Henry VI_ plays Favorite one to teach (of the ones I’ve taught so far): _Measure for Measure_, or maybe _Othello_ Best poetry: _Antony and Cleopatra_ (though _The Tempest_ is right up there) Other ones I really like: _King Lear_, _The Winter’s Tale_, 1 and 2 _Henry IV_, _Twelfth Night_ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/26 "2007-08-16T02:57:51Z")
I agree with **Sampiro** , Ian McKellen’s 1930s fascist-Britain take on _Richard III_ is wickedly good, and the play certainly lends itself to that. I’ve always loved _Henry V_ more, though (notwithstanding Shaw’s dismissive description of it as “the National Anthem in five acts”). It’s a truly thrilling exploration of political and military leadership. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/27 "2007-08-16T03:02:46Z")
**Henry V** _But I will rise there with so full a glory That I will dazzle all the eyes of France, Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us. And tell the pleasant prince this mock of his Hath turn’d his balls to gun-stones; and his soul Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance That shall fly with them: for many a thousand widows Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands; Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down; And some are yet ungotten and unborn That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin’s scorn._ I don’t care what literary background you’re from, that’s some cold blooded shit. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/28 "2007-08-16T04:13:09Z")
I’d go for \*\*The Merchant of Venice \*\* and **King Lear**. The best productions that I’ve seen though were of \*\*Troilus and Cressida \*\* and **The Winter’s Tale**. ---
**Author:** ![BlakeTyner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/29 "2007-08-16T05:56:34Z")
History: Richard III Tragedy: Hamlet Comedy: Much Ado About Nothing Overall: Hamlet ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/30 "2007-08-16T06:04:05Z")
Lear. The last time I saw it, I thought the actor playing Lear was going to have a stroke. He turned bright red and played it not so much as lunatic king as angry, angry daddy. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/31 "2007-08-16T06:06:56Z")
_Othello_. Give me some melodrama. And I’ll probably be lynched by my colleagues, but I really do like _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_. Never gets old for me. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/32 "2007-08-16T06:12:21Z")
[QUOTE=Sitnam] I don’t care what literary background you’re from, that’s some cold blooded shit. [/QUOTE] Not when compared to Mark Antony\*'s spiel: _Blood and destruction shall be so in use And dreadful objects so familiar That mothers shall but smile when they behold Their infants quarter’d with the hands of war; All pity choked with custom of fell deeds: And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial._ There is a line in Shakespeare whose source I can’t remember- a character is describing either a battle or a future where so much blood has been spilled that further blood has to puddle for the ground can absorb no more. Anybody have any idea where this came from? Trivia: Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth both had the same passion for _Macbeth_ and _Richard III_. To Booth it was a vocation as well as avocation of course, but those were his favorites, and he and Lincoln would both launch into long impromptu recitations or readings from those two plays when they were nowhere near a theater or a social gathering as such. \*In his defense, Jennifer Lopez had _really_ pissed him off that day by comparing him negatively to Ben Affleck. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/33 "2007-08-16T08:15:30Z")
I’m bringing the love for **Julius Casear**. I adore it. I loved it when I read it, I loved watching the version with Brando, I loved it when I saw it live. The play that caused the most immediate gut response was **Titus Andronicus**. holy shit, that was brutal. My favorite play that grew on me after repeated exposure: **Much Ado About Nothing**. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/34 "2007-08-16T11:37:06Z")
**Midsummer Night’s Dream** - I can trace this directly to it being the first live Shakespeare performance I saw in HS, put on by a combined human/puppet troupe called Handspring Puppets that was truly _out of this world_. Compounded by the good fortune of it being the play on at the Shakespeare Summer Festival the first time I was in Stratford-on-Avon. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/35 "2007-08-16T11:45:33Z")
My two favorites are _Henry V_ and _Richard III_. I also really liked Ian McKellen’s version of _Richard III_. The line “A horse! My kingdom for a horse!” was never so appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/36 "2007-08-16T11:47:16Z")
To watch: Midsummer’s Night Dream. To read/study: Hamlet. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/37 "2007-08-16T14:01:31Z")
Another vote for “Henry V”, although I’ll be brave and admit I’ve not read _all_ of his plays. Yet. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/38 "2007-08-16T14:32:20Z")
**Much Ado About Nothing** for comedy (but I dislike Dogberry) \*\*Hamlet \*\* for tragedy ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/39 "2007-08-16T14:43:15Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Trivia: Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth both had the same passion for _Macbeth_ and _Richard III_. To Booth it was a vocation as well as avocation of course, but those were his favorites, and he and Lincoln would both launch into long impromptu recitations or readings from those two plays when they were nowhere near a theater or a social gathering as such. [/QUOTE] I was skimmed down so I didn’t see who had written this, but when I started reading it, I knew. My favorite- I really like KING LEAR- totally loved the Olivier-Diana Riggs version & am going to have to seek it out on DVD. But in Vincent Price’s THEATRE OF BLOOD, the best murder was the TITUS ANDRONICUS-inspired one. Of course, it ruined Robert Morley’s Tyson Chicken commercials for us. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734/40 "2007-08-16T14:45:26Z")
I like **Titus Andronicus** (or, as I like to call it, “Shakespeare’s chainsaw movie”). I like **Richard III**. Ian McKellan was great, but I still love Laurence Olivier’s version. Also, Al Pacino’s film _LooKing for Richard_. As I get older, I am finding that I like **A Midsummer Night’s Dream** and **Romeo and Juliet** more and more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-shakespeare-play/415734.md?page=3)