[what_the_heck013]

It appears that on another musical forum many people are UNFAMILIAR with some of Shakespeare's most famous plays (i.e. Hamlet). Thus, I decided to start a conversation on Shakespeare.

What is (are) your favorite Shakespearean play(s)?

My favorite drama is definitely Macbeth. My favorite comedy is The Taming of the Shrew (which I am in right now), and my favorite romance/tragicomedy is The Tempest. I took a British literature class last year, and we read a ton of Shakespeare plays. Namely Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, and King Lear. The year before we read Julius Casear and Romeo and Juliet. I absolutely love Shakespeare and want to act in or direct as many of his plays as I possibly can.

[broadway_baby416]

My favorites, in no particular order, are Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, and King Lear. My least favorite is DEFINITELY Hamlet. Shakespeare has written so many incredible plays, I don't get how Hamlet is considered such a classic. It's really not that good, and if you've read many others of his, you know that there are much better ones out there.

Where are you in The Taming of the Shrew? I LOVE that play!

[The REAL Ciaron]

Titus Andronicus

[what_the_heck013]

[broadway_baby416]

Oooooooooooh you're IN it. I thought you meant you were reading it.

I was just about to say that I don't like Hamlet for the EXACT SAME REASONS. There are these big dry patches in the play where they just reflect on what's happening or what's going to happen, which would work for Shakespeare if he made the language more interesting or more beautiful, which he does in his other plays. I don't think his language is as good in Hamlet as it is in some of his other plays, though.

[norayouadora]

I LOVE Macbeth. I was forced to do an extensive 600-point project on it last year and ended up absolutely adoring the play.

Because I'm a nerd, and I have nothing better to do right now, here are some samples of images I made on my computer for the project. The idea was that we were supposed to take one quote from each act (I'll leave out my Act III illustration; it was lame) and do some sort of visual representation of it.









I apologize for the excessive amount of large pictures, but I was extremely proud of myself. And I know that they are certainly not phenomenal graphics, but I do love Macbeth, so I couldn't care less! Hehe. Plus, they are a bit more attractive in full-size, which is about twice the size I posted them and printed onto nice paper. But I think it still gives you the general idea of how much of a nerd I am. Lol. While we're at it, did I mention that I'm thinking of being an English major in college...?

[LaurelDP]

[pinkstiletto510]

Macbeth, Richard III and Tempest are my favorites

[ALoneWanderer]

Gonna go against the grain and say Hamlet is my favorite. I very much disagree with the statements that it has huge boring parts, I find that any point at which the "action" has died down is a moment in which the emotion is being focused on and it works perfectly. Also I feel the language in Hamlet is Shakespeare's finest, it's really really amazing stuff. We're currently reading Hamlet in my english class (well, most of us have finished) and I've actually ended up memorizing most of Hamlet's soliloquys, despite that I wasn't required to do so. I just love it that much (and really need to play Hamlet some day).

Also going against th grain, I really am not that fond of Macbeth. I do still enjoy it, but it's the least favorite of the Shakespeare I've read (which admitedly is not that much).

I am about to start reading The Taming of the Shrew (as I am playing Fred in Kiss me Kate), I'm psyched that others seem to think its a good play, I'm looking forward to it more now.

[what_the_heck013]

[Savoyard]

My personal favorites are probably The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the Henry's (VIII is particuarly underrated).

For the record, I like Hamlet, but it's by no means my favorite. To like it, you kind of have to watch a REALLY solid production of it.

By the way, for those of you who hate Hamlet, you're not alone. T.S. Elliot (yeah, the one of Cats fame) famously criticized Hamlet as an inferior work and cited the virtually unknown Coriolanus as Shakespeare's finest tragedy.

[Impossible Dream]

I nth Hamlet, Titus Andronicus and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Also:
Othello
Coriolanus
As You Like It
The Comedy of Errors
Henry VIII
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Measure for Measure
Antony and Cleopatra

[Hans]

I adore A Midsummernight's Dream. The Norwegian translation by André Bjerke is sublime, btw.

[YourJobo]

I've only read Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Othello and I'm currently reading King Lear as part of my A-level English Lit course. I love all of these plays, though I didn't enjoy Othello as much as the others.

[opheliarose]

The Winter's Tale is absolute perfection. Hamlet ranks right up there, too.

I have done:
The Taming of the Shrew (x2)
Hamlet
Macbeth (x2)
The Two Noble Kinsmen
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing


Two Gentlemen of Verona is probably my least favorite.

[broadwaybelle22]

I love Much Ado About Nothing. Beatrice is my favorite character that Shakespeare has written.

[Salome]

my favorites ar

Richard III

Henry IV PT I and II

King Lear

Macbeth

Ricahrd II

Winters Tale

Twelfth Night

Othello
Much Ado

[what_the_heck013]

It appears that I have to read Richard III.

[Salome]

yes!! then see Ian McKellen's masterpiece screen version.

[what_the_heck013]

[Salome]

yes..then see Ian McKellen's masterpiece film version.

[purplepolkadot]

Midsummer
12th Night
Romeo and Juliet

[Beagle On Stage]

I'm not the world's biggest Shakespeare fan, but I do love some of his stuff. Everyone knows "Romeo and Juliet," and it's a classic. I agree with LoneWanderer about "Hamlet" being awesome...if you don't like it, you're probably a victim of bad interpretations and productions of it. "Antony and Cleopatra" is beautiful. My favorite is probably "A Midsummer Night's Dream" because it's so cute (though I much prefer the gorgeous, adorable productions to the "dark" ones...I don't think those work very well). My least favorite is "Macbeth"...it's great, but too bloody for my taste.

As far as performing Shakespeare, I've done "Romeo and Juliet" (I have a scar on my side to remind me of the production forever) and "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

I'll be directing a production of a musical "Taming of the Shrew" interpretation in a few months...honestly, it's not one of Shakespeare's stand-outs for me, but I love this particular version.

[Marcellus]

King Lear (a good part of Act IV, Scene 6 is quoted at the end of the Beatles' I AM THE WALRUS.

As You Like It

A Comedy of Errors

Midsummer Night's Dream

[Amber]

I love Macbeth. It's one of my favorite plays, period. During school last year when we studied it, I read it over and over, managing to inadvertently memorize all of Lady Macbeth's monologues.

That's my favorite, followed by Romeo and Juliet and The Taming Of The Shrew.

[LesMisForever]

Hello

I LOVE The Bard. I have been his fan long before i discovered the world of Musicals.

For me, his best works are the tragedies. I call them the big 5:

In no particular order:

Hamlet
Macbeth
Othello
Julius Cesar
Romeo and Juliet

Best of the rest:

Midsummer's Night Dream.

[Robinflamingo]

I have actually read and studied all of Shakespeare's plays due to an awesome Shakespeare class in college, and I adore Comedy of Errors (The Flying Karamazov Brothers did an awesome version of this in the 80's) and Macbeth, which I teach twice a year, three times a day and never grow tired of...

I also love Merchant of Venice, Othello, Henry IV I/II, As You Like It, and Henry V, particularly the St. Crispian's Day speech.

I don't much care for Romeo and Juliet, and I find Taming of the Shrew a little annoying. But I love Kiss Me Kate

[olly]

In no particular order, my favorite Shakespeare plays are:

A Midsummer Night's Dream
Antony & Cleopatra *
Measure For Measure
Hamlet
Othello
Romeo And Juliet
Macbeth

I don't like Twelth Night at all, partly because I studied it for a long time, and I got bored with it.

* Something else that made me love this play was the Startford production of this this summer starring Patrick Stewart and Harriet Walter. If any of you saw this, you'd know how brilliant a production it was. I went to a Literature Festival talk today by Patrick and Harriet on their production of it. It was fantastically interesting, and I caught Patrick as he was walking back to his car and had a chat to him - just me and him! I was very grateful, and he's a very nice guy! The talk was brilliant, as is the play and as was the production.

[RainbowJude]

What is (are) your favourite Shakespearean play(s)? My favourite Shakespearean plays, I think, are Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream. That said, I think there is a wealth of pleasure to be found in studying all of them, even the ones that I like less. Engaging with them seriously and profoundly, for example in the context of learning, teaching or directing, really can make working with even my least favourites enjoyable. The one I'm most intrigued by at present is Julius Caesar. How I would love to direct a production of this and get to grips with it on stage!

Later days
David

[Mistress]

I adore Much Ado About Nothing and Taming of the Shrew (when given a more romantic treatment-I don't like women being abused and subjugated by men, but's fun to see a battle of sexes where Kate learns to love the one man who is her equal-where other guys just run squealing the moment she insults them, Petruchio insults her back and matches her quip for quip. And I am well aware that this is the Julia Roberts chick-flick lover in me talking). Macbeth is up there too, I'd say second to the Much Ado/Taming tie.

I am currently in love with the BBC's Shakespeare Retold series, and that's how I came to love Much Ado and Taming so much. Those adaptations were freakin' awsome! Shirley Henderson and Rufus Sewell were beyond priceless as Kate and Petruchio. I am also an enormous fan of Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado. Emma Thompson was stunning as Beatrice. I thin I'll stop this rant now XD

[Beagle On Stage]

[SmallTownIngenue]

There will always be a soft spot in my heart for Romeo and Juliet, as it was the first Shakespeare I read.

But I also love Much Ado About Nothing. And Hamlet.

[Jman383]

Well, I'm IN As You Like It at school right now, and since my director is also the director of the American Globe Theatre here in NYC, I've learned SOO much. Of course the play is utter sillyness (with the exception, of course, of the "All the world's a stage..." speech by Jacques), it's good fun, and has some truly epic moments.

Besides that, I'd have to say definitely Macbeth and Titus rank up there as well. Granted, I don't pretend to be the biggest Shakespeare buff at all (As You Like It is actually my first performance in a Shakespeare show), I just tend to read those shows in which I'm told I'd be perfect for certain roles. For example:

Hamlet (Hamlet), Measure for Measure (Angelo), Othello (Iago), Macbeth (Macbeth), Romeo and Juliet (Mercutio), as well as Midsummer's (Puck).

I need to play every single one of those roles at some point haha. The only one I've had a taste of is Angelo, as I did his rape monologue my senior year of high school. It was epic.

[Nudelkopf]

King Lear.

Saw it at the Globe last year.

[Brackynn]

[Mistress]

I dunno. I love Kate so much as a powerful woman, that's it's agonizing to see her go through such abuse and I'd rather see her happy, it sits better in my heart, I guess. I saw a production of it at Stratford last year for my B-day. It was a romantic interpretation. I was rooting for Kate during the final speech. The way it was done, she overheard the bet being made, and played along just to see the looks on everyone's faces when she proved mthem wrong. Also, when the Big Kiss happened, everyone was completely silent, dead-locked on the kiss, which was warm and passionate XD. With the taming, at the end she just sort of gave up being vocally or physically angry at Petruchio and would just throw him dirty looks when he made an ass of her on the trip and I imagine she would have tossed him mean hand gestures too. It's sort of hard to explain how the love came about, but I guess after she gave up hating him, Kate finally had the time to learn to love him and learned to laugh at herself too. But the chemistry at the end seems truly genuine. At the beginning too, when Petruchio and Kate first locked eyes, there was this long moment of silence as they just stared each other, perhaps attracted to each other, perhaps scared of each ther, I don't know, but it was a great moment.

Yeah, like I said, it's probably the chick-flick lover in me that prefers a happy Shrew. But I agree with Beagle. Scared men tend to get a bit annoying. I guess I'd say the men I saw in the production were more off-put and angry at her being a biotch, but I think there may have been some fear in there, mainly in the breaking-the-lute-over-the-guy's head part. Also, This Kate didn't come off as overly malevolent, like Elizabeth Talyor's did (she friggin scary at the beginning ). Her sister was spoiled and kinda slutty in this production, so that also played to her favour. In the "interrogation" scene, the worst done was that Bianca was tied to a chair and had a mustache drawn on her face. Not much worse that what any kid would do to a younger sibling. I guess it was a very pro-Kate production, but being pro-Kate myself, I enjoyed it very much.

/rant done XD

[kozafluitmusique]

One of my favourites is Merchant of Venice...Romeo and Juliet is another...Taming of the Shrew...and so forth.

[SianZena]

My favourites have to be;

- Othello
- The Merchant of Venice
- Macbeth
- A Midsummer Night's Dream

[RainbowJude]