What Gail so beautifully says about Shakespeare's special emphasis on girl children
makes those Weird Sisters and Lady Macbeth SCARY, with their talk of birth-strangled babes
and dashing their brains out. Contrast! Jayne, the Macbeth scene is on my own private
list, too.
We've been asking ourselves on the committee which scenes of reunion and
reconciliation might stand on their own vs. showing a world being torn asunder, to quote
Stan, and then the reconciliation. What do you all think?
Here are scene suggestions and then words to Maggie's "Brush Up Your
Shakepeare."
Like Mike, Winter’s TaleV
iii, final scene – Hermione’s awakening. (HOW MUCH OF WHAT PROCEEDS MIGHT WE WANT TO DO?)
Pericles: (Has a great party scene; and a shipwreck, when Marina is born and her mother
Thaisa dies and has to go overboard.)
Pericles III ii Thaisa revived by Cerimon (NOW
YOU’RE TALKIN’ MAGIC)
Pericles V i, ii, iii Marina revives Pericles;
they are united with Thaisa.
Importance of Being Earnest: handbag reconciliation scene (PLEASE RE-READ - SO FUNNY)
Lear-Cordelia reconciliation (CONTRAST WITH A CRUEL SCENE?)
Weird sisters in Macbeth (MAGIC)
Scene Mike mentioned from The Tempest (MAGICAL BANQUET)
(We'd have to change some lyrics, prob'ly.)
ARTIST: Cole Porter
TITLE: Brush Up Your Shakespeare
Lyrics and Chords
[Kiss Me Kate]
The girls today in society go for
classical poetry
So to win their hearts one must
quote with ease
Aeschylus and Euripides
One must know Homer, and believe
me, Beau
Sophocles, also Sappho-ho
Unless you know Shelley and Keats
and Pope
Dainty Debbies will call you a
dope
/ D - - A / - - / - D / - - / - A
/ - - / - D /
But the poet of them all
Who will start 'em simply ravin'
Is the poet people call
The Bard of Stratford on Avon
/ AD A / / / E A /
{Refrain}
Brush up your Shakespeare
Start quoting him now
Brush up your Shakespeare
And the women you will wow
/ DB7 E7 / A7 D / G D / E7 A7
/
Just declaim a few lines from
Othella
And they'll think you're a hell of
a fella
If your blonde won't respond when
you flatter 'er
Tell her what Tony told
Cleopatterer
If she fights when her clothes you
are mussing
What are clothes? Much ado about nussing
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kow-tow
/ " / " / DB7 E7 / A D
/
{Refrain}
With the wife of the British
ambessida
Try a crack out of Troilus and
Cressida
If she says she won't buy it or
tike it
Make her tike it, what's more As
You Like It
If she says your behavior is
heinous
Kick her right in the Coriolanus
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kow-tow
{Refrain}
If you can't be a ham and do
Hamlet
They will not give a damn or a
damlet
Just recite an occasional sonnet
And your lap'll have honey upon
it
When your baby is pleading for
pleasure
Let her sample your Measure for
Measure
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kow-tow - ForsoothA
nd they'll all kow-tow - I'
faith
And they'll all kow-tow ...
/ A D / DA D / /
{Refrain}
Better mention "The Merchant
Of Venice"
When her sweet pound o' flesh you
would menace
If her virtue, at first, she
defends---well
Just remind her that "All's
Well That Ends Well"
And if still she won't give you a
bonus
You know what Venus got from
Adonis
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kow-tow - Thinkst
thou?
And they'll all kow-tow - Odds bodkins
And they'll all kow-tow
{Refrain} If your goil is a Washington Heights
dream
Treat the kid to "A Midsummer
Night's Dream"
If she then wants an
all-by-herself night
Let her rest ev'ry 'leventh or
"Twelfth Night"
If because of your heat she gets
huffy
Simply play on and "Lay on,
Macduffy!" B
rush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kow-tow - Forsooth
And they'll all kow-tow - Thinkst
thou?
And they'll all kow-tow - We
trou'
And they'll all kow-tow
Love,
Mary
________________________________
From: McDonald G. <G.McDonald(a)soton.ac.uk>
To: "mnemonic(a)gmail.com" <mnemonic(a)gmail.com>om>;
"weeklong-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org" <weeklong-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Fri, May 14, 2010 10:59:15 AM
Subject: Re: [Weeklong-l] Round II
Dear
all,
The
recent posts remind me of something.
I've
just been teaching Joyce's Ulysses. Here's something
pertinent that Stephen Dedalus says about why he prefers the romances to the
tragedies of Shakespeare:
--If you want to know what are the events which cast their shadow over the
hell of time of King Lear, Othello, Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, look to see when and how
the shadow lifts. What
softens the heart of a man, shipwrecked in storms dire. Tried, like
another Ulysses, Pericles, prince of Tyre?
--Marina,. Stephen said, a child of storm, Miranda, a wonder, Perdita,
that which was lost. what was lost is given back to
him....
One idea might be to start with the children of storms--and move on to
softening of hearts.
Love
to all,
Gail
________________________________
From: weeklong-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org
[mailto:weeklong-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Mike
Godwin
Sent: 14 May 2010 15:44
To: weeklong-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Weeklong-l] Round
II
Tempest, Act IV, Sc. 1.
--m
On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 8:15 PM, Mary Collins <mmcollins50(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
Greetings,
All!
Thanks for all the ideas that poured out in the
last couple of
weeks. They were a wellspring of inspiration. Now, we are asking that you
focus
your scene suggestions on ideas related to the themes
"Mystery/Magic/Reunion/Reconciliation". (Past reunions have been built around
"Fools and Madmen/Masking,"
"Deception," and "Dream
and Play.") In
order to help us with the monumental culling process ahead, please resubmit
any scenes you have already submitted if you
feel they fit the
themes.
We are thinking about a structure for
the performance that
would include transitions between scenes, so as to accommodate all the
weekenders who might want to perform. It
would look something
like:
PART I
(Intro/Prologue)
Scene 1
Transition 1
Scene
2
Transition 2
Scene 3
Transition
3
ETC.
Intermission
PART
II
(Prologue?)
More
scenes/transitions
Finale
For
transitions,
there could be anything from poetry to song to dance to monologues ....
whatever weekend people would like to contribute; weeklongers could sign
up, too.
In '05, the performance went on for
close to 4 hrs., which
was too long. We think we should aim at 1.5, followed by 20 minute
intermission and come back with a 1 hr
closing. Figuring now: If we
limited the scenes to 10 minutes and the
interludes to 3 minutes, we could
do 11 scenes and 10 interludes within
the 150 minute period comfortably.
The number of scenes will
depend upon what scenes are selected, of
course - many scenes seem to
run 10-12 minutes.
The day of the
reunion is meant to be a day
full of performances. There will be
opportunities available to do
something at the brunch, at a pre-performance
moment,
and later, at
the banquet. (During these times, we won't
necessarily be concerned
about theme). We "week-longers" should remember
that those
opportunities exist for us (if we have time!), as well as for
the
week-enders (anyone want to name these two groups, please??) and
we hope to capture three or four Camp Shakespeare kids for
some
things.
We are setting a deadline for
contributing
ideas/brainstorming of Sunday, May 23, which gives all of us
ten days to read, think,
dream, put it out there.
Thanks, and more
thanks.
Cheers,
Doc and the
Gals.
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