Welcome to Litsy!

Last night I enjoyed a lively performance of Cymbeline at the Stratford Festival in Ontario.

🎭 So, yeah— I fell off the #Shakespeare2020Project back in March and never really was able to get back on track. But I will nonetheless do what I can in terms of reading the Tragedies before year‘s end and; keep The Bard in my reading rotation for the foreseeable future!

I‘m about to start this crazy banana pants play that features [checks notes] death, deception, romance and a HEA (?!)

#stiff #quotsyoct20 @TK-421

Fear no more the heat o‘ the sun,
Nor the furious winter‘s rages;

Last week I saw this play at Boston Common, and it was so much fun. Then I listened to the audiobook. It has plenty of twists and turns so seeing it as well as listening gave me a better chance to catch more of the details. There were pieces that reminded me of several other Shakespeare plays, and I really enjoyed how all of them came together in the end. Most of his plays I‘ve read have been tragedies, so this was a nice change.

#LiteraryTourism

This lesser known Shakespeare piece was originally one of the tragedies, now thought of as a comedy or romance. I have never read it, but saw a great "Shakespeare in the park" performance last night. The play itself has some strange plot points and is not my favorite of the plays, but this was a really fabulous performance! Any Littens who are around Boston this weekend should go check it out - it's free at the Commons for the next few nights.

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

1. I‘ve read more Shakespeare since starting at the globe but I definitely need to do more!

2. I never read self help but my friend got be a Brene Brown book and it was really good.

3. I think it was called The Power of Vulnerability and I definitely recommend it

4. I barely read for pleasure during my 3 year degree, but I did get a lot of pleasure out of course reading so idk if that counts

5. @Caterina 😘

#introvert #Quotsy #QuotsyJan19

Ive officially read 25/37 traditionally canon Shakespeare plays now! Trying to get through all of them while I‘m working at the Globe! Adored this, the problem plays are my absolute favourites

This lovely text has been set to music by Vaughan-Williams (and probably others.) #fear #poetrymatters @LazyDays

#comfort #quotsymay18 @TK-421

Okay, last post about Cymbeline before I move on to As You Like It, I promise. The movie was so good! A very different experience from reading the play, primarily because all humorous parts have been cut out and the story is set around a drug kingpin and his family/court. I thought the casting was fantastic, although Ethan Hawke was a strange Iachimo. And here‘s an interesting article!: http://www.salisbury.edu/lfq/_issues/45_3/keep_your_head.html

What even...This one had one too many curve balls being thrown. Honestly most of it would have been fine except for the random inclusion of family not previous established. This went full on soap-opera really quickly and just never recovered.
Is it supposed to be funny?
#shakespearereadalong

I'll be starting As You Like It today sometime.

I‘m definitely behind on the #ShakespeareReadAlong, but I finally finished this one and now I should be caught up to start the next one at the right time.

Overall I enjoyed this story, in my schooling life we were assigned & read all the tragedies. It‘s wasn‘t until college that I really understood that Shakespeare wrote other things... besides tragedy & sonnets. So I always find myself pleasantly surprised when I reach an actual happy ending.😂

Catching up with my #ShakespeareReadAlong this weekend....it‘s been years since I‘ve read any Shakespeare and I forgot just how dirty his double entendres can be, LOL. Who knows what all I missed in the plays I read as a teen in school....I‘m guessing a lot went over my head then.

not sure who our #ShakespeareReadAlong posted that the Ischimo reminded them as a wac a mole!! So I could not pass this up!!

Finally listening to the audio today, which is so good! I‘ll watch the movie tonight to wrap it up, so I can start As You Like It tomorrow!

And the winner (selected by miniwebtool random-name-picker) of the Cymbeline #ShakespeareReadalong prize is @GingerAntics ! Congratulations! My email is below 👇🏻Email me your favorite Shakespeare line or play, your mailing address, and whether you would prefer a bookmark or print!

#ShakespeareReadAlong

Ok, I‘ve cast my version of Cymbeline. What do you think?

Cymbeline: Steve Carell
Imogen: Alison Brie
Posthumus: Michael Cera
Queen: Allison Janney
Iachimo: Ben Affleck
Cloten: Bill Hader
Dr. Cornelius: Martin Freeman
Pisanio: John Krasinski

Featuring Samuel L. Jackson as Jupiter

@readinginthedark @Jess_Read_This @GingerAntics @Lcsmcat @batsy @cocomass

#Shakespearereadalong

Overall: this play was great fun and I never would have read it except for this group. Thanks!
#Act5 - maybe it‘s just me but this act feels a little ... choppy? Like WS realized he was over deadline and kinda threw up his hands and said ‘all right let‘s just wrap this up.‘ More 👇

In case any of my #ShakespeareReadalong buddies are interested, here are some literary and historical references Shakespeare might have used when writing Cymbeline!

#act4 #shakespearereadalong
What can I say? I love that the fight scene takes place offstage. Like ... surprise! Also, anyone else think it‘s a little off-putting how smitten the brothers are with “Fidele”? Like, “oh, if thou were a woman, I‘d woo thee!” “Oh, if Death were at the door, I‘d say ‘take Dad, don‘t take this ... uh, strange boy that I just met yesterday!‘” Totally normal 👌🏼

@batsy This is the Great Courses lecture course I was talking about! I‘m jumping around to the parts where he talks about plays we‘ve read so far, but it‘s very interesting! Cymbeline is discussed in Part 2. #ShakespeareReadalong

Where was I? Oh yes, #Act3. Seriously, Pisanio is turning out to be my favorite character. “What shall I need to draw my sword? The paper hath cut her throat already.” Meanwhile, Imogen‘s had enough, and lashes out at All Men Everywhere just because her love is a clod. “All good seeming, by thy revolt, O Husband, shall be thought out on for villainy.” This love story is getting tedious... can we go hang out at the cave? Those guys are great.

When I started, it felt like I was wading through treacle. But it turned out to be a smooth read from Act 2 onward. I was worried there were too many balls in the air—history, myth, fantasy, romance, tragedy—& it was going to come crashing down. But it came together superbly. I loved so much of the language in the play & found Imogen to be a thoroughly interesting, smart character in the face of yet more entrenched misogyny. #ShakespeareReadAlong

A pox upon me! I‘ve been forgetting to make a post for each act. I‘ll try to rectify that now.

#Act2 So, did anyone else want to see Imogen wind up with Pisanio — wise, loyal Pisanio! — instead of that wuss face Posthumus? Compare Imogen‘s reaction to Iachimo‘s lies with Posthumus‘s reaction:

Imo: how dare you say such things, lying scoundrel!
Post: omg women are the font of all evil!

Meanwhile Pisanio is just like ... um, sir, he‘s lying...

“I tell thee, fellow, there are none want eyes to direct them the way I am going but such as wink and will not use them.”
Everything came together for the King and “our heroes” in the end. I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this play—with most of my love directed toward Imogen; her wild, long-lost brothers; and the Lord whose time was spent mostly making fun of Cloten. Spoiler comment below. What did you think? #ShakespeareReadalong

Okay I finished this and have MANY thoughts. But first, is there anyone who can recommend a stage version of this to watch on YouTube? I‘d like to watch it while I still have the plot and language in my mind from the #Shakespearereadalong

“For thee, O Imogen! even for whom my life
Is every breath, a death: and thus, unknown,
Pitied nor hated, to the face of peril
Myself I‘ll dedicate. Let me make men know
More valour in me than my habits show.
Gods! put the strength o‘ the Leonati in me.
To shame the guise o‘ the world, I will begin
The fashion, less without and more within.”

(pictured: Miss Nora Lancaster & Mr. Eric Blind in Cymbeline)

Using this flight delay to catch up on Cymbeline Act IV. Reading along while listening to an excellent full cast recording is a great experience. Cloten is SUCH an imbecile that he makes me laugh. The siblings experience the familial equivalent of instalove, and I‘m still not following the Roman plot line 🤷🏽‍♀️

#ShakespeareReadalong

#exile #quotsymarch18 #cymbeline #shakespearereadalong @TK-421 @readinginthedark @Jess_Read_This

Going to attempt to read Cymbeline rather quickly before the #shakespearereadalong group moves on to the next play.

I've had this big book of all of Shakespeare's works for ages and only read a handful of the plays, and now seems like a good time to remedy that.

If not for the full cast audiobook, which includes singing and period music, I doubt I would have made it through this ridiculous play. Maybe more heads could have been chopped? The hints of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty were the best part. Also, when one of my friends heard I was reading this, she said she named her daughter for the Imogen in this play, so that‘s cool. Imogen is definitely the best character, even if she loves an idiot.

I love Shakespeare, so I'm definitely biased, but I loved this. It's not really a tragedy at all. In a rare turn for Shakespeare, there is a happy ending. I'm also biased because I love British history, so I love any play where Shakespeare took on the history of the British Isles. Big fan of this play, all the way around. #cymbeline #shakespeare #shakespearereadalong #act5 #scene4 #act5scene4 #readthis

"Stand, whose there" is the very first line of the version of Hamlet in the "bad" quarto. I totally geeked out when I saw it there in the middle of Act 5 Scene 3 of Cymbeline. #nerd #Hamletobsession #Hamlet #cymbeline #shakespeare #act5 #scene3 #act5scene3 #shakespearereadalong

Baking style! I‘m reading snatches of Cymbeline while stirring some coconut custard for a new tart recipe I‘m trying out. 😊 Iachimo finally feels like crap for what he‘s done—took him long enough!
#ShakespeareReadalong

One great thing about driving around the county for work is that I can stop at a park and eat my lunch and read undisturbed, surrounded by natural beauty! Did everyone else know that boys were named Posthumus when their mothers died in childbirth (during the time period of the setting of Cymbeline)? From the phrasing in the first Act, I thought his name came from being born so shortly after his father‘s death, but no.
#ShakespeareReadalong

#Shakespearereadalong #Cymbeline I have struggled with the play until I got the idea to do the audiobook. Then there was no stopping. Really enjoyed it. Are we reading more Shakespeare?

How about no one murders their wife? That would be great, thanks. Divorce is always a better option than murder. #cymbeline #act5 #scene1 #act5scene1 #badadvice #shakespeare #shakespearereadalong #justsayin

Cymbeline was first preformed in 1611, 15 years after the death of Shakespeare's son, Hamnet (Hamlet was written just 3 years after his son's death). It seems that after losing his 11 year old son, Shakespeare began to have a [possibly not so] mild obsession with suicide. I wonder if this is a reflection of his personal loss and an internal battle with himself. #cymbeline #shakespeare #shakespearereadalong #act3 #act3scene4

Dinner and a book! Between some family demands and trying to complete a couple of ARCs on time, I fell behind with this one! But I‘m enjoying everyone‘s posts, and I‘ll try to finish and post some more today and tomorrow. I love this burial passage in Act IV! Does anyone know if Shakespeare referenced other works with some of these phrases or if it was all original? #ShakespeareReadalong #hostpost

Yikes! Apparently it was his own fault to have been beheaded, for his uncivil language. #shakespearereadalong

Oh, wicked queen! #shakespearereadalong

At the end of the full cast recording of this play, there is a list of the many singers and musicians who took part in the production. Their instruments include: recorders, violins, violas, cellos, double base, percussion and sackbuts. I immediately had to google an image of a sackbut. (See above.) #shakespearereadalong

Imogen‘s and Posthumous‘ #elopement set off the chain of events that is the play, #Cymbeline. #150PnPCoverParty #shakespearereadalong @CrowCAH @LeahBergen @readinginthedark @Jess_Read_This

This is from Act III, but it fit so well for #spark #quotsyfeb18 @TK-421 #cymbeline #shakespearereadalong @Jess_Read_This @readinginthedark

You can‘t lose dignity you never had to begin with. Cloten is such an idiot. #Cymbeline #Shakespeare #act2 #shakespearereadalong

I‘ve actually managed to make it through all of act 2 today. I can start in on act 3 tomorrow. #catchingup