Shakespearean Ravings

[ZapBrannigan]

Spoiler Alert, but in "The Conscience of the King," Lenore kind of lapses into Shakespeare when she goes crazy. Like that's her native tongue. And Anton Karidian does too, a little.

I just saw a terrific episode of Columbo titled "Dagger of the Mind" (1972) with guest stars Honor Blackman (The Avengers, Goldfinger), Richard Basehart (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), Bernard Fox (Bewitched, Titanic), and what is easily the best performance I ever saw from Wilfred Hyde-White (My Fair Lady, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century). And something similar happens, where a character is an actor who lapses into Shakespeare when going crazy.

And I thought, that can't be legit. I suspect that with actors in real life, the more emotionally stressed they are, the more they're having a psychotic break, the less likely they would be to bust out a Shakespeare soliloquy and start performing it. Maybe I'm way off on this, not sure.

Tangent: I think Classic Cast Star Trek made good use Shakespeare references, but more would not have been better. I think they did enough. And I like how "Whom Gods Destroy" threw in references to Longfellow and A.E. Houseman to mix it up a little.

 

[1001001]

Tangent: I think Classic Cast Star Trek made good use Shakespeare references, but more would not have been better.

Star Trek VI would like a word....

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Star Trek VI would like a word....

I hope the word is HAVOC!! And let slip the dogs of war!

 

[Henoch]

I just saw a terrific episode of Columbo titled "Dagger of the Mind" (1972) with guest stars Honor Blackman (The Avengers, Goldfinger), Richard Basehart (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), Bernard Fox (Bewitched, Titanic), and what is easily the best performance I ever saw from Wilfred Hyde-White (My Fair Lady, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century). And something similar happens, where a character is an actor who lapses into Shakespeare when going crazy.

Saw the same episode and I too had the same thoughts on crazy Shakespearean actors going mad and quoting lines. Hyde-White's Butler didn't do it, but he was still a crook in the end. Also, it used the same title of another Trek episode, and of course, Dagger of the Mind got me reminiscing about Helen Noel . The Macbeth quote for those episodes seems appropriate for both of them.

 

[Hofner]

This topic got me wondering.

Is it that crazy people become Shakespearian actors or is it that the profession of Shakespearian acting make people go crazy?


Robert

 

[Henoch]

This topic got me wondering.

Is it that crazy people become Shakespearian actors or is it that the profession of Shakespearian acting make people go crazy?


Robert

I vote for the later. In high school, when we started on Shakespeare, I couldn't understand any of it, but after my teacher explained the text (and he needed to do this for every line from start to finish), I felt my sanity slipping away. Alas poor Yorick, I didn't want to know him.

 

[Timo]

Also, a close relative of mine can attest to Shakespearean actors indeed going on a quoting spree when mentally strained. Although also when not.

No comparative data on actors who didn't do much Bard.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Relayer1]

I vote for the later. In high school, when we started on Shakespeare, I couldn't understand any of it, but after my teacher explained the text (and he needed to do this for every line from start to finish), I felt my sanity slipping away. Alas poor Yorick, I didn't want to know him.

Shakespeare's like anything else - much of it is crap. For every Richard III there's a Midsummer Night's Dream, a King Lear, whatever...

The language is both a barrier and a joy, but you may need to study it in places.

Some of it is worth it. Try the "The Hollow Crown" series.

 

[Phaser Two]

Shakespeare's like anything else - much of it is crap. For every Richard III there's a Midsummer Night's Dream, a King Lear, whatever...

The language is both a barrier and a joy, but you may need to study it in places.

Some of it is worth it. Try the "The Hollow Crown" series.

King Lear is "crap?" Really?

 

[Relayer1]

King Lear is "crap?" Really?

Well, it's all opinion isn't it ?

The story is ludicrous and I really just don't like it.

 

[Phaser Two]

Well, it's all opinion isn't it ?

The story is ludicrous and I really just don't like it.

Okay, and yes it's certainly opinion, and yours is just as valid as anyone's. I just don't think I have ever seen anyone call either King Lear or MND "crap," let alone both. I wanted to make sure.

 

[Relayer1]

Okay, and yes it's certainly opinion, and yours is just as valid as anyone's. I just don't think I have ever seen anyone call either King Lear or MND "crap," let alone both. I wanted to make sure.

I like to break new ground !

To be honest, I did Shakespeare at school and didn't really like it. Saw Derek Jacobi playing Richard III many years later and loved it. Tried more by Will and...still didn't like a lot of it.

Particular favourites are the historical Henry and adjacent plays, The Tempest, Merchant of Venice and, "ahem", The Scottish Play.

 

[Phaser Two]

I like to break new ground !

To be honest, I did Shakespeare at school and didn't really like it. Saw Derek Jacobi playing Richard III many years later and loved it. Tried more by Will and...still didn't like a lot of it.

Particular favourites are the historical Henry and adjacent plays, The Tempest, Merchant of Venice and, "ahem", The Scottish Play.

Are you posting from inside a theater? Actually the Scottish Play is my overall Shakespearean fave, so after all.

 

[ChallengerHK]

There's a volume of an academic journal, I think the Journal of the Science Fiction Research Association, which was dedicated to Shakespeare in SF. One of the pieces in it was about Star Trek. I write a response to it which was published by the Internet Review of Science Fiction, which went belly up years ago, but I think it can still be found on the Wayback Machine.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Klingon Shakespeare and Yorick by Ian McLean, on Flickr

 

[Forbin]

Spoiler Alert, but in "The Conscience of the King," Lenore kind of lapses into Shakespeare when she goes crazy. Like that's her native tongue. And Anton Karidian does too, a little.

I just saw a terrific episode of Columbo titled "Dagger of the Mind" (1972) with guest stars Honor Blackman (The Avengers, Goldfinger), Richard Basehart (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), Bernard Fox (Bewitched, Titanic), and what is easily the best performance I ever saw from Wilfred Hyde-White (My Fair Lady, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century). And something similar happens, where a character is an actor who lapses into Shakespeare when going crazy.

And I thought, that can't be legit. I suspect that with actors in real life, the more emotionally stressed they are, the more they're having a psychotic break, the less likely they would be to bust out a Shakespeare soliloquy and start performing it. Maybe I'm way off on this, not sure.

I have an actor friend who does off-broadway in NYC, and I would take bets that, when lying on his deathbed, his last words will be "The rest is silence..."

 

[Morgan Primus]

Spoiler Alert, but in "The Conscience of the King," Lenore kind of lapses into Shakespeare when she goes crazy. Like that's her native tongue. And Anton Karidian does too, a little.

I just saw a terrific episode of Columbo titled "Dagger of the Mind" (1972) with guest stars Honor Blackman (The Avengers, Goldfinger), Richard Basehart (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), Bernard Fox (Bewitched, Titanic), and what is easily the best performance I ever saw from Wilfred Hyde-White (My Fair Lady, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century). And something similar happens, where a character is an actor who lapses into Shakespeare when going crazy.

And I thought, that can't be legit. I suspect that with actors in real life, the more emotionally stressed they are, the more they're having a psychotic break, the less likely they would be to bust out a Shakespeare soliloquy and start performing it. Maybe I'm way off on this, not sure.

Tangent: I think Classic Cast Star Trek made good use Shakespeare references, but more would not have been better. I think they did enough. And I like how "Whom Gods Destroy" threw in references to Longfellow and A.E. Houseman to mix it up a little.

I’d love to lapse into Shakespeare in my mad moments...journeys end in lovers meeting

 

[diankra]

I like to break new ground !

To be honest, I did Shakespeare at school and didn't really like it. Saw Derek Jacobi playing Richard III many years later and loved it. Tried more by Will and...still didn't like a lot of it.

Particular favourites are the historical Henry and adjacent plays, The Tempest, Merchant of Venice and, "ahem", The Scottish Play.

School Shakespeare is a good way of putting people off it. Can only be corrected by a good performance.

 

[ChallengerHK]

School Shakespeare is a good way of putting people off it. Can only be corrected by a good performance.

Well said. I've had the good fortune to see a lot of top-notch actors in great productions, and a good actor makes the material far more accessible. Among others, I saw Christopher Plummer in King Lear at the Stratford Festival, and Patrick Stewart in Othello at the Shakespeare Theatre in DC.

 

[Forbin]

Drek Jacobi's Hamlet for the BBC (1980) is, IMHO, the definitive screen version. The man was brilliant.
Kevin Kline's was... not.