Finished watching "Coriolanus" last night, the one at the Donmar with Tom Hiddleston in the title role. It also had Mark Gatiss (Mycroft Holmes in "Sherlock"), two guys who were with David Tennant in two other Shakespeare plays (one was Horatio in Hamlet, the other was the bad guy in "Much Ado") and the kid who played Dean Thomas in the HP films and turned up in Sherlock as the guard who got stabbed and didn't know it for several hours.
All together they were a fine cast, and it was a good production. I liked it. Lots of fake blood, most of it on Coriolanus' handsome head. Then there was a terribly uncomfortable scene at the end where they hung him upside down, cut his throat, and Aufidius bathed in his blood. Very nice.
Haven't been writing much-I'm screaming my way through 7 seasons of Burn Notice (I'll finish completely tomorrow with the three remaining episodes.) There were days when I was watching 6 episodes in a row-if I hadn't, I'd still be in season 3 somewhere.
I'm going full-time this weekend-might be switching departments one of these days, but we'll see. I am pickier on the job hunt these days because now I have to get full time work, or I can't justify moving somewhere else. I have one outstanding application-I'm hoping to hear back soon.
I also took up a "Bucket List" item at the beginning of the year-that of reading all of Shakespeare's plays. Contrary to popular belief, at the beginning of 2014, I had only read or seen about 20 of the 38 that exist. Now I'm up to 27.
I've done all the histories-some of them were complicated family matters that required the use of a family tree to get who exactly certain people were-Richard Plantagenet was in the first part of Henry VI, and he claimed to have a better claim to the throne thanks to his grandfather being the second son of Edward III. The king who was on the throne was descended from the fourth son of Edward III.
It takes three plays and several deaths (including Richard, the king, his son, his wife, and a bunch of innocent people who probably didn't deserve to be killed,) but eventually Richard Plantagenet's eldest son Edward gets the throne away from the guy who's apparently not supposed to have it.
The most interesting thing about all three of these plays is the seance someone decides to whip up in the middle of the fracas. Even for my bard-loving blood, three plays about "Who's Ruling First?" and "It's Mine Because Birth Order of My Grandfather Says It Is," is almost too much to take. And the fact that Henry VI sits back and lets his wife do all the warring for him.
And then there's Henry VIII, the obscure play that no one really likes because it's a clear posthumous kiss-ass to Elizabeth I. Observe, if you will, that Henry rejoices over the birth of his daughter (anyone who knows even half of what I do about Henry should know THAT right there is a load of bull) and Elizabeth's christening is stretched out into a lavish, crazy affair which seems to indicate she will rule one day, even though A) she's a girl, and girls in the 16th century didn't get to rule, even over their younger brothers and B) she has an older half-sister (Mary) who would (and did) get first crack at it anyway, if girls were allowed to rule.
Catherine of Aragon is the first wife, and she comes out looking quite rosy even when she gets banished from court. Anne Boleyn (Wife #2), who is the mother of Elizabeth, gets her beheading neatly avoided. The other 4 wives don't even show up. The whole thing is nonsense. The amount of lies in that play could pave a highway.
So, all in all, not one of my favorite plays. I'll stick to the tragedies-I like them better. Not sure what that says about me when I like death and misery better than I like clothes-swapping and mistaken identities or rulers slashing down their uncles/nephews/everyone in sight (hm-hm-Richard III)
And I get a bit of a laugh over Shakespeare's dramatic license. Henry V and King John both died of dysentery. He never mentions in Henry VI what killed Henry V, and King John gets to die of poisoning (and gets to say a whole lot beforehand.) I guess dying of the endless runs isn't nearly as fierce and imposing as poisoning or just plain dying.
Anyhow, going to bed now to hopefully finish "As You Like It," which for some reason has taken me nearly a month to get through.
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