CHECKING OFF SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. I went with Lee Bryant and my daughter Annalisa to see CYMBELINE at Lincoln Center. That now makes 30 out of 37 Shakespeare’s plays that I have seen (all on stage, except for the movie TITUS). I take a collector’s point of view at this point, eager to add the missing plays. CYMBELINE is rarely performed; apparently this Lincoln Center production is the first on Broadway since 1923.The late plays are the hardest to come by. Most are rarely performed because they are not highly regarded. Part of my interest in CYMBELINE is how a play by Shakespeare at the height of his powers has come to be so lightly regarded.
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So which ones haven’t you seen?
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, KING JOHN, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, CORIOLANUS, PERICLES, KING HENRY THE EIGHTH, THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.
I just picked up the Riverside Shakespeare for use in my Shakespeare class (which starts tomorrow), and I find it interesting that 3 of Shakespeare’s 5 “Romances” are amongst those few you haven’t seen.
I’m not sure why that is. Although I will say they are amongst his least famous.
Two early plays and five late ones. I think that of the plays I have listed, only ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA is highly regarded. I have not missed many opportunities to see these plays.
Coriolanus has a lot to offer regarding the hubris of those who think themselves above the requirements of ordinary politics. Barack Obama beware!
I saw some of these plays you haven’t seen when I was a volunteer usher for the Shakespeare Theatre in DC from 1997-2000. If you’re looking for obscure Shakespeare performances, this is the place to go.
Their production history, which does not include 2007’s production of Titus Andronicus or the upcoming production of Antony and Cleopatra:
http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/_pdf/production_history.pdf
Incidentally, I did see a live version of Titus Andronicus, in college at Rice. It was so bloody and awful that the students decided to play it as a farce.
Before watching the movie TITUS, I asked a friend if the movie was too bloody. He said it was bloody, but not as bloody as Quentin Tarantino.
I didn’t see TITUS, but seeing Titus Andronicus at an engineering school meant there was an elaborate apparatus for Lavinia’s costume which allowed her to spew blood from her stumps and mouth during every scene.
The Shakespeare Theatre also does non-Shakespeare plays that are otherwise hard to find, perhaps even in New York. We have made it there to see The Persians, the Oedipus cycle, Lorenzaccio, Don Carlos, and Moliere’s Don Juan. I had tickets to see Tamerlaine, but the performance was a preview, canceled at the a day before, I was told because of a problem with the set. Surely my last chance to see that play. The productions seem to me notably straightforward, which is OK with me, though the Pericles, which I couldn’t get to, was directed by Mary Zimmerman.
They have the same diversity at Stratford, Canada. I loved their version of Moliere’s Don Juan a couple of years ago.
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