...yet I'll hammer it out
a surfeit of Pumfreys (spelt Pontefracts)
weaved-up folly 
and that's myself
user: [info]angevin2
name: Lea
Esto causidicus, medicus, si munera queris; / Gramaticus, logicus: pauper, egenus eris.
minutes, times, and hours
October 2008
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ports and happy havens
the searching eye of heaven
still-breeding thoughts
#thebreach, 1066 icons, 1381, 14th-c political poetry, academic wank, adventures in teaching, amusing advertisements, art, automotive mishaps, balladry, bbc, beer, ben jonson, better know a poet, big damn histories, booksluttery, branagh, buckingham! c'est donc buckingham!, bulwer & lyttle lytton, bük pørn, caricatures, cary, charles i, chaucer, choirgeekery, chroniclers, class whinges, completely random crap, computer shit, concordia, conferences: kzoo, conferences: mla, conferences: other, conferences: saa, conferences: saa: 2008, continuing struggles with mental floss, continuing struggles with mentalfloss, coriolanus, crackpot theories, crushing penury, cst, daft shakespeare tarot, demonstrations of outstanding maturity, didactic children's histories, dinosaurs and sodomy, dirtybadwrong, dissertation, doctor who, donne, dorkery, dreams, dryden, dsp, dumb shakespeare humor, early modern text is funny, edward ii, edward iii's overactive loins, eldritch horrors, elizabeth i, elizabethan nationalism, elizabethan pedagogy, england's heroicall epistles, esc, evil shakespeare overlord list, exams, fannish, festival lecturing, fetch the comfy chair, fic, fic recs, filk, firefly, folk things, free burma, füd pørn, g&s, gallows humor, gender, general whinges, general whinging, globe, gower, gripes about minor things, haiku, hamlet, happymaking, harry potter, hath not thy rose a thorn, henry iv, henry v, henry vi, historical fiction, historiography, hockey, holinshed, hot shakespeare men tournament, humiliation, i am overeducated, i am so retro, i fucking hate rhetoric, i hate temporal mechanics, i have so long keepe shepe, i love my dead gay kings, i need to get out more, icons, if she can write a novel..., in search of shakespeare, indecision 08, insomnia posts, irrational gripes, it's funny 'cause it's true, jack straw, james i, jonson, julius caesar, king john, king lear, latin translations, lea's compulsive ricardianism, lea's post-it fetish, librivox, links, lj maintenance, lollardy, macbeth, maintenance bitching, man-eating livestock, marginalia, marlowe, measure for measure, medieval lit is on crack, medieval robots, medieval shiny, memetic mutation, mental hygiene, merry wives of windsor, metatheater, michael drayton, middle scots, milton, monarchy, muppets, music, my friends rock, nashe, national poetry month 2006, national poetry month 2007, national poetry month 2008, navel-gazing, obsessive word counts/mutual admiration, old-school lit crit, olde bokes, olivier, on this date, open letters, othello, other people's reviews, pastime with good company, people are alike all over, perkin warbeck, personal shakespeare filmography, phone posts, photos, pimpery, plumpy bacchus, poetry, pointless polls, politics, polls, preaching to the choir, prince hal's leather pants, privies, procrastination ho!, project middleton, psa (real ones), puritans have less fun, quotes, radio, radio shakespeare, ralph fiennes' awesome pants, random elizabethan poets, random stupid insights, rants, readthroughs, religion, ren lit is on crack, renaissance drama, renaissance shiny, research twaddle, reviews, richard ii, richard iii, ripped from the headlines!, rsc, rsc histories icons, run in circles scream and shout, saaaam, samuel daniel, say don't you remember i'm your pal, screwy "tommy" filk, shakespeare editions, shakespeare illos, shakespeare on crack, shakespeare on film, shakespeare-to-fannish dictionary, shakespearean ads, shakespearean limericks, shakespeareana, shameless dorkery, sidney, silliness, slings & arrows, snark, sonnet haikus, sonnets, soviet cartoons, sp shakespeare, spenser, sporksporkspork, stagecraft, stalking the rsc (but not really lj), star wars, stratford, stuarty things, stuff what i made, stupid authorship tricks, stupid flash games, stupid internet tricks, surveiller et punir, tasty jacobi goodness, tasty meat pies, tea dammit, textual criticism, thank you captain obvious, the abomination, the bad idea bears, the canterbury smackdown, the civil wars, the elizabethans are different, the end of zombie shakespeare, the essex thing, the golden garland, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning, the lancastrian propaganda machine, the mentally scarring psa tournament, the one post i'm making on the topic, the tempest, theater, theory, things i'll regret in the morning, things that are awesome, things that ought to exist, this play gets filthier every time, thomas more, those wacky de veres, tolkien, trauma, trekkiness, trivia you'll never ever need, tudory things, twelfth night, twitterpated, unspeakable vileness, utter pointlessness, vd is for everybody, videos, weird-ass scenes, weltschmerz, who the hell would hire me?, why are we in this handbasket, woodstock, wordles, words words words, work whinges, wtf, you can't unsee it, you really like me
for they breathe truth
"I have been studying how I may compare
This prison where I live unto the world,
And for because the world is populous
And here is not a creature but myself
I cannot do it -- yet I'll hammer it out..."
-- Shakespeare, Richard II 5.5.1-5

"Why then should witlesse man so much misweene
That nothing is, but that which he hath seene?
What if within the Moones faire shining spheare,
What if in euery other starre vnseene
Of other worldes he happily should heare?
He wonder would much more: yet such to some appeare."
-- Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene II, Proem 3.4-9

"The first and wisest of them all professed
To know this only, that he nothing knew..."
-- Milton, Paradise Regained IV.293-94

"I began to act the tragedies for the benefit of my father and mother. Unfortunately I was an only child, which meant that I had to play all the parts, so I leapt in and out of the door at the end of our sitting room, duelling with myself, forcing myself to drink from my own poisoned chalice, and furiously upbraiding myself as my own mother. They were productions which must have been far more enjoyable to perform than to watch. When I was 13 and played Richard II at school, I was astonished to have an actual Queen to kiss, and a murderer to assault me in the gaol. As I died on the speech room platform I thought that life would never provide me with a more glorious moment; nor has it."
-- John Mortimer

"For if hevene be on this erthe, and ese to any soule,
It is in cloister or in scole, by many skiles I fynde.
For in cloistre cometh no man to querele ne to fighte,
But al is buxomnesse there and bokes, to rede and to lerne.
In scole there is skile, and scorn but if he lerne,
And gret love and likyng, for ech of hem lereth oother."
-- William Langland, Piers Plowman X.299-304

"'The best thing for being sad,' replied Merlyn, 'is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then -- to learn.'"
-- T.H. White, The Once and Future King

"History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember. All other history defeats itself."
-- Sellar and Yeatman, 1066 and All That
8 October 2008, 12:19 am - lea's twitterings: TOO INANE FOR LJ!
here cousin seize the crown
( rhubarb rhubarb )
7 October 2008, 12:03 pm - fic rec
methinks it were a happy life
The Further Education of a Christian Prince; or, Why everything that happened afterward was the fault of Humphrey of Gloucester, by [info]lareinenoire. Shakespeare Henry VI, gen, cracktacular. Bedford and Gloucester give Henry VI The Talk. It goes about as well as you might expect. Although the notes remark that this fic is my fault (and I will admit to that gladly, because it is a hilarious fic, and also, a fair cop), it is actually, ultimately, Beth's fault.
"Heirs?"

"The begetting thereof." John's face was beginning to turn red again. This was not going well. "You see, Henry, God bade us to go forth and multiply--"

"Not to mention it can be quite enjoyable if done properly--Ow!" Humphrey rubbed his arm where John had punched it. "What was that for?"

"Irrelevance." He turned back to Henry. "Now. A man and a woman...you do know, Henry, how women are different from us?"

The blank expression on Henry's face spoke volumes.
  • one thing entire to many objects:fic recs
  • thoughts tending to:cheerful
  • music do I hear?:Steeleye Span -- "One Night As I Lay On My Bed"
7 October 2008, 10:19 am - adequately serpentine but not altogether gorgeous
gielgud as richard ii
I was perusing just now a book of various Hamlet-related anecdotes, and it had some notes given by Sir John Gielgud when he directed the play in 1964 (this is the production starring Richard Burton), courtesy of William Redfield's Letters from an Actor. They are awesome, so I will share them with you all.

To Polonius (Hume Cronyn): It's a bit spry, Hume. Younger than springtime. Try using a cane tomorrow night. I know you'll loathe it, but it might work out well, there's a good fellow. Otherwise, it's beautiful. Truly.

To Laertes (John Cullum): John, dear, you must not scurry about in the first court scene that way. You're the son of a Prime Minister, a personage at court. You must never scurry -- you must stride.

To the Captain (Philip Coolidge): Coolidge, it's a charming performance, but get yourself a hat. I couldn't tell you why, but you're nothing without a hat.

To the First Gravedigger (George Rose): George, dear, it was frightfully bad tonight. Can't bear you chuckling at your own jokes and all that early music-hall biz. Wind in the puss and high fatuity. Do change it.

To Ophelia (Linda Marsh): At the beginning of your mad scene, as you pace idly along the parapet's edge humming your woebegone song, I would like you to lose your footing and drop into Horatio's arms. Once free of him, you should slink about the stage doing something serpentine and gorgeous.

To Hamlet (Richard Burton): Really splendid tonight, Richard -- I must tell you that. The entire section we spoke of from "To be or not to be" through the nunnery scene was excellent -- I almost liked it.

Notes from a few nights later:

To the Captain: Charming performance, Coolidge, but the hat doesn't suit you. Get rid of it.

To First Gravedigger: Superb, truly. I don't understand what you do at all, but you do it awfully well.

To Laertes: Can you possibly get to your position faster during the first court scene? We're all waiting for you after the King enters. [Cullum explained that he was trying to seem more dignified as per Gielgud's suggestion. "Of course you were," Gielgud replied. "But be dignified faster."]

To Ophelia: As you broke away from Horatio tonight, you were slinking about the stage doing a number of interesting movements. They were adequately serpentine but not altogether gorgeous.

To Hamlet: When Alec [Guinness] said to Ophelia in the play scene, "That's a fair thought to lie between a maid's legs," he reached right up her skirts in front of the whole court.
Burton: Well, John, that's good for Alec, but I'm liable to get a sexy reputation.
Gielgud: I could add a programme note.
7 October 2008, 09:55 am - today's Best Thing I Ever Saw:
giggling katherine by poisoninjest
Klein bottle hats!

They cost $40, so I am pretty sure I will not buy one (especially as I do try to look reasonably buttoned-down1), but they are AWESOME.

Yesterday's BTIES, courtesy of [info]rysmiel: The Gashlycrumb Torah.

1. I wrote this and then I remembered that last week I wore rainbow kneesocks to class. So I guess I don't. But I do try to have buttoned-down and vaguely sophisticated winter outerwear.
6 October 2008, 07:58 pm - has anyone else noticed
aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!
that the lead vocal in Latour's People Are Still Having Sex sounds a lot like Worf?

("It is a good day to fuck!")
6 October 2008, 12:24 pm - morbidity for a Monday morning
pursued by a bear by rymenhild
Technically afternoon unless you are on the West Coast, but I wanted to alliterate.

Via Mental Floss, a page on the unpleasant and sometimes buggery-filled fates of children in the Edward Gorey oeuvre.
6 October 2008, 10:05 am - mine eyes dazzle
richard ii is fabulous.
Via [info]fuunsaiki at [info]obasc I just read that BBC Radio 3 is broadcasting a production of The Duchess of Malfi on October 12, starring Sophie "you probably know her from Hotel Rwanda but I'll always think of her as the Queen in the Beeb 3 Richard II" Okonedo in the title role, and Jonathan "Richards II and III in the RSC Histories" Slinger as Ferdinand, her creepy, incestuously-minded, and lycanthropic twin brother. This news has MADE MY DAY, since those of us in the States can listen to the production via the Drama on 3 website.

Cast list and info here.
5 October 2008, 05:03 pm - review of Edward II, dir. Sean Graney, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 10/4/08
i <3 my dead gay kings
So I wrote a whole lot about CST's Edward II in email and am editing and posting it rather than structuring it formally as a review. A lot of the thinky is added since then and happens throughout the post.

I do want to point out that the description of the production contains a lot of discussion of some pretty horrific violence, both canonical and via-interpretive-decision, so if you don't want to read about that, you should be warned. There was a lot of it in the production.

( Excruciating detail about Edward II )
  • one thing entire to many objects:cst, edward ii, reviews, theater
  • thoughts tending to:impressed
  • music do I hear?:Spiers & Boden -- "The Rochdale Coconut Dance"
5 October 2008, 12:24 am - I LOVE MY DEAD GAY KING!
i <3 my dead gay kings
Okay, so, not actually my dead gay king, since my dead gay king is Richard II rather than Edward II, but I am filled with goodwill for all dead gay kings right now.

Anyway I am back home after a long brutal drive -- okay, the drive itself was not bad, just that it's hard to maintain energy for the drive back when you don't have the whole "ZOMG DEAD GAY KING PLAY AHEAD" motivation. Coffee, however, is our friend.

The Dead Gay King Play itself was, incidentally, fucking awesome though not flawless; of that there will be much, much, much more in this space in the near future, because I have a ton of things to say about sex and violence and audience complicity and race as it pertains to casting, but I am knackered, and am not sure whether I need sleep or just a shower to get it all to cohere in post form. Turns out you can do Edward II in an hour and fifteen minutes, though, and still make it flow really well (though they had to patch up bits sometimes with expository dialogue). Also when presented that way it really emphasizes what a violent play it is. I was pretty wrecked afterwards. (THAT ENDING OMG FUCKING HELL)

AND I met up with a friend from my undergrad choir, completely by chance. And she bought me beer! So that was totally awesome.
4 October 2008, 06:01 pm - Voice Post
here cousin seize the crown
VoicePost Help
176K 0:52
“Okay, I am in traffic on Navy Pier and I will be blogging about this quite a lot when I get home, uh but for now in case any of you are full of suspense -- holy fucking shit! Edward II was, for the most part, amazing. Um, there were some flaws, which I will discuss, at novel length in my livejournal, but once it got good it got really really really fucking good. So, Chicago people, definitely you should go see it -- bear with it for the first fit, which is a little bit off, but it gets really good once the killing happens. I will post about it more, but I'm still feeling a little bit kind of exhilarated and simultaneously thinky, and I have to drive for five hours. So that'll be fun.”

Transcribed by: [info]the_red_shoes
4 October 2008, 01:44 pm - Voice Post
here cousin seize the crown
VoicePost Help
306K 1:35
“I am standing here looking out over Lake Michigan on Navy Pier. It's a beautiful day out, not too hot, but sunny. I have seen, since arriving here, approximately twenty minutes ago, about nine billion children, quite a few actual sailors -- which I do have to say I've never seen before on Navy Pier, despite the name -- and a bunch of pirates, who were singing show tunes. It makes slightly more sense in context, but not really. It is very disturbing to wander through a bunch of souvenir stands, places selling dip-and-dots (?), a truly terrifying build-a-bear (?) display, and that sort of thing, when you know that your evening is going to culminate in ass-pokering. Um. But, that's okay. Ah....I am getting all of the random blithery stuff out of the way, so when I blog about the play later, I will not get distracted by pirates and sailors and that sort of thing. Altho I think that Edward II would probably have appreciated that. Um, it is....an hour and fifteen minutes until curtain, and I am going to go find something to eat. So I will probably not talk -- probably not post again, until after the play's over, in which case I will be either squeeing madly or complaining. So, have a pleasant afternoon! (sound which could possibly be show-tune-singing pirate in background?)”

Transcribed by: [info]the_red_shoes
4 October 2008, 12:44 pm - Voice Post
here cousin seize the crown
VoicePost Help
212K 1:08
“I have just driven past the Bolingbroke Glass & Mirror Factory, and I know it's there, but it is one of those things that to me will never stop being amusing, and what I think that is a sign of? is that I am a completely pathetic dork. Um, but it means I am almost to Chicago as well! and that is great, because my butt is currently very numb, but it is in better shape than Edward II is going to be at the end of the evening. So that will be fun. -- I really like doing these voice posts when I'm travelling. It feels like you guys are all coming along with me. Which you might not actually enjoy very much in real life, because when I go to see productions of drama, I invariably get all hyperactive and dorky, but I would enjoy it! and I am a bit of a sadist, who loves you all. Anyway, I will talk to you all -- probably while bored, waiting for the show to begin.”

Transcribed by: [info]the_red_shoes
4 October 2008, 11:39 am - Voice Post
here cousin seize the crown
VoicePost Help
79K 0:25
“I just drove past a mile marker that said it's 107 miles to Chicago, and I can't help but feel that the Department of Transportation really missed an opportuity there. By the way, while I do have slightly under half a tank of gas, but no cigarettes. And while I am wearing sunglasses, it is not at all dark.”

Transcribed by: [info]the_red_shoes
4 October 2008, 10:27 am - Voice Post
here cousin seize the crown
VoicePost Help
370K 1:57
“I'm making this phone post from Springfield, Illinois, on the way to up to Chicago, for Gay King Weekend! Um, although I realize that _every_ weekend chez <lj user="angevin2"> is Gay King Weekend. This is an extra-special Gay King Weekend, because I'm going up to see Edward II at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and it's going to star Jeffrey-'Hal-in-the-leather-pants' Carlson, also known as Draco Hamlet, so that's going to be awesome. Um, but right now I am going a lot of driving, right north up I-55, and one thing that I do want to complain about is that while Illinois has a lot to recommend it -- um, since it's the home of Chicago, which is possibly my favourite place in this country that I've been to (obviously I wouldn't have a favourite place I hadn't been to, but anyway) and Chicago is the home of hopefully our next President -- yaaay -- also the home of my parents, who provided the world with me -- hurraaaay -- but one thing that I will say against Illinois is, it's a very boring place through which to drive. It's very flat. And there is nothing but corn. Lots and lots of corn. Really, just epic amounts of corn. And I realize that being America's breadbasket is delightful, but it's a really boring place to drive through, especially when it's early in the morning, so there is that. So I am driving, well, I am not driving now, at McDonald's, where I stopped to (something something), and I am just about to take off and head -- be heading up to Chicago. And I will call in with a hopefully much more interesting update than this one, in a few hours. Have a pleasant morning!”

Transcribed by: [info]the_red_shoes
4 October 2008, 12:14 am - lea's twitterings: TOO INANE FOR LJ!
here cousin seize the crown
( rhubarb rhubarb )
3 October 2008, 12:14 pm
bardcore by aris_tgd
Via [info]rymenhild: Stephen Colbert and Stephen Greenblatt compare the presidential candidates to Shakespeare characters.



Also, it warms my heart to know that there is a blog devoted solely, without exception, to reviews of French onion soup. Except that after reading it I really want some French onion soup.
3 October 2008, 12:14 am - lea's twitterings: TOO INANE FOR LJ!
here cousin seize the crown
( rhubarb rhubarb )
2 October 2008, 07:14 pm - I DIED WHILE WATCHING THIS.
*is 12*


Warning: Will probably ruin TNG for you. ;)
2 October 2008, 02:52 pm - epiphany!
globe = giant TARDIS
MARK RYLANCE FOR ELEVEN.
2 October 2008, 12:14 am - lea's twitterings: TOO INANE FOR LJ!
here cousin seize the crown
( rhubarb rhubarb )
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