Shakespeare in a Year

[Bee]

So in late December a friend asked me if I had any reading projects planned for 2024, and, on a whim, I decided to read all of Shakespeare! It's something I had seriously considered in my previous life as an English major, but life happened etc etc.

Some quick googling brought me to the Shakespeare 2020 project, and that's the schedule I'm following (with the exception of the Sonnets, which I'm spreading throughout the year instead of forcing myself to read 80 of them over three days...):

1. Twelfth Night: January 2-8
2. Henry VI Part 1: January 10-16
3. Henry VI Part 2: January 18-25
4. Henry VI Part 3: January 27-February 2
5. Comedy of Errors: February 4-8
6. Taming of the Shrew: February 10-15
7. Titus Andronicus: February 17-22
8. Romeo and Juliet: February 24-March 2
9. Richard III: March 4-12
10. Julius Caesar: March 14-19
11. Two Gentlemen of Verona: March 21-25
12. King John: March 27-April 1
13. Richard II: April 3-9
14. Venus and Adonis: April 13-17
15. Hamlet: April 19-28
16. The Rape of Lucrece: April 30-May 4
17. Sonnets 1-80: May 6-8
18. Othello: May 11-18
19. Sonnets 81-154: May 20-22
20. Love’s Labour’s Lost: May 26-June 2
21. Pericles: June 4-9
22. Cymbeline: June 11-18
23. King Lear: June 22-30
24. A Lover’s Complaint: July 2
25. The Passionate Pilgrim: July 3
26. A Midsummer Night’s Dream: July 6-10
27. The Merchant of Venice: July 12-16
28. Much Ado About Nothing: July 20-26
29. As You Like It: July 28-August 3
30. Macbeth: August 5-10
31. Troilus and Cressida: August 12-20
32. Antony and Cleopatra: August 22-29
33. Coriolanus: August 31-September 10
34. All’s Well That Ends Well: September 12-19
35. Measure for Measure: September 21-27
36. Henry IV Part 1: September 29-October 5
37. The Merry Wives of Windsor: October 7-13
38. Henry IV Part 2: October 15-22
39. Henry V: October 24-31
40. Henry VIII: November 2-9
41. Edward III: November 11-17
42. Timon of Athens: November 19-24
43. The Winter’s Tale: December 1-7
44. The Tempest: December 9-14
45. The Two Noble Kinsmen: December 16-23
46. The Phoenix and the Turtle: December 27
47. A Funeral Elegy: December 29-30

Feel free to join me, or not, lol. I'll be using this thread to talk about the experience, and recommend audio versions and productions as I can. :)

[Bee]

Twelfth Night
First of all, I must say I'm a tragedy girl. I've never quite connected much with the comedies I had to read for school, and ended up just not even trying Twelfth Night.

Now, of course, I'm absolutely obsessed with it. In one week I managed to read and listen to it, and watched a few different productions. The Arkangel audio-drama is now saved to my Storytel bookshelf as one of my comfort audiobooks. This is definitely a play I'll be coming back to again and again.


Adaptations watched:

• The lovely 1969 TV movie, featuring Joan Plowright as the sweetest Viola (and as Sebastian, too), Alec Guiness as Malvolio, Tommy Steele as Feste... I must say, though, John Moffat as Sir Andrew Aguecheek was both great and upsetting to me. I believe Sheila Reid's hilarious Maria would marry Ralph Richardson's Sir Toby Belch. All in all, my favorite version!
• The charming 1910 movie. It's only about 10 minutes long, but they managed to tell the main points of the story, and the whole thing is actually very impressive! Could be worth an experiment like Daily's with Voyage to the Moon, watching it several times with different music.
• The 1996 movie starring Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia. Too obviously horny, and as I had to watch it dubbed, I'm not sure I can even try to be fair to it.
• The all-male 2013 production at Shakespeare's Globe, featuring Stephen Fry as Malvolio, and Paul Chahidi as really the most perfect Maria. Johnny Flynn as Viola was... less than great, but Mark Rylance played a very good Olivia.

Lastly, I listened to an album with highlights and music from a RSC production. I haven't watched it, but I'm now tracking down what else is available for other plays. Highlights can be a great introduction to the text. :)

[Bee]

1 Henry VI

Oof.

I barely remember anything about the Hundred Years War, or the War of the Roses, so even with the introduction and notes I had a really hard time keeping track of what was going on.

The English really dragged Saint Joan of Arc through the mud. I felt so sick going through this play I picked up a good biography of hers immediately afterwards. It's been rather healing!

Talbot and his son had the only scenes I honestly enjoyed. (Gotta love chivalrous deaths lol)

I used the New Cambridge Shakespeare edition (without which I doubt I would've made it through), and the Arkangel audio drama. You can't pay me to watch this play.

[Bee]

After going back and forth between book previews, I finally settled on Folger's Shakespeare's Sonnets and Poems. I'm extremely bad at reading poetry, so a general readers edition makes a lot more sense than a scholarly one... And it's a lot cheaper, too. >.>

I've decided to finish the sonnets by the original due date (22 May), which means I'll be reading about 2 sonnets per day. That's doable, as long as I don't let them accumulate.

I need to find good recordings, too, they would be really helpful. If anybody has any recommendations, please share!

[Bee]

OMG I've just realized it's David Tennant playing King Henry VI in the Arkangel audio dramas! In part 1 he just sounded really young (both actor and character), but in part 2 he keeps having these super angry angsty speeches and that's how I recognized who it was

[Bee]

Yes I am officially late. The past two weeks have been hard, and I honestly hated the Henry VI plays so I couldn't bring myself to keep on reading while ill.

(Starting with Twelfth Night was, in retrospect, absolute genius. Thanks, person who created the schedule! I probably would've forgotten that Shakespeare can be actually delightful and not just bewildereding...)

I have purchased the Folger Shakespeare Sonnets and Poems edition, though! It's been very helpful, and I might even finish the sonnets in time.

[Bee]

Like with 2 Henry VI, I've finished reading the play, but decided not to read the introduction at this time (first because I was so done with it, but now because I'm behind schedule on this project).

The trilogy is a wild ride, but 3H6 is horrifying from start to finish. And yet... It's honestly compelling. I've gone from never wanting to look at these plays again to needing to study them. Unbelievable.

Onwards to Comedy of Errors!

[Bee]

I need to sit down at some point and properly update this thread. I finally finished reading Romeo and Juliet today, though! Which means I'm... Two whole months behind schedule. Oh, dear.

[Bee]

What if I jumped straight to Cymbeline?