Hello, night owls! Whether or not you like the works of Shakespeare (and it's totally fine if you don't), most of you are at least familiar with the types of plays he writes. Tragedies of ambitious kings and star-crossed teenagers, comedies about twins, lovers, rightful heirs, and occasionally fairies...along with historical plays about the reign of England. After reading a few plays or going to performances in the park, you kind of know what to expect.
Or do you?
There are two plays that you should be aware of, because they are not fluffy comedies nor your typical tragedies.
1. Titus Andronicus - Shakespeare's "blockbuster" hit and earliest known tragedy (barring the controversy of it's authorship). Beyond the 17th century, however, it wasn't so popular and today...well, let's just say it's not that popular either. It's a bloody revenge story revolving around the fictitious Roman general Titus Andronicus and Tamora, Queen of the Goths. When Titus has one of Tamora's sons killed in the streets, she decides to exact revenge through the bloodiest, most horrifying and tragic means possible. And when it seems Tamora has stripped him of every bit of happiness, he comes back with even more horrifying and gory revenge.
I'm a Shakespeare fan myself and even I had no idea this play existed. So when I sat in the park one summer, waiting for the show to begin and I looked at the summary in the program, I was shocked at what I read. This was a Shakespeare play? I knew some of his tragedies could be dark, but this? The savagery of the Romans and all the horror and gore of Sweeney Todd combined...a Shakespeare play?
I'm not going to go into details with this, because of the subject matter: trust me, unless you scar yourself by reading or watching the play, you'll thank me for omitting that much. But blood and gore aside, it's a pretty intense play. As the anger between Titus and Tamora grows, the more destruction they cause and in the end, nobody ends up on top. And really, that seems to be the biggest thing you can take away from this play. For every loss, each rival takes, and by the time the taking is done, everything they love is gone. While I was horrified by the stuff that happened in the play, it was as if I was stuck in a nightmare: I couldn't tear my eyes away until I saw how it all ended.
My final precaution: definitely DO NOT bring your children to see this!
2. Measure for Measure - This is a weird one. It wasn't one of Shakespeare's most popular works and it hasn't been performed many times. If you look at the story, you can see why. There are several themes that are clumsily examined and then dropped. There's moral ambiguity, bawdiness, justice, blackmail, dark humor, seriousness...I can't really describe this one that well. When Vincentio, the Duke of Vienna, claims he's leaving on diplomatic duty, he high-tails it out of town only to return in disguise as a friar. The purpose of this is to find out the status of justice in his city and to see if his deputy Angelo is maintaining justice. And how is Angelo handling things? Not very well at all. He's like Javiert and Frollo combined - harsh, mean, and, well, devious. When he sentences a man to death for making a woman pregnant without being properly married, the guy's sister, a novice nun named Isabella, comes to plead for her brother's life. What offer does Angelo give her? He says her brother can live if she sleeps with Angelo.
Just...terrific.
Of course, the Duke decides to take action and as the friar, he helps set things aright and afterwards he claims Isabella's hand in marriage...without any hint of approval, consent, or even any chemistry to suggest such a thing could have been possible.
On top of all that is a subplot involving a brothel and a comedic pimp who passes himself off as a bartender.
Well done, Shakespeare??
This one is confusing. It doesn't know what tone it wants to take. There is trickery involved, there are characters of a humorous nature, and the concept of morality's involvement with justice is discussed. But it's written in such a way that you can't tell whether it's trying to be serious or funny. It definitely can't be a traditional comedy, because the themes of justice and purity make for some heavy scenes. Yet it can't be a tragedy, because everyone makes it out alive and okay at the end (aside from Isabella - a novice nun, remember!! - suddenly being roped into a marriage without knowing whether she'd want it or not).
Shakespeare listed it as a comedy in his First Folio...a comedy. All I can say is this is not a comedy. Any time I see videos of productions that try to present it as such, it doesn't work. The scene where Angelo tries blackmailing Isabella into sleeping with him - not funny! And yet some productions try playing it for laughs by making Angelo nervous or timid or exaggerating the innate awkwardness of the scene. I'm sorry, but there's no way you can make that scene anywhere close to "hilarious". It's a woman bartering for her brother's life and a corrupt deputy trying to fulfill his lust - it's clear this scene wasn't meant to be funny!
Final thought: Yeah, don't take your kids to this, either.
So there you have it - Shakespeare like you wouldn't believe in two plays...I think I'm going to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream now. At least nobody dies or gets brutally dismembered in that one!
~Maud,
Official Night Owl
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