Best products from r/shakespeare

aarggh! typed a massive post here and accidentally closed the window!

TLDR version from memory:

• I don't like Digital Theatre coz DRM and ridiculous process with redeeming codes for their Samsung TV app
  
• but they're the only way to view the David Tennant / Catherine Tate Much Ado, which is glorious but shouldn't be your first Much Ado
  
  
• Globe DVDs are awesome but expensive, cheaper at Amazon
  
• Sometimes they show them on Sky Arts in the UK... set up an alert at Sky Never Miss which is a service I helped set up and maintain when I worked there as a DevOps Engineer
  
  
• BBC Productions from the Seventies have aged better than you might expect and had some great casting of actors who have become a great deal more famous since then. My wife got me this amazing box set of all of them which seems expensive but for 37 discs is actually great value.
  
  
• not ashamed to admit I love the Branagh films like Much Ado and Henry V
  
• Henry V was my first real encounter with Shakespeare... fell in love instantly while watching the Prologue with Derek Jacobi as the Chorus, lighting a match in the darkness has he prays for a 'muse of fire'...
  
  Oh well, that's pretty much what I said which far less superfluous words!

Welcome to the cool-kids club.

I agree with much of what has already been said. Try to see them live, if you can't, a great "introductory" course is to watch videos while reading. Youtube, [PBS Great Performances}(http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/), Digital Theatreand even cheap used DVDs on Amazon offer a host of free and low-cost options for viewing them at home. It can also be a great tool to start understanding the difference between reading the lines as written and hearing how they rhythmically change in performance.

You will, to be honest, miss some things without reading annotations, but it's also important to note that Shakespeare is incredibly complex-- I've been studying Shakespeare for about 9 years now seriously, and there are STILL days where I open up a script I've read a million times and go "Wait...that's TOTALLY a play on words!"

If you're really serious about getting into references aspect, I would recommend picking up a Lexicon. It's an amazing resource for learning words and references, organized in about every fashion you can think of. You can get them for pretty cheap-- I think I picked both of mine up for around $5 in the "used" section. They usually come in a two volume set, so make sure you get both!

There are all sorts of great reference books available-- a really rare one (but fantastic) is called "Playing Bit Parts in Shakespeare". I tracked down a copy at a used bookstore for about $60, but it's brilliant. It breaks down all of the plays by the smaller roles and gives an explanation of why they are significant and what purpose they serve in the show.
There's also this one. I am unashamed to say I proudly display this on my bookshelf.

You will also find that every Shakespeare scholar has a STRONG opinion on what versions of texts they prefer. I personally hate the versions Penguin publishes and really prefer the Folger Library editions, but much of it has to do with personal preference.

Good luck, new Shakespeare friend!

This line of thinking has been taken even further by some scholars, creating an arc for the entire contiguous series of history plays.

Starting in Richard II, the legitimate throne is usurped by Henry Bolingbroke. He attempts to justify this act to man and God, but his reign is plagued with rebellion and unrest because he has destroyed the natural and divine succession of the English throne. His successor, Henry V is portrayed in Shakespeare as a hero to the English people, and of critical importance, incredibly pious after his "conversion" from that of a trouble-maker upon assuming the throne. He builds numerous churches and supports multitudes of people who pray for forgiveness for his father's actions in usurping Richards crown. In lieu of this, God grants him victory at Agincourt.

But his pious reign is short-lived. The fact remains that the Henrys sit on an illegitimate throne. Henry V dies young, and his son, Henry VI sees great turmoil, losing his father's gains in France as well as serious unrest at home. This period then culminates in the ultimate punishment of the English people for their illegitimate kings in the form of the murderous and misshapen Richard III. A villain without equal who is eventually toppled and replaced by none other than Queen Elizabeth's granddad, Henry VII. Henry VII's claim to the throne is the "true" claim, derived from Old John of Gaunt, the legitimate Edward III's son.

Thus, it is the Tudors who rise to return the line of succession to it's true heirs, restoring the legitimate English monarchy, preserving God's mandate in England, and bringing in an age of prosperity and stability under the current queen.

However believable all that may be, it seems a reasonable arc for a playwright who is portraying the history of relatively recent leaders under the scrutiny of his own monarch, and one that seems to support divine right and the natural laws of succession. And yet, /u/DaitoRyu, you are right in asserting that Shakespeare has a certain knack for portraying the humanity and fallibility of his heroes, even those with a crown on their head. If you ask me, Shakespeare's incredible skill at portraying genuine and fully-developed characters was so unavoidable, that he gave his kings and queens these flaws and touches of humanity in spite of himself, even as he wrote a narrative that supported and perpetuated the idea of divine right.

Whatever conclusion you reach, it is a rich area for debate. We will never truly know Shakespeare's intentions in his writings, but much time and energy has been spent on trying to assert them, and more will undoubtedly follow. I can't remember if this text deals with this matter or not, but I think it does, and either way, it is an immeasurably useful resource when studying Shakespeare's histories, and also a quick read. Check it out! Shakespeare's English Kings

I don't have a ton of time and it's been awhile since I watched Henry V... so I'll be curt. Henry's been staged with great success in different ways at different times to different ends. That alone speaks to how malleable he is. Olivier (I think?) played Henry at the height of WWII as a pure testament to everything good and noble in the English character. It was propaganda. Other productions have treated Hal far less favorably. Or even as a pragmatist/manager more than anything. If memory serves, Branagh's production didn't take too strong of a stance either way in terms of Machiavellian vs. virtuous, but tended towards the latter. The last scene after Agincourt I remember being particularly grotesque and melodramatic. Great performances though- Ian Holm is so good in that movie. Keep in mind that whatever production you watch is an interpretation of the play devised for particular ends. In the case of this particular Branagh movie, mass-market commercial/blockbuster appeal must be a consideration. This Henry V was made to put asses in seats.

You ask: Is that it? But these are weighty questions, and it's a character study that took four plays. There's a lot going on in the Henriad, so I wouldn't just dismiss the Great King vs Bad Person thing as some simple and easily digestible formula. Especially in light of 75% of a studio film. The plays themselves have opened up some paradoxes I'm still uncomfortable with after several readings. I think one of, if not the greatest scene Shakespeare wrote is Henry V, 4.1. Henry is encapsulated perfectly as something of a self-serving weasel in contrast to the lowly soldiers whom Shakespeare made important enough to dignify with names. Give that scene a read, and pay attention to how thoughtful and well-considered Michael Williams is and how Hal just doesn't get it, can't (or won't) hear him. Look at how the play displaces or at least mends politics with extremely nuanced metaphysics. Feel the fear and intelligence of the soldiers vs Henry's selfish motivations and abdication of moral responsibility. Notice how the soldiers listen and make concessions and bear the weight of their morality and mortality. These are commoners speaking truth about war and God over the head of absolute power. Or not, possibly. Maybe the King is fooling us too. I love Henry, absolutely, he's an amazing king and human being-- but he's fundamentally a liar, and a schemer, and his enormous intelligence isn't always so evident. How much these things detract from his character and success, or account for it, is a question I've yet to answer.

Bearing in mind this is a tetralogy, and you're only in for the last play, yes, you're missing a hell of a lot of context and backstory. So you'd probably get a lot more mileage out of V if you go back two plays-- or might as well start with Richard II. The first season of BBC's Hollow Crown takes up the entire Henriad and it's great, so if you really don't want to read the plays, maybe give that a watch and then try Branagh again.

There's 3 adaptations/versions that I think are really good. Sadly, none of them can be viewed online for free at a good quality.

David Tennant's Hamlet (2009) can be watched on dailymotion in 10 parts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) and is really good. Tennant's acting is brilliant (which is no surprise) and although it doesn't make any extreme changes, it's a good way of taking the script and understanding what it might look like on stage. It can also be bought on Amazon here.

Mel Gibson's Hamlet (1990) is the one that I actually enjoyed the most. Gibson's acting is really good for a lot of the scenes where Hamlet is mad (or feigning it) and although the order is a bit muddled up, it sticks true to the script. It can be bought on Amazon here.

Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996) is also really good and fun to watch. The ending, in particular, is a very interesting (modern) interpretation of the play. it can be found on Amazon here.

Hopefully that was roughly what you're looking for.

If you are really reading it on a Kindle, any complete works will be a navigation nightmare and likely difficult to read. I checked out the Oxford, which is at least reasonably authoritative and unlikely to contain errors found in other editions. There is a huge introductory section before the plays start so you will need to get to the table of contents and click on the right one to jump, and it is more than $15. There are some pretty excellent apps for iPad if you are using that.

Otherwise, I guess Oxford is ok but unless you are looking for a deal, if you don't want paper I think you would be better off getting individual plays for Kindle. You can find at least some editions of individual plays from the Folger Library on Kindle, for example, and those are excellent, although they will run you $5 - $6 each. Some Arden editions are available for Kindle, too, and those are even better, but more expensive.

If you don't need the accompanying essays, etc., and just want the play in a readable format from people who know what they are doing, there are some editions that look pretty good, like this one for Macbeth for only $0.99.

We were required to read Julius Caesar in 9th grade. It was in a textbook full of other stories and plays. Not sure what edition it was based off of as it was 17 years ago. The experience made me hate Shakespeare because the teacher said "read this, test on Monday". It wasn't until undergrad that I found appreciation for the works under my Honors Advisor and even more appreciation for the works when I went on to get a graduate degree in Shakespeare and Early Modern Performance.

My thesis advisor wrote a great book called ShakesFear and How to Cure It! that I think every teacher should have on the shelf.

Don't teach with NoFear Shakespeare or other "translated" editions. Students will learn more if they are required to translate on their own short passages using the OED.

Edit: I think R&J, MND, and JC are used the most because they are easily recognizable and, in the case of R&J and MND, comedies are maybe more entertaining to younger minds. I think Twelfth Night or Comedy of Errors are better comedies to use. Most administrators don't have experience with Shakespeare and just follow by rote. It is strange that R&J is taught in HS being as it is arguably the bawdiest play in the canon and textbook versions make a lot of edits to curtail to school standards.

Yeah, there's political intrigue with bit of location-jumping, but it shouldn't be problematic. The best advice I can give, and that you will ever receive is this: Your appreciation of any Shakespeare text will be exponentially enhanced if you consume it through your ears, the way the Author intended, as opposed to reading it silently to yourself. Go see it, or grab a filmed version.

This is my favorite, but the recent Patrick Stewart one is pretty good as well.

Aw man, I got excited, I thought a movie was coming. I rarely find such projects interesting. I've always said, I'm in it for the Shakespeare, so when an author writes their own storyline inventing whatever newer characters they want and picking and choosing which original characters to keep or kill, there's rarely enough meat left on the bones to hold my interest. I'd rather have "retelling" versions, so they at least try to hang onto more of the original, even if it's just in spirit. I mean, look at something like "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle", a retelling of Hamlet with intelligent dogs. I loved it.

If you're interested in Tempest fan fiction you might also like Caliban's Hour by Tad Williams.

If you're look for books, most book stores carry Brick Shakespeare. There's a comedy and tragedy version that depicts the plays using Lego. They're pretty faithful, and frankly just pretty impressive. Would make a really good gift for a kid to introduce them to Shakespeare.

To my mind the Sonnets are Shakespeare's greatest poetry, and as great a poet as he is generally, I think his sonnets are under appreciated. Their bottom has never been plumbed; it takes years to appreciate just how good they are (for one thing you need to read a lot of other poetry).

Buy a CD and listen to them in the car whenever you drive. Even with not paying close attention to them, they will sift into your subconscious. There's no wrong way to read them as long as you're reading them. This is my favorite recording of the Sonnets, and this is what I consider to be the best collection of criticism. I have several editions, but I like the Duncan-Jones Arden edition the best.

No love for Olivier I see: https://www.amazon.com/Hamlet-Laurence-Olivier/dp/B00A5IXOYG.

I'm partial to Branagh. But I have still not seen Hawke. I very much want to.

Tennant looks good. I want to watch it now. I love his fetal position "Oh that this too too solid flesh would melt..."

Woah. I don't know where that's from, but there's a video of an RSC production from her younger days with Ian McKellan as Macbeth.

You can also check out Playing Shakespeare on Youtube, an old documentary about acting Shakespeare from the 80s with a lot of now famous actors in it. It's awesome.

Based on a quick google search, it looks like this clip is from some BBC series called Simon Schama's Shakespeare.

Highly recommend Greenblatt's Will in the World (Greenblatt has fantastically compelling prose).

For a narrower bit of time but more precise stuff, and for a really neat book on how literary historians know what they know, I also highly recommend Charles Nicholl's The Lodger Shakespeare

If you have access to Amazon Prime and at least the free trial to Broadway HD option, I recommend this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Othello-Willard-White/dp/B075DG8QFF

The BBC productions from the 80s are really great performances.

https://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Collection-Cleopatra-Coriolanus-NON-USA/dp/B000B6F8V4

I'm only a few chapters into this book but it has some really helpful analysis.

https://www.amazon.com/Shakesplish-Shakespeares-First-Order-Questions-Humanities/dp/1503607577

Here you go mate - really great collection - subtitles available on all of them. And chapters are broken up really well.

Get a copy of Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare

It will answer your questions.

Edit: I linked to the hardcover version. Paperback or Kindle are just fine too.