Six random things meme

[dwenius]

I tried to think of six random things about me that involved Shakespeare in some way, in honor of his birthday this past weekend, but I couldn't do it and keep it interesting.

1. I've been on stage with Ian McKellan for part of the Agincourt battle scene in Henry V (as a few of you may have done, given the circumstances).


2. I've read parts of _Hamlet_ in an original edition Folio, "good" Quarto, and "bad" Quarto, one in each hand and one delicately cradled on a bookholder in front of me, as opposed to reading those three versions in Bernice Kliman's absolutely lurvely Three-Text Hamlet


3. I've touched Queen Elizabeth the First's own, giant, annotated, personal bible. What does this have to do with Shakespeare? Well, I was in a vault in the Folger library at the time!


4. I've gone an entire week without noticing, nor needing to notice, that Daylight Savings Time had started. Boy, those were the days.


5. I've voluntarily lived for weeks at a time on a 30 hour "day" cycle (10 hours work, 10 hours play, 10 hours sleep, alternate sleep and work to fit in a class schedule). Boy, those were the uh, nights, or something.


6. I've spent more money on music CDs than on cars, cumulative, lifetime.

Comments

[gen9.livejournal.com]

YOU got to be on stage with Ian McKellan for the Henry V battle scene???

I know EXACTLY what you're talking about and so wish I had been able to be up there but it was quite amusing to see him act out the rest of the scene and read the list of the dead. ;)

1. I've seen Ian McKellan perform his one-man show and Richard III on stage, he was spell-binding in both. Does that count as 1 or 2? ;)

2. At one point in my youth, I had all 3 of Hamlet's soliloquy's memorized.
Not anymore, mind you, now I just remember the first few lines of each.

3. I saw Tom Hulce, (of Animal House and Amadeus fame), play Hamlet on stage.

4. I've seen every movie version of Hamelt, Sir Lawrence Olivier's still being my favorite.

5. When a small theater company peformed "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" while I was living in Seattle, I coralled about 15-20 friends to attend a performance and bought group tickets for a Thursday evening, unknowingly filling what would have otherwise been a somewhat empty 40 person theater. When we arrived, the ticket person demanded to know who was the person who had organized the group and I told them it was me, hesitantly, worried that I had somehow caused a problem. Several theater company members came out and thanked me for bringing a large group of people, some even hugged me. I was put on the permanent guest list so I could see the play for free for every other peformance they had.

The show was fantastic, very intimate, brilliant comic timing, not a weak link in the bunch. The 2 leads who played Rosencrantz and Guildenstern switched roles every few nights or so which was a real treat to witness how proficient they were with both roles. I saw them perform the play 3 times.