Heed the Bard on Bad Words
Don G. White
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San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
See how Shakespeare got his mojo in S.F. Shakes' ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona'
Self-discovery on adventures to new lands. Cross-dressing in disguise to overhear the truth. Falling in love at first sight with such speed and totality as to banish all memory of your actual girlfriend. Pun-filled badinage. Such motifs recur throughout Shakespeare's oeuvre. In the early play 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona,' now in a free, traveling San Francisco Shakespeare Festival production, audiences can get a sense of how 'Twelfth Night,' 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' 'As You Like It' and more came to be. In the show, performed in multiple Bay Area parks, Valentine (Tyler Aguallo) and Proteus (Brennan Pickman-Thoon) test their friendship when they both fall for Silvia (Emily Newsome). In true Shakespearean fashion, characters U-turn from one emotional extreme to another: 'Who should be trusted, when one's own right hand is perjured to the bosom?' says Valentine to his pal, only to instantly forgive in the next line: 'Who by repentance is not satisfied is nor of heaven nor earth.' Ely Sonny Orquiza directs, resetting the show in the Midwest and California. "The Two Gentlemen of Verona": 6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 9-10. Through Aug. 24 at Red Morton Park, Vera Ave. at Valota Road, Redwood City. • Aug. 30-Sept. 7 at Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, McLaren Park, 40 John F Shelley Drive, S.F. • Sept. 13-21 at Sue Bierman Park, Washington St. at Drumm St., S.F. Free. 415-558-0888.
Epoch Times
3 days ago
- Epoch Times
3 Shakespeare One-Liners That Nail It
Shakespeare was a master of the English language, and we owe to him over 1,700 new words, which were either entirely invented by him (for example, 'lonely'), combined existing words in novel ways ('bedroom'), added prefixes or suffixes to existing words ('dauntless'), or simply changed the function of the traditional part of speech ('elbow' as a verb). Even personal names were invented by him—the name Jessica, for example, is recorded as first appearing in 'The Merchant of Venice.' This incredible linguistic fluency was, of course, one of the reasons why he was, and is, considered such a great poet, and why he remains the most widely quoted writer in the English language (though the Bible remains the most quoted source). It is easy, therefore, to quote ringing passages from his plays or poems.
New York Times
4 days ago
- New York Times
On Canada's Top Stage, Macbeth and Annie Are Talking to Americans
The Canadian 'elbows up' attitude was showing. Driving through the countryside from Toronto, we noticed it everywhere, in the nicest northerly way. Maple leaf flaglets fluttering from car windows. 'True North Strong' yard signs. Banners suggesting, as if in code, 'Never 51.' But once we arrived at the Stratford Festival, situated among the rolling plains of southwestern Ontario, the gloves came off. Though the season was planned well before the 2024 U.S. presidential election, this year's productions at the country's (and likely the continent's) largest nonprofit theater seemed to be sending a message. The message was clearest in the three gripping Shakespeare productions I saw during a six-day, seven-show visit. But 'Annie,' no less than Lady Macbeth, had something to say to Canada's neighbor to the south. Until experiencing those Shakespeares in quick succession here, I had never deeply absorbed how so many of the canonical plays are set in motion by the same chaotic figure: a man temperamentally unsuited to the wise use of great power. In 'Macbeth' he is the quick-rising warrior whose wobbly personality (and overcompensating wife) bring on a blood bath of internecine carnage. In 'The Winter's Tale' he is Leontes, the king of Sicily, whose insecurity results in civil chaos. Likewise, Duke Fredrick, in 'As You Like It,' having usurped his sibling's throne, falls prey to fits of Freudian malice that send his country's best people into exile. No matter that 'Macbeth' is a tragedy, 'The Winter's Tale' a romance and 'As You Like It' a comedy. Regardless of genre, all are warnings. And though some suggest the possibility of reconciliation and recovery, not one offers a reliable map. Certainly not 'Macbeth.' (You can't reconcile with a corpse.) Stratford's production, directed by the chic avant-gardist Robert Lepage, imagines Banquo, Macduff and the others as members of a motorcycle gang during the Quebec Biker War of the 1990s, their clan affiliations displayed on the backs of their leather jackets. Macbeth has a greasy salt-and-pepper Prince Valiant; his lady is a groupie in a Bonnie Raitt wig. They live in a roadside motel where a mopey cleaner must mop up the blood. The witches' cauldron is an oil canister. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
