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BS: Happy Birthday Will

23 Apr 04 - 04:34 AM (#1168751)
Subject: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Ellenpoly

Throughout all the controversy of whether he did or did not write all 37 plays, 7 poems and 154 sonnets...I choose to believe there was a ONE AND ONLY William Shakespeare, and want to wish the memory of that man to stay alive and thriving for years and years to come.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Will!!!..xx..e

(PS-Mr S, you got me through many a tough moment. I am forever in your debt.)


23 Apr 04 - 11:17 AM (#1169002)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Ellenpoly

UNBELIEVABLE!!! I'm the only one going to post here? Jeez guys, I don't know what to make of this...should I have been more specific with my title? Or has St George's day made that much more of an impression on you?

In any case, I plan to refresh this sucker at least one more time before I have to sign off.

Fear not, Will, there are still many who love you, albeit seemingly not here at mudcat...xx..e


23 Apr 04 - 11:25 AM (#1169014)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: el ted

Hmmmmmmmm... How can I put this? Maybe he's not considered to be that interesting?


23 Apr 04 - 11:30 AM (#1169020)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Ellenpoly

I wish I had more time, Will. I'd chat about my favorite play, which sonnet means the most to me, how I was first introduced to you via watching James Earl Jones in "Othello"and how it changed my life. I'd modestly mention the plays I've written for children about you, along with starting up a Theatre Company called "The Shakespearience". All in honour of you, dear Will.

But my time is limited so I'll simply say that you are the person I most admire, the one I would most have enjoyed meeting, and the one man who never ever EVER disappointed me..xx..e

(Come on guys, at least say something nasty about my need to gush here!)


23 Apr 04 - 11:31 AM (#1169023)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Ellenpoly

el ted, from you I expected no less.


23 Apr 04 - 11:32 AM (#1169024)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Ellenpoly

..and certainly no more.


23 Apr 04 - 11:38 AM (#1169026)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: el ted

Happy to oblige EP.


23 Apr 04 - 11:41 AM (#1169027)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Ellenpoly

el ted, if you end up being the only other poster on this thread, I might well turn in my mudcat membership. (yes, I know, you're happy to oblige).


23 Apr 04 - 11:42 AM (#1169029)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull

Shakespear is rubbish.


23 Apr 04 - 11:44 AM (#1169031)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: el ted

Give it 5minutes and the heavy mob will weigh in with their pearls of wisdom.I had enough of bloody Willy S at school.


23 Apr 04 - 11:46 AM (#1169037)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: GUEST,MMario

well - I'm happy to wish Willie the Shake a happy b'day - tho' you do realize if he was alive today he would probably be writing for soap operas - or Harlaquin romances.

Not that he wasn't talanted - but he wrote for the masses (for the most part) very low-brow humour.


23 Apr 04 - 11:48 AM (#1169040)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Ellenpoly

Actually that makes me sad, el ted. It all depends on how you're introduced to the man. Lots of schools have ruined people towards Shakespeare, and that's unforgivable. I saw a great actor in a brilliant production, and it really did change my life..


23 Apr 04 - 11:54 AM (#1169044)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Amos

Jesus what a crowd of dunderheads. You two should be ashamed of yourselves. It is obvious you have no idea what you are talking about. Rubbish? John, the embarassment you should be feeling for letting that out of your dull-wit mouth is enough to bury a badger! And as for you el ted, I suppose you think you are being funny, but the simple truth is you are flaunting ignorance and dullwit as though they were virtues.

Well, they are not. They are, rather, low-life offenses against the very spirit of civilization, and they are a sort of cheap, easy, punk-brained grafitti on the very few towering accomplishments the Anglosaxon crowd have managed to raise up to offset their piteous blundering history of crimes and atrocities. Really, I don't think your people can afford to make less of Shakespeare. He has single-handedly saved the reputation of England a thousand times.

But against churlish stupidity, there may be no defense!! Isn't that a charming idea? Enough to make you vote for whippings in school to be reinstated. And I have a couple of prime candidates in mind.

Bite your tongues; or, and you prefer, bite my royal Yankee ass, both of you.


A


23 Apr 04 - 12:01 PM (#1169051)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: el ted

There you go EP. I told you it wouldn't take long.


23 Apr 04 - 12:03 PM (#1169054)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Ellenpoly

Well I'm sorry Amos was so angry. Maybe he'll come back when he's calmed down and wish old Will a Happy B'day.


23 Apr 04 - 12:09 PM (#1169062)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: el ted

You'll get used to it EP. Some people have a sense of humour, some don't. Some people have an inflated sense of their own importance, some don't. Some people think waffling away on a folk music site is important, some don't.


23 Apr 04 - 12:16 PM (#1169069)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Amos

And some people think snide and sneering comments are communication, el ted; and others do not.

I share your wishes for Will's birthday, EP. Sorry about the thick fog being blown in by his own countrymen. I guess the standards have fallen summat in the last few hundred years.

A


23 Apr 04 - 12:17 PM (#1169070)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: el ted

I'm not English, I'm Spanish.


23 Apr 04 - 12:20 PM (#1169076)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull

and I'm Welsh

John [Evans]


23 Apr 04 - 12:20 PM (#1169077)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Amos

Oh. My apologies. I was wrong. I thought you were being stupid, but you're Spanish.




A


23 Apr 04 - 12:24 PM (#1169081)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Amos

John:

You're Welsh? Really? Hopw intersting. No wonder you think Shakespeare is rubbish. Makes perfect sense.

A


23 Apr 04 - 12:33 PM (#1169090)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Ellenpoly

Oh dear, and all I was hoping for were some nice words for Will...

If you can't play nice, please find another thread...

please..xx..e


23 Apr 04 - 12:46 PM (#1169106)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Amos

Oh, EP, I'm sorry -- John assures me he is not offended, and I have made peace with him and I hope with el ted for being snippity.

Happy Birthday to good Will, who always enjoyed a hot banter as much as any.

A


23 Apr 04 - 01:04 PM (#1169125)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: JenEllen

If only to bring back to course:

I can't say I'm as appreciative as you, are, EP, but I do think that part of Will's charm is that because of the sheer volume, there's a little something for everyone (but as with most things in life, one can take it too seriously).

There was something for me today in the death of Prince Arthur:

The wall is high, and yet I will leap down:
Good ground, be pitiful and hurt me not!.....
...I am afraid, and yet I'll venture it....
...As good to die and go, as die and stay....
O me! my uncle's spirit is in these stones:
Heave take my soul, and England keep my bones!


Happy birthday, Will.


23 Apr 04 - 01:08 PM (#1169131)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: JenEllen

...oh, fer crap's sake.... HEAVEN takes his soul. Heave must be the guy watching the gate that shift...(He's sure as hell not watching my typing today)


23 Apr 04 - 01:26 PM (#1169150)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: GUEST,MMario

Heave was one of the guards on the gate - the other one was Hoegh - people used to work in pairs to distract them and sneak by. Thus "giving him the Heave-Hoegh"


23 Apr 04 - 02:30 PM (#1169219)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: McGrath of Harlow

Are there any other countries where it's a matter of national pride to pretend to be dunderheads?


24 Apr 04 - 02:38 AM (#1169524)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Sttaw Legend

By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - London's Globe Theater on Friday invited all the world on stage to celebrate William Shakespeare's birthday.

"I'm sure he is here in spirit"

Britons are often put off after being force-fed a diet of Shakespearean tragedies at school and Rylance said: "We are very keen here to try and help teachers and young people see Shakespeare on the stage rather than on the page.

"Unfortunately most kids meet Shakespeare around the exam period of the year so they are already tense and it leaves them with a memory of him as a fierce exam question."

The new Globe, on the banks of the River Thames, was the brainchild of the late U.S. actor-director Sam Wanamaker and has proved a roaring success over the last nine years, playing near to capacity every season from May to September, despite not receiving any state subsidy.

"It is very nice to know we live honestly off our box office," Rylance said. "We have the cheapest prices of any theater in England, if not Europe with 600 people only paying five pounds. Our top price is 29 pounds."

Rylance has always encouraged audience participation, especially from the "groundlings" who stand out in the open around the stage and have no hesitation in saying what they think of the production.


24 Apr 04 - 03:54 AM (#1169535)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: Amergin

One of the best Shakespearean experieinces one can have is to go to Ashland, Oregon...they have a troupe of world class actors performing Shakespeare, with humour and with ferocity, but never with self importance....I saw them do Henry V and Twelfth Night a few years ago and it just blew my mind.

The main problem with Shakespeare is that people tend to over act his play, Richard Burton comes to mind...but the troupe in Ashland get him just right and it's funny how after a couple of minutes your ear gets accustomed to the language and you can understand what they're saying and what's going on.

Also Ashland is kind of neat, because an actor with a major role in one play will have a minor role in a few other plays, so no one person stays in the spotlight. The stages are also done traditionally, with different levels.


24 Apr 04 - 04:02 PM (#1169890)
Subject: RE: BS: Happy Birthday Will
From: CarolC

Only the US, McGrath. I think el ted should move here and run for political office. He should do quite well, I think. Unless that's really his six year old kid who's using the real el ted's computer when he's not looking.