Monthly Archives: May 2014

Giving the Dead their Due: Reactions to Death in King Lear

Sam Mendes’s long running production of King Lear does not shy away from showing the grisly realities of being a character in a Shakespearean tragedy. While ultimately faithful to the original dialogue that Shakespeare wrote, the production takes it’s liberties … Continue reading

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“A girl can only be a slut, a bitch, a tease, or the virgin next door,” ~Ginger Snaps

Throughout The National’s production of King Lear, I was captivated with the idea of the three daughters as three very distinct female archetypes – the bitch, the whore, and the innocent. King Lear’s eldest daughter, Goneril, is obviously depicted as … Continue reading

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Crouching Aphrodite/All the World’s a Stage

These last few days I have had some interesting impressions whirling around in my head, but it’s been difficult to pin them down into a cohesive thought.  This blog post is going to be my attempt at bringing them together. … Continue reading

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History or Heritage? Allusion and Attribution in Titus Andronicus

As fictionalized drama, Titus Andronicus claims no historical foundation. However, set within an imaginary, Late Antiquity Rome, the play pulls on literary elements defining Rome for Early Modern audiences and still relevant in the modern day. This past winter term, … Continue reading

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Wanderful London

A few times over the last couple of days I have found myself wandering along through the streets, gardens, and museums of London.  While I generally had an idea of where I wanted to end up and when, I also … Continue reading

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Woe in Wales

“Go to Wales they said. It’ll be a nice, easy day trip they said.” -Anna Kathryn Barnes Well, going to Wales was plenty nice, but easy it was not. First, due to some oversight AK and I took a bus … Continue reading

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All’s Well That Ends Well: Costumes as a Critique of Western Culture

Sunil Shanbag’s version of All’s Well That Ends Well in Gujarati incorporated many traditional Bollywood aspects such as singing, dancing, music, and a critique of some parts of Western culture.  Due to the play being performed in a language which … Continue reading

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Week Three: London!

With my own graduation literally a week and a half away, here’s a recap of how I spent when of my penultimate weeks as an undergrad. May 6: We started our first full week in London at a running pace. … Continue reading

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The Wheel of Fortune Where No One Wins

Sam Mendes’ adaption of King Lear takes a fatalistic approach to the tale of a devolving king, lessening the burden of tragedy that accompanies the play. The absurdity of King Lear throughout the performance within his actions and responses to … Continue reading

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A Fool’s Death

King Lear was definitely the performance I had been looking forward to most. I’m quite familiar with the play and was even in a production my freshmen year of college. All that familiarity, of course, meant that I had a … Continue reading

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