Brush up your Shakespeare
Aug. 10th, 2008 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWhen I did the unpopular opinion meme for Shakespeare a while ago, several comments expressed surprise there is Shakespeare fanfiction. Now my meme actually was meant as a parody, but of course there is Shakespeare fanfic - in fact, there recently was a Histories ficathon, plus there are always some gems at the Yuletide ficathon - so I thought, why not recommend some highlights of Shakespeare fanfic for newbies?
'Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball: in which young Hal hangs out with Richard II. There is subtlety and subtext, and Plantagenet family dysfunctionality. I'm usually not enamored of either character, and yet I really liked this story, and them in it.
Apple blossoms and laurel leaves: Hippolyta and Titania. Who in many productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream get played by the same actress, shared at least two men, and yet never met in the play. This is rectified. Fairies are not safe.
How like winter has my absence been: an entry in the ever popular "what was Iago's motivation?" game, on one level, and on another remarkably plausible Iago/Othello slash.
Dedicate his beauty: Mercutio/Romeo. Also contains a rare attempt to flesh out Rosaline, making her from a name into a real character, and uses that popular Elizabethan genderswitch disguise game in a new way.
Lastly, there is an unique summary of Hamlet which will change your views... on facebook.
***
Nothing to do with Shakespeare, but I just found it and am still giggling: a Doctor Who/Doctor Horrible crossover. In which Donna and the Doctor meet a certain bunch of singing cowboys, not to mention the Evil League of Evil, and it's all the Master's fault because he gave Bad Horse the Doctor's address in case of his demise: Quake with fear!
'Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball: in which young Hal hangs out with Richard II. There is subtlety and subtext, and Plantagenet family dysfunctionality. I'm usually not enamored of either character, and yet I really liked this story, and them in it.
Apple blossoms and laurel leaves: Hippolyta and Titania. Who in many productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream get played by the same actress, shared at least two men, and yet never met in the play. This is rectified. Fairies are not safe.
How like winter has my absence been: an entry in the ever popular "what was Iago's motivation?" game, on one level, and on another remarkably plausible Iago/Othello slash.
Dedicate his beauty: Mercutio/Romeo. Also contains a rare attempt to flesh out Rosaline, making her from a name into a real character, and uses that popular Elizabethan genderswitch disguise game in a new way.
Lastly, there is an unique summary of Hamlet which will change your views... on facebook.
***
Nothing to do with Shakespeare, but I just found it and am still giggling: a Doctor Who/Doctor Horrible crossover. In which Donna and the Doctor meet a certain bunch of singing cowboys, not to mention the Evil League of Evil, and it's all the Master's fault because he gave Bad Horse the Doctor's address in case of his demise: Quake with fear!
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 08:14 am (UTC)*dances*
I have a couple of Shakespeare recs for you and any readers who might be interested. (As well as a buttload of links here (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=angevin2&keyword=shakesfic&filter=all).)
Best Men Are Molded Out Of Faults (http://a-t-rain.livejournal.com/145479.html) (Measure for Measure: Angelo and Mariana somehow, against all odds, make their marriage work. (I recommend all of
Mad for Water (http://gileonnen.livejournal.com/293064.html) (Othello): Othello meditates on his own otherness.
A Summer's Tale (http://community.livejournal.com/bard_slash/20244.html) (come on, guess): Leontes and Polixenes being adorable. One of the few Shakesfics written in verse that actually works for me.
The Fantastically Awesome and Totally True Account of Severall Episodes from the Life of William de la Pole, afterward the Fourth Earl of Suffolk in the Second Creation (http://roz-mcclure.livejournal.com/778639.html) (Henry VI): Because crackfic exists in Shakespeare fandom, too, and it is AWESOME CRACKFIC.
Also, I don't want to play favorites in a ficathon that I organized, but those of you who are into the history plays should totally check out these fics (http://community.livejournal.com/shaksper_random/42081.html); they are just uniformly wonderful.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 10:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 08:48 am (UTC)Had you read LOLcat Hamlet, for which I made macros in the comments (http://community.livejournal.com/cat_macros/4172175.html)?
no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 10:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 11:01 am (UTC)Ahh. That reminds me of the time when we did Midsummer Night's Dream in our drama class in 12th grade. Hippolyta/Titania and Oberon (who did not also play Theseus, as it were) were rumoured to have a thing, which naturally didn't delight their respective partners; Theseus was a massive stoner; Hermia secretly wanted to be Helena, because she fancied Demetrius, which made the Hermia-Helena-catfight scene way more entertaining; Helena and Demetrius hated each other, while Lysander was bored by Hermia and Hermia thought Lysander sucked; Lysander was rumoured to only date 9th graders; Francis Flute discovered his fondness for crossdressing; and everybody wanted to viciously murder Puck. Gods, I really miss drama! (I was Helena, btw.)
Lastly, there is an unique summary of Hamlet which will change your views... on facebook.
I'm especially fond of "Ophelia removes "moody princes" from her interests," "Polonius is no longer online" and "Denmark is now Norwegian."
*bounces off to read Doctors crossover*
no subject
Date: 2008-08-10 11:05 am (UTC)"Polonius is no longer online" has me in stitches every time I read that. And have fun with the meeting of the Doctors!