The Shakespeare Awards

Yes I know I am seriously late to this party- so late that the cake has probably gone stale and all the guests have already left- but how could I not celebrate William Shakespeare’s 452nd Birthday/400th Deathday??? (Okay, the second one’s a little weird- and technically that’s next week, but whatever)

Originally I was just gonna publish my faves and be done with it- but then I thought it would be fun if *everyone* joined in. And thus the Shakespeare Awards were born (*whoo silent cheer*). Basically, there are ten categories where you can vote for your favourite/least favourite Shakespeare play. I’ll count up all the votes and then post the results on here!

So here be the rules:

1. If you would like to cast a vote, write it in the comments or in your own post (but make sure you link back to me (The Orangutan Librarian) or your vote won’t be counted!)
2. You can answer for as many categories as you like but only one vote per category as many times as you like (yes I changed the rules cos I’m a rule breaker).
3. The arbitrary closing date I have picked is Monday 9th of May

And that’s it! Here are the categories, with my votes for each of them:

–1. King Lear– because it is the only one to have ever made me cry- I watched McKellen’s magnificent performance online somewhere and was a wreck afterwards!

–2. Midsummer’s Night’s Dream– cos it’s got a bit of an edge to it- plus who doesn’t love (semi-evil) fairies?

–3. Romeo and Juliet– yes it’s a cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason. Plus it’s got a bit of misdirection going on, because it starts out in the comic fashion and then subverts everything into a tragedy.

–4. Macbeth– c’mon- this one gave us the three witches- it’s a no brainer. And it’s got some fun/freaky superstitions around it for actors.

–5. Richard III– for a long time this was just my outright favourite play- it’s so twisted (like Richard III’s spine- yes I just went there)

–6. Like as the waves… Just cos.

–7. Al Pacino’s Merchant– I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this play- but Pacino makes everything, even a play as problematic as this, better.

–8. Richard II– cos that Hollow Crown speech is insane

–9. Measure for Measure– the plot in this one makes no sense, the characters are mad and the genre flip flops back and forth! It’s safe to say this is one of the weirdest plays ever written.

–10. Tempest– okay, okay, this one isn’t technically the most unpopular- and I suspect it’s a lot of people’s favourite- but I have just *never* liked this play. Someone I met once summarised this as: Prospero says “look at me, I can do magic… but I won’t”. (When I told an English teacher that they were horrified- but I still think it’s terribly accurate).

Alright- hope you enjoyed that- and now, *drumroll please*, over to you!