Shakespeare's Tragedies

Rebecca promised me an evening at the TV -- one where we watched  Troiless and Cressida.

Not know this tragedy at all, I read the plot summary which was too dense for me.

Ouch -- the poster for the play offers us
Brutality of the Highest Order

I took up a pen and paper and began to map out the characters: who lived in Troy and who were the Greeks, who was married to whom and who wanted to be married to whom and soon would be or wouldn't be, and how the families were related from grandparents through to uncles and neices and nephews.

A lot of work.

I sat down in front of the TV in the evening with my blankets and my drink and she started the film.

... and the play begins to wind down ...

There it was before me -- a presentation from the Globe Theatre:  Titus Andronicus.

What?

"Whoops," she said.  "I must have given you the wrong name of the film."

That was not the best start to my evening.  And things just went down hill after that!

This was the bloodiest of the Shakespearian shows I have ever seen.  When it came time for the intermission, I was praying that it was over ... but no!  Another whole act.

"This is Quentin Tarantino-esque," she said.  "I wonder if that director got his ideas from Shakespeare."

I was silently counting my blessings -- the biggest one being that we hadn't asked the kids to watch this with us.

.... Goth prisoners entering Rome ...

If your life is looking really bad, do watch this film to know things could get worse.  The play traced out bad parenting, hooliganism, rape, murder, treachery, racism, mutilation, infidelity, lies, counter-lies, and just bad manners (ie it is not right to serve a guest their own child for supper).

Yes,  Troiless and Cressida would have been a better evening.
Arta