Shakespeare's Midsummer Madness; Halfway through the First Round Recap

This project has been immensely fun. It has been a privilege to see these fantastic arguments duke it out for Shakespearean supremacy. Halfway through the first round, there have been some surprising results and some outright shellackings.

Biggest Surprise

Henry the Eighth

I was absolutely shocked that anyone voted for this play. Utter shock.

Yeah, Of Course, that Won

Hamlet

Hamlet won. Shock. Next round, barring some fit of insanity, it will buzzsaw through Henry the Eighth...At least we think it will.

Great Quotes

The writers are awesome. Simple as that.

• "Halfway through As You Like It, Shakespeare abandons the plot. Such mundane things are at that point only slowing him down as he shows off the most remarkable cast of characters to grace the early modern stage."

• "And the variant quartos that exist prove this play can be performed out of order and STILL be an absolute banger."

• "This play is often forgotten and overshadowed by Shakespeare’s other histories, but Katherine’s plea in court outshines any individual moment in those plays."

• "H8 (which is the perfect abbreviation due to how much we all should hate this play) is the most milquetoast portrayal of a king ever made. The titular ruler is overshadowed by almost every other character, even as everyone other than Katherine is utterly forgettable."

• "Most importantly, the play makes us fall in love with old John Falstaff before he tears our hearts out in part 2"

• "Who needs another spoiled-brat-learns-how-to-be-semi-human plotline when you can go knee-deep into an obscure war that no one ends up winning (not a bad parallel to contemporary politics!)?"

• "Lear is one of my favorite plays ever written, but I must admit right now that of Shakespeare's canon, Othello is the play we NEED to scrutinize, criticize, and learn from in order to achieve progress"

• "KING LEAR is like a fine wine: not only does the play seem richer as it gets older, but our appreciation increases as WE get older."

• "Wanna impress your friends by reading a Shakespeare play that nobody else has? Pick the one that’s actually worth your time: CYMBELINE."

• "Revel in the battles and sexual tension so thick you could slice it with a sword, like Talbot’s son! (Too soon?)"

• "The road to Agincourt begins right here, and you won’t find a more perfect blend of dastardly deeds and dazzling poetry."

• "Seriously, Troilus & Cressida encompasses all the themes from Shakespeare’s most popular plays--young love, the cruelty of war, the dangers of rumor--and wraps them up in a Greek War."

• "Coriolanus doesn’t wax poetical, but waxes combatical."

• "Most importantly, though, 2H6 gives us our first glimpse at Richard III himself--planting the seeds for Shakespeare's irresistibly charming villain, and one of the single greatest characters in his canon of plays."

• "The Office. And Comedy of Errors is The Office of Shakespeare’s play. Smart, but not high brow. It is full of tropes and fart jokes and lots of physical comedy."

And of course:

"The two gent’s love the one lady,

Which makes Proteus really quite shady.

A dog’s in there too

And a bit with a shoe

But the ending does get a bit rapey."

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