The most underrated and most overrated Shakespeare play?

[kelby_lake]

Which plays do you think are perhaps overdone and overpraised and which ones do you think are the hidden gems?

[Lokasenna]

Romeo and Juliet is utterly dreadful in my honest opinion - only the Nurse makes it vaguely worth watching... I can't understand why it has such lasting appeal...

As for the most underrated, I'm not too sure... Cymbeline is a lot better than its given credit for...

[kelby_lake]

I didn't think much of Romeo and Juliet until I saw clips of 'Shakespeare's R and J', where the play is acted out by schoolboys of a Catholic school.

[Modigliani]

Oh, most of the tragedies are overrated in one fashion or another. I couldn't tell you which I consider king. My vote for most underrated definitely goes to 'Troilus and Cressida', however.

[xman]

I love A Midsummer Night's Dream, but am confounded at why it is done sooooooo frequently. His later plays are filled far more with his genius, understanding and presentation of the human heart.

I've yet to see a production of King John, but reading it reveals some very interesting characters.

[Modigliani]

I've yet to see a production of King John, but reading it reveals some very interesting characters.

Not to mention some stellar female monologues for those burgeoning actresses looking for classical audition pieces.

[kelby_lake]

The most overdone female monologue has to be Lady Macbeth

[MorpheusSandman]

Underrated:

Antony and Cleopatra - It's never mentioned with his "great" tragedies, despite that it's at least as good as MacBeth and quite a bit better than Othello, IMO.

Troilus and Cressida - Wonderful characterizations and quite emotionally complex; it makes a great companion to The Iliad

Cymbeline - Often ignored because of it's convoluted plot, if you can get past that you'll find some of Shakespeare's best language and characters

Overrated:

Othello - Yes, the language is sublime and Iago is an interesting villain but of all Shakespeare's plays this one seems the most contrived in terms of characters and story lines. Othello's "turn" always strikes me as highly artificial.

Romeo & Juliet - This is a toughie because even though I quite like I certainly don't consider it in the top-tier of Shakespeare's play but it does hover around the middle of the pack. There's really nothing in it I really dislike; I do though dislike that its popularity is due to the theme of "true love" which the play itself seems quite skeptical of.

Twelfth Night - For me, I'd put it in the bottom 3rd of Shakespeare's plays but it seems to be one of his most popular comedies. I vastly prefer plays like As You Like It, The Winter's Tale, Measure for Measure, etc.

[prendrelemick]

This is so encouraging .Troilus and Cressida would be my choice for underrated catogory too. ( I thought I was the only one who thought so.)

I think Antony and Cleopatra, and Cymbeline are too well regarded ,(and rightly so) to be in that catogary.

Romeo and Juliet would be my choice for overrated, not because it is a poorer piece of work than his others, but because I don't think it merits all the fuss it attracts.

[kelby_lake]

[QUOTE=MorpheusSandman;813217]

Othello - Yes, the language is sublime and Iago is an interesting villain but of all Shakespeare's plays this one seems the most contrived in terms of characters and story lines. Othello's "turn" always strikes me as highly artificial.
[QUOTE]

I don't think Othello is over-rated. Most of the time it faces the criticism that Merchant of Venice gets, for being racist. It's interesting as it's the only domestic tragedy, as opposed to a political fall; all the characters have some sort of purpose there.

Measure for Measure is underrated, definitely. Yes, the ending is a bit too convenient but it can easily be done ironically. It's not clear whether Isabella accepts the Duke's proposal or not, which leaves some ambiguity, and you've got a great conflict at the centre: 'Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall'.

[MorpheusSandman]

I haven't read the racist criticism for Othello; probably because he's depicted as a tragic hero rather than a 'villain' like Shylock is. Iago has the majority of the play's racist comments and he's an obvious villain as well. Perhaps it's the historical divide, but I've just never been able to make the leap to "All of this circumstantial evidence suggests my wife MIGHT be cheating so the only logical thing to do is MURDER her." Plus, there's another thing that's always bothered me: Othello kills Desdemona by "smothering" her yet Desdemona is clearly not dead after the actual act because she has the "Falsely murdered/I die and innocent death/farewell" lines; WHY NOT JUST BREATHE, WOMAN? The idea that you can partly smother someone and they would die later is ludicrous and always takes me out of that final scene.

I also agree about Measure for Measure; I thought about mentioning that one as well. Definitely Shakespeare's best problem play, IMO.

[kelby_lake]

I haven't read the racist criticism for Othello; probably because he's depicted as a tragic hero rather than a 'villain' like Shylock is. Iago has the majority of the play's racist comments and he's an obvious villain as well. Perhaps it's the historical divide, but I've just never been able to make the leap to "All of this circumstantial evidence suggests my wife MIGHT be cheating so the only logical thing to do is MURDER her." Plus, there's another thing that's always bothered me: Othello kills Desdemona by "smothering" her yet Desdemona is clearly not dead after the actual act because she has the "Falsely murdered/I die and innocent death/farewell" lines; WHY NOT JUST BREATHE, WOMAN? The idea that you can partly smother someone and they would die later is ludicrous and always takes me out of that final scene.

I also agree about Measure for Measure; I thought about mentioning that one as well. Definitely Shakespeare's best problem play, IMO.

And it's pretty unlikely that she'd be able to articulate eloquent dying words. The main criticism about racism in Othello is that some see it as implying that Othello has returned back to his true 'animal' state and that he cannot control his lust.