Antony and Cleopatra anyone?

[Virgil]

I wonder if Sleepy has noticed my last comment in my last post above.

[Schokokeks]

Oh nooooooo, now I finally understand your signature, Sleepy ! Didn't struck me until now in the light of this thread!! Yes, I'm slow, I know

Wow, I never knew you studied at Warwick. I hear it is one of the best departments in the UK for English. Were you there on ERASMUS ?

I'll get started on it on Sunday then

So will I .

[Virgil]

erhem no they don't
wow, I didn't know he was in Hamlet with Derek Jacobi (another of my fave actors). Would that be the production by what's his name that caused a lot of stir because Jacobi was a bit old to play Hamlet?

Well, Jacobi was forty-ish when he played it. I didn't know it caused a problem. He did a great job. It is the best Hamlet I have ever seen. You might want to check it out, if you can find the DVD. It is the BBC production. And Stewart did a fine job as Claudius.

[SleepyWitch]

Oh nooooooo, now I finally understand your signature, Sleepy ! Didn't struck me until now in the light of this thread!! Yes, I'm slow, I know

Wow, I never knew you studied at Warwick. I hear it is one of the best departments in the UK for English. Were you there on ERASMUS ?


So will I .

erhem, DAAD
hee, make sure you get good marks and apply with the DAAD, too, it's so much better than ERASMUS. They pay you 375 Euros a month and you get the money every month, not at the end of your year abroad after you've paid for everything yourself.

I'll keep an eye open for the DVD, Virgil..
sorry wrong expression.. it didn't really cause a problem.. I read a snide comment about Jacobi's age by some critic in a text book, but i don't think there were any major problems

[Janine]

I am all for doing "Twelfth Night" for December - seems more Christmasy. But that can be on the formal discussion group under Shakespeare or play of the month - however they decide to set it up and label it. But you guys can have a separate discussion on "Antony and Cleopatra" on this thread - hey, why not?
I just saw the Jacobi "Hamlet" version, thanks to Virgil, and it was great! Do see it, since you like Jacobi and the guy (forget his name now) playing Claudius. I am not that familiar with this actor, but did recognise him when I viewed this BBC version of "Hamlet". I thought he was in "Star Trek - Next Generation". Interesting Sleepy Witch, thanks for clarifying that for me.
Great still photos, Virgil. Thanks!

[Schokokeks]

I am starting with Antony and Cleopatra today, and have borrowed a copy from the university library. They had lots of editions to choose from, and I picked the Arden, but now I find that there are so many on-page annotations packed with references to other works, discussions over 2 pages on one word, and lots of other information that disturb my flow of reading (we aren't reading this 100% scholarly anyway, are we...?). In case you do want to discuss the place of a specific comma, I'd stick to the Arden, of course , but if not I'll go and get another one. I had a quick look into the Oxford edition, which I liked better (more vocabulary explanations for the non-native me ).
Anyway, which edition are you using ?

[ShoutGrace]

I started reading last night, and got through the first 2 acts. Should be done with it by tommorow.

One thing that I quickly became aware of (it might not be as important for those with a more sophisticated knowledge of the times) is the great benefit knowing the history of the events surrounding the drama accords to the reader. Knowing all about the Pompey's (The Great, his son, his son's son, etc) clarified things a great deal for me.

I wish I would have read "Julius Caesar" beforehand, as well . . . as "Antony and Cleopatra," while not being a continuation of it per se, still follows after - and much of the history there would be beneficial to understanding these characters, again.

I'm just using the cheapest possible edition of paperback that I could find in the nearest bookstore (I was pressed for time), but I also have a "complete works," one which you don't seem to be able to get outside of the U.S. I'm going to look around for a book relating to the "History behind Shakespeare's Roman Dramas" or something like that.

Let me know when you guys are done.

Janine, I'm definitely hoping you can join in.

[bluevictim]

I wish I would have read "Julius Caesar" beforehand, as well . . . as "Antony and Cleopatra," while not being a continuation of it per se, still follows after - and much of the history there would be beneficial to understanding these characters, again.
...
I'm going to look around for a book relating to the "History behind Shakespeare's Roman Dramas" or something like that.

Don't overlook one of Shakespeare's principal sources -- Plutarch's Parallel Lives. For the play Antony and Cleopatra, the life of Antony is especially important (of course). I'm not sure if the translation that Shakespeare himself used is still being printed, but there are a number of translations on the market today, all of which would probably be more readable than the one Shakespeare himself used.

[Virgil]

I wish I would have read "Julius Caesar" beforehand, as well . . . as "Antony and Cleopatra," while not being a continuation of it per se, still follows after - and much of the history there would be beneficial to understanding these characters, again.

Not a big deal about having not read Julius Caesar. Only two characters carry over, Ocatavius and Antony. And they are now older. I think historically these events occured about ten years after. Both to summarize it, Ocatvius (Caesar's nephew and step son) and Antony (Caesar's lead General) had teamed up to defeat Ceaear's assassins and now share power over the empire. The two now are at odds for sole control. That's essentially where A&C starts. One last thing is their personalities. Ocatvius is cool and calculating; Antony is...well, you'll see.

[SleepyWitch]

I've been a very bad Witch I started writing a short story and couldn't get myself to do anything else. so i haven't got started on A&C yet can you give me till next week?
I'll try my best to get started on it by Thursday, but I have to write my story first.

[Schokokeks]

I've been a very bad Witch I started writing a short story and couldn't get myself to do anything else. so i haven't got started on A&C yet can you give me till next week?

Oh hey, don't worry, I for my part will try to have understood it by Thursday .
And since you were the one who got us started, we will of course wait for you .

[Virgil]

I've been a very bad Witch I started writing a short story and couldn't get myself to do anything else. so i haven't got started on A&C yet can you give me till next week?
I'll try my best to get started on it by Thursday, but I have to write my story first.

Just saw this. Yes, what a bad witch. I made sure i read the first act last night, staying up way past my bedtime. And now here at work and I'm so sleepy.

A little dramatics on my part.

But I really did read the first act and was going to post something.

[SleepyWitch]

poor Virgil. I'm sorry. I'll squeeze in the first act tonight then..

[Virgil]

*bump* For those who may have missed this thread, we are reading Antony and Cleopatra over the next few weeks and discussing it here.

[Petrarch's Love]

Hi guys. I hadn't realized that everyone was getting a December discussion going here. You can definately count me in.

Petrarch's Love, you did annotations for A&C? Are you one of those people who go "wait, this guy shouldn't enter from the left, he should be on the right because it changes the meaning of the whole play. The foul copy editor must have got it wrong. Oh and there should be a semi-colon instead of a comma here!" ?

Guilty as charged. Actually I didn't have much to do with the textual preperation of the edition I worked on, since they already had the rights to an established text (I would have loved to have more of a say on those choices though). My job was writing the footnotes and glosses, meaning that I was explaining historical context, tricky or antiquated language, etc. Basically that means I've written some sort of gloss or commentary for nearly every line in the play.

Ever heard of a guy called Johnathan Bate who edited the new Arden Titus? He was one of my profs at Warwick and could go on about things like this for ages...

Yeah, I would imagine if you were doing an Arden edition you'd get pretty caught up in it. That must be a fantastic project to do. He did a great job with Titus if I remember right.