Thomas Ouphe

Disguise isn't necessary for a certain type of man . All’s Well That Ends Well is one of the more interesting Shakespearean comedies, at least philosophically speaking – the plot does drag a little in parts. One thing you might notice about it right off the bat is that it doesn’t read like Shakespeare. It is more grammatically modern than most Shakespeare plays and a little bit easier to read. This has led some very, very clever people to argue that it is written by Thomas Middleton. This may or may not be true, it would be difficult to prove without at least secondary evidence. For sure, the subject matter is way off from Shakespeare’s usual woman-hating, Jew bating, servant kicking provender and a lot of critics actively dislike this play. I don’t, to be clear, it’s one of the better ones. Anyway, to get this out of the way, the main claims to it being at least co-written by Middleton are as follows: Firstly: The grammar tends towards clarity and simplicity of meaning and the rh...

I think you ought to know, I'm feeling very depressed. As You Like It is Shakespeare doing the equivalent of a clip show. The whole play is filled with the kinds of things that show up in his earlier comedies. We have: • Brothers at odds with each other. • An intelligent female cross-dresser • A clown (Touchstone) making sheep jokes. • Multiple couples in minor confusions. • A Greek god inexplicably showing up. • Lots and lots of weddings. That said, it's much more polished than his earlier plays. The main plot is slow to start and most of the comedy comes from Orlando still be attracted to the woman he loves when she's dressed as a male shepherd. This is also the root of most of the sheep jokes. As You Like It has one thing that's new to Shakespeare, and that's Jaques. Whilst all the bog-standard rom-com stuff is happening, Jaques' only role in the play is to stand back and moan about how rubbish it all is. Jaques is a mixture of Marvin the Paranoi...

Benedick and Beatrice, still work as a comedic device. If you're going to have a bad guy, why not call him Don Jon the Bastard? If he happens to be an actual bastard so much more the better. Much Ado About Nothing isn't as original or entertaining as Midsummer Night's Dream, but it is more consistent.  There's no onerous songs or tedious play within a play stuff, just two straightforward intersecting plots. One is about a rich guy (Don Pedro) who is marrying a perfect rich gal (Hero).  The big obstacle being that his bastard brother (Don John the Bastard) convinces everyone she's having an affair and the marriage falls through and she appears to have killed herself.  It's pretty good, but nowhere near as funny as the suicide gag in Romeo and Juliet.  Anyway, it all works out, and since Hero's hymen is intact she gets the green light for a quicky marriage and an expedient hymen cracking.  Btw, if you're finding all this hymen talk a little gross, you may ...