A stick-figure Shakespeare comic by Mya Lixian Gosling
My working premise for this 30 Days of Shakespeare project was to highlight Shakespeare-related moments that bring me joy. Today’s pick doesn’t really bring me “joy”, but it’s still worthy of inclusion!
If it wouldn’t alarm people, I would totally go around randomly shouting “SPEAK HANDS FOR ME!” It’s such a great line.
One of the things I love to do as a Shakespeare geek is seek out behind-the-scenes stories of productions. While I enjoy the finished product that I see onstage, I also very much want to know HOW that product was created. As someone who has never been involved in acting or directing, much of it remained a mystery to me… until I saw today’s 30 Days of Shakespeare pick.
Let me be clear: I very much don’t believe that Shakespeare needs to be “unlocked” for you by some white man in order for you to “properly” understand and appreciate him. Nor do I believe Barton’s style of playing Shakespeare is the only way he should be played. However, the collective experience of this amazing group of actors, crystalized through Barton’s knowledge and insights, legitimately increased my appreciation of Shakespeare’s text and helped me understand a lot about how contemporary actors can bring his words to life.
If you haven’t seen Playing Shakespeare yet, I strongly encourage you to check out the full series on YouTube. The picture quality is rather fuzzy… much like John Barton.
My celebration of Shakespeare Month continues with this charming (?) little throwaway line from Hamlet.
Will never not be morbidly amusing.
Hey everyone! It’s Shakespeare’s birth/death month, and I wanted to do something special to celebrate it this year. As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been having a really hard time creating new comics lately. I think the <gestures vaguely to indicate pandemic/impeding world war/social injustice/toxic politics/apocalyptic climate> has been getting to me and creating comics has just felt frustratingly impossible and pointless.
But the fact of the matter is that I really like creating comics and I feel empty when I don’t create comics. So, in an attempt to reconnect with what inspired me to start creating comics in the first place, every day this month (hopefully) I will be drawing something from the Shakespearean world that brings me joy. I’m starting things off with one of my earliest Shakespearean memories.
If you want to watch the charge, it starts around 1:37 on this video. Make sure you have the sound on.
If you’ve got moments from the Shakespeare world that bring you joy — a performance, a character, a line, a fun fact, anything goes — leave a comment below! Let’s all share the Shakespeare joy this month.
Hey folks! Do you know what today is? I bet you do! That’s right, it’s THE IDES OF MARCH!!!!! Get our your white bedsheets and ketchup and let’s have a ball!
Consulting pocket dramaturg: Kate Pitt
For more seasonal Ides “fun”, check out all my other Julius Caesar comics and then get your friends together and sing a rousing chorus of “Stab by Me”.
I started drawing Shakespeare comics about eight and a half years ago, sharing them privately on Facebook with my friends. One of the first ones that I drew was about Measure for Measure, because why not? It never found a proper place to live on the Good Tickle Brain website, but it still amuses me, so I’ve gone ahead and re-drawn it.
Barnardine deserves someone much better than Angelo, but I hope they’re very happy together.
Them: Shakespeare is soooo romantic!
Me: 🤨
Consulting pocket dramaturg: Kate Pitt
Huge shout-out to my consulting pocket dramaturg Kate Pitt for coming up with the ideas for all of these.
Be sure to check out Shakespearean Valentines (part 1) and Shakespearean Valentines (part 2), as well as all my other Valentine’s Day themed comics.
OK, let’s ease back into this…
Consulting pocket dramaturg: Kate Pitt
If I never hear that again, it’ll be too soon.
