Macbeth, part 12

October 27, 2015

The Story So Far: Macbeth and his wife murdered King Duncan in the middle of the night, but now it's morning and Macduff has noticed that King Duncan isn't looking as healthy as he did yesterday, what with all the stab wounds and blood pouring out of him.

Something to watch for in this scene: everyone is speaking very plainly in the aftermath of Duncan's murder... except for Macbeth. He's gone into full-on flowery speech mode, which makes sense, as he's essentially acting his little black heart out. Only he's definitely trying too hard.

There's always a question about whether or not Lady Macbeth really faints here, or if she's doing it specifically to distract unwanted attention away from Macbeth. Most productions seem to go with her pretending to faint, and that's personally my favorite interpretation. It's something she would absolutely do.

In case you've forgotten who these guys are, they're Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, who rather reasonably suspect that they might be next in line... not to the throne, but to getting their throats cut.

If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out our Crispin's Day speech spectacular, with over 80 people chipping in to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt.

St. Crispin's Day: The 600th Anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt

October 25, 2015

Sunday, October 25 is the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, immortalized among Shakespeare fans as the day Henry V gives his famous "Crispin's Day" speech. This speech was one of my favorites when I was a kid, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to revisit it for this anniversary. I put out a call to my readers for people to contribute to a massive communal Crispin's Day reading, and this is what I got:

So many people wanted to participate that I had a hard time editing the video in a way that let everyone have say. Some people's submissions were chopped down to half a line, or even a few words. This was not acceptable! So I've taken all the full clips and created three separate Crispin's Day videos from them:

I really want to thank everyone who participated, and I'm sorry if communication and technological glitches left anyone out. I had so much fun with this that I really want to do some more crowd-sourced Shakespearean supercuts in the future, though, so there will hopefully be more chances!

I also must thank Ben Crystal, who took time out from exploding Hamlets to send me this glorious rendition of the Crispin's Day speech in Original Pronunciation.

Thank you again, everyone. I had a blast with this, and I hope you did too.

Macbeth, part 11

October 22, 2015

Let's see how things are going for everyone's favorite murderous Scotsman!

I love this little interlude. Macbeth is trying so hard to play it cool while he knows that the dam is going to break at any second. Tune in next week to see the aftermath!

St. Crispin's Day Videos Due!

Just a reminder to get your St. Crispin videos to me BY TOMORROW! I've been getting lots back, but I'm still missing some key lines. (I'm looking at you, the people who were assigned "And gentlemen in England now abed", among others. Come on! Don't make me fill in for you! We'll all regret that.)

Remember, e-mail them in to goodticklebrain@gmail.com, along with how you'd like to be credited!

Macbeth, part 10

October 20, 2015

THE STORY SO FAR: King Duncan decided to spend the night at the castle of Macbeth and his wife, the conveniently-named Lady Macbeth. This turned out to be a bad idea, as they have just murdered him in his sleep in order to fulfill a prophecy that Macbeth will become king. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, apparently.

Got all that?

Good. Time for some comic relief! Let's meet the porter.

This weird interlude serves two main purposes. Firstly, it allows the actors playing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth time to wash the blood off their hands from the last scene and change into fresh costumes. Secondly, it provides the only real comic relief in the play.

Let me break it down further for you. The first part of this, the porter's monologue, involves a series of satirical jokes referencing various contemporary social and political topics (Catholic recusants! The doctrine of mental reservation! The Gunpowder Plot!) that, thanks to the passage of over 400 years, are now mostly incomprehensible and unfunny.

The second part of this is just a series of jokes about drunk guys not being able to get it up. CULTURE!

PS - Remember to get those Crispin's Day videos to me this week, by Friday! The sooner the better, as it gives me more time to edit and organize everything. E-mail them to goodticklebrain AT gmail DOT com. Thanks!

Macbeth, part 9

October 15, 2015

We've spent the entire play up until now talking about murdering Duncan, so LET'S SEE DUNCAN GETTING MURDERED!

...ha ha, just kidding, let's skip to right after the murder.

This is possibly my favorite scene in Macbeth. We don't get to see the murder of Duncan, onstage, but Macbeth's totally unhinged reaction makes the offstage murder that much more harrowing. This is a hardened veteran of many battles who started the play literally splitting someone open, and he's totally freaked out by what he's just done.

The "sleep no more" speech is great too. Here it is:

Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast,--
Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house:
'Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.'

It's a really good idea to memorize it, and then recite over and over in your head on those long, dark nights when you're having trouble getting to sleep.

...sorry, did I say that was a good idea? That's a bad idea. Don't do that.

PS - Still have a few Crispin's Day lines left! Get in touch if you're interested. If you have indicated you're interested, but haven't heard from me yet, e-mail me at goodticklebrain AT gmail DOT com, please.

Macbeth, part 8

October 13, 2015

The Story So Far: Three witches (or "Weird Sisters", if you want to be politically correct about it) have told Macbeth that he is going to be king. Macbeth tells his wife this, and they decide to be all proactive about this and kill the current king, Duncan. Because why not?

The dagger speech is one of the most famous speeches from Macbeth. I've assembled a video compilation of some of the more prominent filmed versions of it.

Also, in case you missed it, yesterday I put out a call for people to submit videos of themselves reciting a line or two from the Crispin's Day speech from Henry V, as part of my 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt special. The response has been really great. I've assigned all the lines already, but since so many people want to be involved, I'm assigning them all a second time, because the more the merrier. So, if you'd like to be involved, e-mail me at goodticklebrain AT gmail DOT com and I'll give you a line!

Upcoming: A 600th Anniversary Crispin's Day Special!

October 11, 2015

October 25 will be the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, the centerpiece of Shakespeare's Henry V. I'm very excited. You might recall that last year I put together this supercut of the Crispin's Day speech, featuring all the filmed Henry Vs I could find.

I'd like to do something similar this year, but featuring YOU, my faithful readers. So, if you'd like to participate in the Good Tickle Brain 600th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Agincourt, get in touch with me! Here's how it will go:

I will assign you a couple lines from the Crispin's Day speech. Sorry, you can't choose which ones, because then everyone would be doing the "band of brothers" bit and there would be no one to say "Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester". (Frankly, I love those lines, but I realize they're not exactly the glamorous quotable bit.)
Film yourself reciting those lines. This doesn't need to be a fancy production. If you've got a smartphone, you've got a video camera in your pocket. Just make sure the sound works, so I don't get a clip of you saying "thrrs drrr urrs crrrld thrrr frsst urrff Crrrsprrrn".
Send the video to me (goodticklebrain AT gmail DOT com). Also include how you would like to be credited: real name, pseudonym, Twitter/Tumblr handle, anonymous, whatever).
I will then put together all the videos I receive into a super SUPER Crispin's Day supercut.

Please send me your videos by FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, so I have some time to put everything together!

Don't hold your manhood cheap whiles any speaks that recorded little bits of video with us upon St. Crispin's Daaaaaaay!

Macbeth, part 7

October 8, 2015

Let's see... Duncan has arrived at the Macbeths' castle... there's murder in the air.. what are we missing?

Oh yes! A soliloquy!

Lessons you should take away from this:

Don't argue with Lady Macbeth.
Seriously, don't argue with her. She's going on about bashing a baby's brains out. She has some serious issues.

It is implied that Lady Macbeth had a baby in the past, but there is no sign of a Macbeth-ling running around the castle. Many productions nowadays like to run with the idea that it died in childhood, leaving the Macbeths childless and bereft. The Fassbender Macbeth (which I haven't seen because it's not out here yet, grumble grumble) apparently opens with the hypothetical child's funeral.

Tune in next week when the Macbeths finally get their hands dirty! ....no, seriously, they get their hands dirty.