SHAKESPEARE IN PERSON A COMPLETE BORE
Meeting William Shakespeare in real life
Is a bore, a real drag.
Ok, for twenty years, he wrote two plays a year.
And sonnets, too.
He had a theatre company to run.
Keeping track of profits, money, costumes, props.
He was not known as a carouser or a drunk.
He stayed away from taverns and the bars.
He was a poet and businessman.
Did he have a personality?
No.
If I spoke to him in person, and he talked, I’d YAWN.
He wrote his plays with a quill pen,
Stuck in his little room, with a candle if he stayed up late.
Yeah, he’s be good for a five minute talk.
After that I’d move to other places in London.
Places more exciting.
Like the whore houses.
KING LEAR
King Lear, dude, I was your neighbor!
Hey, man, didn’t you notice?”
You had it all together, yeah, dude.
Until you left your throne and wealth to your three daughters.
For their inheritance you wanted one answer from them:
“Do you love me?”
The two eldest said “yes.” The youngest said, “I have no comment.”
Then you went insane.
Ok, dude. I knew then I no longer wanted to be your neighbor.
The two eldest daughters tried to get more out of you.
While the youngest brought an army to help you against them.
The next thing I knew, dude, is that the shit hit the fan.
One of the older daughters poisoned the other,
Then the poisoner committed suicide.
Your family and friends were executed, maimed, blinded,
Put in prison, committed suicide, and left for nothing.
Man, damn, you have one fucked up dysfunctional family.
I THOUGHT I HAD IT BAD!!!!
Then you died in grief.
I’m moving away. Taking my family and children away.
Going to a gated community with a golf paradise.
Away from the likes of you, dude.
Rest in peace.
But I have a real bad feeling you won’t.
JULIET
Juliet, you my girl next door.
I longed for you,
Loved you.
But you wanted another.
You wanted him.
I dreamed of you.
Whispered your name in my sleep.
Oh! How I longed for you.
But you dreamed of another.
Now you are gone. Dead.
Suicide.
And your lover?
Suicide.
Suit yourselves.
Juliet, I longed and wanted you forever.
But forever now in death are you.
You were the girl next door.
Now you are in the next world.
FOOL
I am a fool.
Shakespearean fool.
Forgotten yet favored.
Crazy yet wise.
I see the future.
I know the truth.
But all believe I’m nothing.
A fool — a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Am I a fool to myself?
Should I believe in myself?
Do I tell the truth to myself?
I am a fool. A Shakespearean fool.
A fluff of superficial.
I find now artificial.
DESDEMONA
They were my best friends.
Now murder, suicide.
Desdemona, I loved you!
He killed out of jealousy.
I would not have done that.
You had done nothing wrong.
You and I were fated for each other.
But you chose him ……..
He killed you then himself.
Murder, suicide.
My best friends.
I would have done anything for you.
Forgiven you, if you were wrong.
But you were not.
Now, all is gone.
Follow you to the grave?
What should I do, my love?
What should I do?
OPHELIA
My dear Ophelia, why are you so?
You came to me crying, telling:
“O, what a noble mind
Is here o’erthrown.”
But is you I love!
My heart is yours — not his!
You’re innocence gone mad, dear Ophelia.
You never should have spied his behavior.
Your heart belonged to me.
But you have gone mad —
Believing he loved you yet not.
But now you are so, my dear love.
Dead, murdered by you. Drowned.
I have lost you.
I must kill the one who killed you,
And then myself shall follow you.
SHAKESPEARE SNIPPITS
ON LIFE:
“we are such stuff
As dreams are made on,
And our little life,
Is rounded with a sleep.
ON DEATH:
“fear no more the heat of the sun
Nor the furious winters rages
Thou thy worldly task has done
Home art gone and taken thy wages
Golden lads and girls all must
As chimney sweepers come to dust.
ON FANTASTIC LIFE:
“if this were played upon a stage now,
I could condemn it as an improbable fiction”
ON PHILOSPHICAL MUSINGS:
“to be or not to be ……..”
On Love:
LADY MACBETH
Lady Macbeth, I loved you!
Yes, we had an adulterous affair.
No one ever found out.
Yet, you stayed married to your
Scottish General husband, Macbeth.
You lived in denial of our affair by
Making your marriage all the stronger,
More in unison with your husband.
While all the while I wanted you as my wife!
But you encouraged your husband to kill —
A mass murderer he was.
Then you died.
Stone, cold dead.
Lady Macbeth, you could have been my wife!
Had you left your husband and come to me —
You would be my wife and lived!
Now, you are where you belong —
In a grave …..
And my heart with you.
ALICE’S ADVENTURE IN WONDERLAND.
Charles Dodgson, aka, Lewis Carrol,
You came up with this stuff!
A girl going through a rabbit hole.
Hey, man, you are a mathematician and logician —
The young girl’s father!
But you aren’t good enough.
You haven’t been to my little studio apartment:
Rabbit Hole.
Squirrel’s nest.
A looking glass.
Your daughter should be here —
In my
Ghetto
Gritty
Grimy
Pad, cave,
Me totally
Place of abode!!!
Alice, sweet, Alice, take my hand
To your land.
Do you have surprises for me?
No. But I have for you.
You’re invited.
GUINEVERE
Guinevere —
You should have loved me.
You married the wrong man.
You loved the wrong man.
Guinevere, I was right for you.
But for your transgression
You were condemned to burn.
But burn did not.
Your lover saved you.
But for what?
He became a hermit.
You a nun.
And I a heart-broken faithful love.
All three of us lost.
Guinevere, I must search for another.
SISYPHUS
A cat can die nine times.
Sisyphus died twice.
I have cheated death
More than twice.
Sisyphus am I.
Death to me came calling.
Chained it back I did.
But died I did again.
In old age, yes, and then.
Body left unburied.
Sisyphus.
You and I are no cats.
PHAEDRA
Could my love be strong enough
To make Phaedra fall in love with me?
Would my love have strength to break her curse?
To be in love, its grip and power.
Oh, Phaedra! Come to me don’t cower!
Do I have the strength against a god
To turn love’s mighty flood within me?
My heart is yours dear Phaedra!
My love for you is strong!
Love me as you do love!
And you will not regret.
PROMETHEUS
Would I want to be Prometheus?
Would I steal fire from heaven to help others?
I do want to help others.
I want to help the world.
I want to help save the world.
Would I steal from God to do this?
Is a prayer enough?
Is faith enough?
Or do I take what I need from God and heaven?
Prometheus.
If given the chance, do I have his courage?