Many years ago, I had the opportunity to be in three productions of Twelfth Night, playing Orsino, Feste and Malvolio. Feste was by far the most challenging. With the love-sick Duke Orsino and the puritanical party-pooper Malvolio, motives are clear...
This line kicks off the second scene of The Tempest. Stunned by the fury of Prospero’s supernatural storm, a horrified Ferdinand leaps into the sea while shouting this zinger (delivered via the spirit Ariel). We know he meant "devils" literally. But we...
Wait, I can explain. It began when we asked our super-smart-Shakespeare-scholar friend what her favorite quotation was. We promised to illustrate it no matter what. Apparently, she took it as a challenge. Her answer?: "What, you egg!" [Stabs him]. Challenge accepted. We could...
"Enter pirates." - Shakespeare Huh? Why, of everything the Bard wrote would we pick this absurd stage direction to illustrate? Because it was there, my friend. Because it was there. Like our other favorite stage direction ("Exit, pursued by a bear"),...
What is it about an undersized box that cats find so irresistible? Whatever it is, Celia and Rosalind must have felt the same way when they bought themselves a tiny cottage in the forests of Arden. Out of context, Celia's...
Wilde is reported to have dropped this zinger upon arrival in the New York Customs House in January of 1882. According to the apocryphal story, the customs yank was not amused. We love this quotation because it captures so much about Wilde...
