In her new book, Sex with Shakespeare: Here's Much to Do with Pain, but More with Love, Jillian Keenan uses Shakespeare's plays as a vehicle to tell the story of how she came to understand her own sexuality.
Emilia isn’t only a mouthpiece for the despair of the viewer; she is a witness to the violence committed against her friend, and an active agent in her own fate. “I care not for thy sword,” Emilia says to Othello, when she discovers what he’s done. “I’ll make thee known, though I lost twenty lives.”
Laura Sook Duncombe's previous Literary Ladies Cage Fight columns for The Butter can be found here. Greetings, mortals. I am Artemis, goddess of the hunt and hostess of the LLCF, along with my sister, Aphrodite. Each match, we bring you two women of literature and make them compete in five categories. The woman with the most points at the end of five rounds wins. When we celebrate women, everyone’s a winner! Hey gal-pals, it’s…
Previously in this series. Thou hast a plucky band of friends who alleviate the great drama of thy life with their witticisms. Alas, they will later be horribly killed thanks to their prior association with thee. Thou not only tellest sad stories of the death of kings, thou liv’st it. Thy mentor is a drunkard or dead. Thy wife is a metaphor for colonialism. Thou hast put new meaning into the term “kissing cousins.”…
Previously in this series. Old women have prophesied against thee. Thou talk’st to thyself of murder. Often. Thou dost not even attempt to hide this. Thy friend has been horribly mutilated. Thy fool is remarkably faithful. Thou must avenge a death. Thou hast seen a ghost! (But only college-educated men may speak to it.) “Thinkest thou we shall ever meet again?” asks thy love, upon thy parting. (The answer to her question? “Ha ha, no.”)…
On a cruise ship the size of a small European nation, it's not surprising that the first thing I did was get lost. I had already seen the vast 1000-seater theatre and the dressing rooms, featuring a Return to Oz-like gallery of wigs, where I would be spending most of my time. I had also been shown to my cabin, the one I would be sharing with a fellow actor, Jen, for the next sixteen…
Previously in this series. You are plotting a "bed trick" with your waiting gentlewoman. Your boatswain has perished. You have been trying to get to Milford for the past three acts. You will believe basically anything written in a letter. You remain chaste throughout a series of tribulations and are rewarded with a husband whom you have never met. You wed your husband alongside four other women and their beloveds in a modest quintuple wedding. You…
B.N. Harrison's previous work for The Toast can be found here. When I was nineteen, I made an astonishing discovery that was going to revolutionize the field of Shakespeare scholarship: Ophelia is the unsung hero of Hamlet. I was so certain that I understood Ophelia better than anyone else who had written about her in the last 400 years that I wrote a purely elective research paper about my theory. It wasn’t for a…
DIRTBAG SHAKESPEARE imagines modern remakes of Shakespearean plays with a teenage dirtbag cast. The rest is pretty self-explanatory. Previously: Dirtbag Othello. FALSTAFF: ok so you be you and ill be the king HAL: ok FALSTAFF: you know whose great?? Falstaff (this is me being the king right now ok) HAL: right FALSTAFF: so its the king telling you this not me HAL: right FALSTAFF: falstaff is so great you should never fire that guy ever…
DIRTBAG SHAKESPEARE imagines modern remakes of Shakespearean plays with a teenage dirtbag cast. The rest is pretty self-explanatory. Most recently: Dirtbag Romeo & Juliet. THREE WITCHES appear on the heath. WITCH #1: have you ever killed a pig MACBETH: what WITCH #2: do you want to be king MACBETH: king of what WITCH #3: king of jerking off jesus "king of what" MACBETH: do you think I would make a good king LADY…
DIRTBAG SHAKESPEARE imagines modern remakes of Shakespearean plays with a teenage dirtbag cast. The rest is pretty self-explanatory. Previously: Dirtbag Hamlet.
(TYBALT is using BENVOLIO’S own hands to smack him in the face)
TYBALT: stop hitting yourself
stop hitting yourself
(BENVOLIO manages to retract all but his middle fingers)
TYBALT: hey
fuck you man
that’s not cool
