The Bard Says...

Through the course of his career in both play and poetry Shakespeare wrote 884,647 words and 118,406 lines.. This according to the Folger Shakespeare Library citing Spevack's concordances. You can tell I'm stepping things up on this blog now. Citations and everything.Trying to decide which 3 of those lines are going to be used in the 24-Hour Theatre project is an impossible task. I'm not even going to undertake it.

But I can guess what type of lines will be used. In my opinion, the lines need to be recognizable to the average person, but don't draw attention to themselves. They should be classic lines, but not overly used. This rules out such lines as "To be or not to be", "What light through yonder window breaks", and "Kenneth Branagh who?". And yes, I stole that joke from Black Adder for those of you who are familiar with Rowan Atkinson's history spanning British sitcom.

Lines more likely to be used are "Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow" or "Oh what a tangled web we weave". They are still familiar and easily written into a narrative without drawing attention. The line is there, but you're not going to pull people out of the story when it is said. I have one other such line, but I'm not going to share it. I actually think this line is going to be used (based on what I know about the organizers). So why not share it? You know that disappointed feeling you get when you're trying to surprise someone and they guess the surprise? I don't want that to happen. Suffice it to say it's from one of the histories. One of the Henry's.

Here's what I actually want to talk about: How much attention do you give the Shakespeare line? Do you title your one-act play with the line and make it an integral part of the piece? Does it become the theme that the entire story builds around? Or is it better to just slip it in during a place it flows and then move on without paying any attention to it? As I consider possible ways to use a given line in a play I feel a little like a Chopped contestant. They have four ingredients that they have to use in their dishes somehow. Then they judges tell them, "I wish you could have made the licorice nibs more of the star of the dish instead of barely throwing them in there." But the rules never said contestants had to make all the ingredients stand out and be noticed. They just said they had to use them.

Is that what's going to happen to my group? We'll follow the rules, use the line, but it will be so sly that the organizers will accuse us of not using the line as well as we could have? Probably not. They're not that type. But they might be secretly disappointed. I hate disappointing people.

My inclination is to not draw attention to the line. Let the play speak for itself and let the Shakespeare blend in. That brings up another point. Can we modify the line slightly to help it blend into our play? Questions to be considered. Answers not available yet.

As a final part of this blog post, I asked my Facebook friends for their favorite Shakespeare lines. I don't believe most of them will be used, but they're too good not to be shared. If you want to add some please do so in the comments!

-This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

-Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

-You are not wood, you are not stones, but men.

-Do it, England.

-No.(Okay, this one will probably end up in all three plays)

-Frailty, thy name is 'woman.

-Oh that I were a man I would eat his heart in the marketplace.

-Get thee to a nunnery.

-A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse.

-There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

-If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.

-Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey nonny, nonny.

Sing no more ditties, sing no more
Of dumps so dull and heavy.
The fraud of men was ever so
Since summer first was leafy.
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey, nonny, nonny.

-Out damned spot! Out I say!

-I am Sir Oracle, I when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!

Bonus points if you can name what play the line came from without looking it up. More bonus points if you can name the character who said it. If this was a quiz, I'd be failing it.