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Say what you want about the 2023 Shakespeare in The Park production of Hamlet, but the choices made in that play WORKED. Having Hamlet wear a black hoodie and camo pants and him dramatically putting his hood up when he was pissed off was inspired. Having Horatio video tape Claudius on an iPhone camera from the side of the stage during the play within the play was hilarious. Having the play within the play be a hip hop dance number that represented the murder!?! Fantastic. Having Ophelia be a singer before she went mad and having a beautiful voice that everyone loved to listen to and then seeing her singing get worse and worse as she got nearer to death?!?! Hamlet pulling out his iphone after killing Polonius to show his mom a picture of his dad compared to a picture of Claudius and angrily swiping back and forth between the two as he said “What judgement would step from this… to this?” The crowd fucking lost it every time. Horatio singing to Hamlet as he died made me fully sob every time. The way they did the ghost on stage was so chilling and I can’t even accurately describe it, you just had to be there. Hamlet being deeply exasperated the entire time was just perfect. Hamlet and Horatio had a secret handshake. Laertes inexplicably carried an acoustic guitar case for much of the play which was very funny but also hit you with the heartbreaking implication that he had used to play while Ophelia sang and he stopped carrying it after she died. It was peak teenage-angst-hamlet and it was so dear to me. PLEASE if anyone has a recording, send it to me.

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Caesar: Hold my wine

Cicero: Not THAT kind of wrangling!

(Lucullus: A Life, by Arthur Keaveney)

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i have an entire tracklist with who sings what drafted btw. i just need to find a way to make sure that pompey and caesar are played by the same actor in act 1 and 2 respectively

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The more familiar with Cicero you are beforehand, the more the Pro Caelio feels like being punched in the face. It can be so very easy to buy into one view of Cicero's character, because he's simply so good at projecting the image he wants us to see. One minute all we see is absolute outrage towards anyone vaguely associated with Catiline's conspiracy, executions without trial, righteous anger and passion. And it's so bloody effective that we buy into it wholeheartedly.

But when he has to, he sheds this skin in the blink of an eye. From bemoaning the Times and Morals, Cicero pleads that the judges be lenient with Caelius, since perfect virtue like that of the heroes of the old Republic is something you find only in books and rarely in life. The times and morals become an excuse. Being dragged into the wrong political circles is just an unfortunate consequence of youthfulness. Coming from Cicero, this is just unbelievable.

But fun uncle Cicero is as much a persona as Mister Republic '63. It's only when you see such radically different versions of Cicero that you realise just what a master of rhetoric he is, how effectively he warps even our impression of him and of the case, though we are looking back with fresh eyes 2000 years later. The real Cicero is an elusive mastermind. Hearing his voice booming his ire through the senate house would have been heart-stopping. But realising how much he's playing with you in order to have such an effect is almost... something more awe-inspiring.

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mark antony voice how does a balding lying son of a pleb and an eques

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I do not know whether working toward a better world will succeed, but I am certain that giving up will not help anyone.

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You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.

Jane Austen, Persuasion

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julius caesar + textposts

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oh this wildly outdated biography from the 1800s is going to make me cry isnt it.

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I am wheezing.

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Everytime I read Frankenstein, the same line makes me put the book down and stare at the wall. It’s my favorite line in the book; it has its own highlighter color in my annotations. The first time I read it, I literally detoured after my last class just to tell my lit teacher how much I liked the line because I couldn’t wait until second period the next day. Here’s the line:

“Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.”

This is said by the creature. He wanted to live. He wanted to live life so badly even though he had had such a difficult one. He still loved the song of the birds and the smell of the flowers and the joy in the world even if he never got to truly experience that joy. I just. AHHHH.

He wanted to fight for a life he never got to live.

EDITS:

-don’t you fucking dare reblog this with “pro-life” rhetoric

-don’t reblog with Victor hate. Most of it is thinly veiled ableism xx

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cicero listen to me. 7 philippics are enough. just keep your cool babe mark antony is not worth it he's going to die anyway with the way he lives. don't lose your head cicero.... chickpea....

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i've been reading julius caesar and i can't take the tent scene seriously at all it's like

brutus: hey maybe you shouldn't take bribes

cassius: oh i'm sorry i didn't realize you HATED ME. how dare you not think i'm a flawless human being?? why don't you just STAB ME THROUGH THE HEART it would probably hurt less

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I am jealous of those who think more deeply, who write better, who draw better, who look better, who live better, who love better than I.

-Sylvia Plath

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There’s a lot of historical figures that feel like they’d only be successful/noteworthy in their specific time period and place, but I really do believe Caesar could’ve thrived anywhere any time

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imagine the "hi, barbie!" scene from the barbie movie but it's julius caesar in the forum going "ave, gaius!" to all the other people named gaius in rome