#1 Henry VI

[withasideofshakespeare]

Woah no way?? People (completely unprompted /s) want to hear my trans Shakespeare headcanons?? You bet I can do that.

I’ve done this once before:

But I have even more thoughts now!!

In no particular order:

Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream): Every single pronoun possible. He/she/they/it + all of the neopronouns and xenopronouns that exist currently or will ever exist. Fairy gender is always weird but Puck’s is extra weird.

Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream): Fairy gender. Probably he/they/it?

Titania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream): More fairy gender. She/they/it?

Titania’s fairy attendants (Midsummer): Get a hat and fill it with various pronouns and draw them out at random for the fairies.

Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing): Could go either way, but I really like the idea of transfemme Benedick. Or he/him lesbian Benedick.

Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing): The she/they to end all she/theys

Viola/Cesario (Twelfth Night): Could be trans in literally any direction. I made a post about this too at some point. My suggestion is all of the directions: they/she/he

Sebastian (Twelfth Night): He/him, transmasc. I also made a post about this at some point.

Feste (Twelfth Night): I saw a great she/her Feste last summer.

Orsino (Twelfth Night): Specifically the himbo variety of he/they

Margaret of Anjou (Henry VI trilogy and Richard III): If I ever play Margaret, I will use she/they pronouns.

Catesby (Richard III): Just played Catesby with she/her pronouns and it worked!

Richard II (Richard II): Tell me Richard isn’t the most they/he or he/they guy alive (or… dead).

Hal (1 Henry IV-Henry V): Saw Hal played with she/they pronouns last summer and it was great. Could also see he/they Hal. Very nonbinary vibe overall. I personally believe that going by Hal rather than Henry for two whole plays is their way of pulling the “going by the first letter of what my name used to be instead of picking a name from scratch” nonbinary trick. He probably pretends to be cis after his dad dies and he becomes king—one more element of Hal’s lifelong identity crisis.

Hotspur/Harry Percy Jr. (Richard II & 1 Henry IV): He/they in denial.

Kate Percy (1 & 2 Henry IV): She/they, not in denial. (Also Katespur should be bi4bi)

Ned Poins (1 & 2 Henry IV): Transmasc Ned Poins?? Maybe he doesn’t actually have a sister and Nell is just his deadname. Ned Poins’ failed scheme to flirt with Hal.

Romeo (Romeo & Juliet): he/they (t4t R&J!!!)

Juliet (Romeo & Juliet): she/they (t4t R&J!!!)

Mercutio (Romeo & Juliet): they/he(/it?). Vibes alone. Look at them. Just look.

Nurse (Romeo & Juliet): she/her, transfemme!

Cassius (Julius Caesar): Would love to see a they/them Cassius

Hamlet (Hamlet): he/they. I’ve made multiple posts about this theory and I still love it.

Ophelia (Hamlet): she/they. As she should.

Laertes (Hamlet): she/him and NOT just because Laertes used she/her pronouns the first time I saw this play.

Rosencrantz (Hamlet): he/they/she. Vibes. Sometimes goes by Ros/Rose. Probably genderfluid.

Malcolm (Macbeth): they/he or they/them. Also vibes.

Lady Macbeth (Macbeth): stolen straight from my last post because this is still my HC: she/they; would insult you for “having pronouns in your bio” and then turn around and punch you in the face for using their pronouns incorrectly.

Angus (Macbeth): she/her, transfemme. (t4t Ross/Angus. I will die on this hill… Dunsinane Hill.)

Ross (Macbeth): he/him, transmasc

Caithness (Macbeth): she/they lesbian

Mark Antony (Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra): I would not bat an eye at he/they Mark Antony

Edmund (King Lear): they/he, nonbinary, sexiest man (/gn) alive.

Edgar (King Lear): he/him. Transmasc Edgar is slowly becoming canon To Me.

Cordelia (King Lear): she/her, transfemme.

Goneril (King Lear): she/they. I would let them kill me.

Coriolanus (Coriolanus): transmasc OR transfemme Coriolanus is!!!! The butterfly/metamorphosis motif! Name changes during canon! Discomfort with scars/body! Lack of autonomy granted by society! This is THE transgender play. (Other than Twelfth Night)

Imogen (Cymbeline): Tell me she doesn’t want to be a she/they so bad.

Florizel (The Winter’s Tale): he/they(/she?). Literally just a vibe. I have a pet rock named Florizel.

Perdita (The Winter’s Tale): she/they. I also have a pet rock named Perdita.

Ariel (The Tempest): Similar to Puck, probably they/she/he? Even my conservative English prof consistently rotates between she/her and he/him for Ariel (possibly not intentionally? I’m not convinced he knows what her canon pronouns are.)

Ferdinand (The Tempest): she/they. PLEASE give me transfemme Ferdinand. PLEASE let Miranda realize she’s a lesbian during canon.

Miranda (The Tempest): she/they. Ariel taught them about the existence of she/they pronouns and she immediately started using them.

So in other words… every Shakespeare character should be trans, actually.

[britneyshakespeare]

the problem with henry vi part 1 is that you can only babygirlify the french, who are the far more interesting characters in that play, but the glory of henry vi part 2 is that the duh-rama at home takes off enough to babygirlify the english as well

[princesskuragina]

The more I do theatre the more I become convinced that what makes good theatre and perhaps good acting is being a little bit of a freak and doing a weird gay thing with your friends

[moxyphinx]

SOPHIE OKONEDO as Margaret of Anjou in THE HOLLOW CROWN: HENRY VI, Part 1 (2016)

[thevelvetgoldmine]

TOM STURRIDGE as Henry VI

The Hollow Crown S02E01 - "Henry VI, Part 1"

[irate-iguana]

The promised sequel to my previous post:

If anyone wants to help me come up with drag names for these characters, please feel free!

[uwmspeccoll]

Shakespeare Weekend!

This week we present King Henry the Sixth: Part One, the first of the three part play, and is volume twelve of the thirty-seven volume The Comedies Histories & Tragedies of William Shakespeare, published by the Limited Editions Club (LEC) from 1939-1940. 

Shakespeare’s authorship of these plays has been in question for some time, researchers believed to have found the hand of at least six other playwrights within the text. Modern advances in computer software have allowed Oxford researchers to analyze and compare patterns in the writing styles and they have determined that the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) very likely co-authored the plays with Shakespeare. The plays were first acted in 1592. The second part was published anonymously in 1594, and the third part in 1595. All three parts were published in the folio of 1623. 

This volume is illustrated with lithographs by English artist Graham Sutherland (1903-1980). Sutherland approached book illustration a bit differently. Where other artists wanted to create images that do not distract from the text, and appear harmonious with the text on the page, Sutherland believed that too much attention being paid to creating works that agree with the page will result in “Making the illustration merely decorative, and drained from any personality...” On his own approach to his illustrations he writes:

“I believe that a good illustration translates a story into pictorial equivalents. It should not be either subservient to, or superior to, the story which the author has to tell, but parallel with it.”

The volume in the set was printed in an edition of 1950 copies at the Press of A. Colish, and each was illustrated by a different artist, but the unifying factor is that all volumes were designed by famed book and type designer Bruce Rogers and edited by the British theatre professional and Shakespeare specialist Herbert Farjeon. Our copy is number 1113, the number for long-standing LEC member Austin Fredric Lutter of Waukesha, Wisconsin.

View more Limited Edition Club posts.

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts.

-Teddy, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

alright henry vi: house of lancaster (english shakespeare company) let’s go

thank you @shredsandpatches

[thelastofthebookworms]

The poll about the comedies has already ended but you'll find the tragedies in my 'shakespeare' tag / my pinned post.

I'll made a final poll with the winners for comedy, tragedy 1, tragedy 2 and history when we'll have the results

[withasideofshakespeare]

If you HAD to choose!

[creatediana]

There’s a lot on my head— namely, a head, like Marie Antoinette used to have— and King Charles (the First)— (the new one—whatever)— (I think he still has one, but it’s not in great shape).

But what of the mind? Never mind— but the body, it burns. And I lie in my bed looking at Joan of Arc in a BBC feature— condemned with a baby (or, bastard)— oh, Joan, or Jeanne, la Pucelle— a poor little maid that a poor little Bard suited up—in fine armor to slutshame. Oh well.

Oh well, well well well I’m not feeling these days but for movies and books that I gaze on. Praise God for recurring malaise and disease— I’ve been struck with for fifteen years now... quite a chunk of my life

when I’m just 24, and my grandmother’s baby— (my grandmother’s dead)— (but she wasn’t, before).

No, all four of my grandparents saw me grow up—as this wretch— little nine-year-old girl full of needles, I am— I continue to be in my hospital bed glued to the TV.

What integrity I must inspire in my elders— their wise niece and daughter a weakling, for now— (no, not now, but forever)— I take the remote and flip to cartoons.

I wrote poetry once— (I still do—in my head) (that thing I still have... despite) and I wrote it for years and I’m writing it now in force— in rebellion against the skin and the bones and the muscles, not moving without consequence—

but the mind— and the body!— being idle... I hate it. Even more than the pain, or the punishment I submit to— to claim Me my own over this, my fatigue— my war from some film like a period piece—

so. I fight for some king? Or for God? Heaven knows— but I’m stylishly dressed, eloquent, my last words and woes of my tragedy— (how nice that’d be)— find heroic catharsis for the audience to see...

but for Me? What of Me? Oh, that’s Sunday. Or not. Wait, it’s Friday?—They all look the same in my house. My garden’s no calendar, my dog’s not my boss, but my job is to live... but loss... all of this— losing years once again of my bright little life.

Nana’s sore little girl, I submit, put my pen down again.

“Chorus—pretend Me I’m buried.” - a free verse poem written 7/07/2023

[mybleedingboy]

free recordings of shakespeare plays

in alphabetical order for convenience (but pls use CTRL+F) disclaimer: i have not watched all of these.

all's well that ends well to julius caesar (part 1, here)

king john to the winter's tale (part 2, coming tomorrow maybe idk)

*login with public library card or university, italicized are audio recordings, ! means I don't want the video to get taken down so I didn't add it but search it up and you'll find a good production on a specific website...

All's Well That Ends Well

Shakespeare by the Sea (2013)

UC Davis Playing Shakespeare (2010)

BBC Television Shakespeare* or (1981)

Plainfield Little Theatre (2016)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

Antony and Cleopatra !

Royal Shakespeare Company (1974)

Unbound Theatre (2019)

Shakespeare & Company (2018)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

Greatest Audio Books (2013)

As You Like It

movie adapted by JM Barrie and Robert Cullen (1936)

The Public Theater of MN (2013)

Rice University (2019)

Oxford Theatre Guild (2020)

Shakespeare & Company (2014)

Battle Ground High School Drama Club (2017)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

Greatest Audio Books (2015)

BBC Shakespeare Plays* (1978)

Comedy of Errors

Steam-Punk Performance (2014)

Shakespeare by the Sea (2019)

Shakespeare in the Park NZ (2007)

Coronado Playhouse (2021)

Highland Arts Theatre (2021)

Theatre Company of Saugus, pt. 2 (2023)

Shakespeare Network (2020)

Greatest Audio Books (2013)

BBC Movie* (1984)

Coriolanus !

Brussels Shakespeare Society (2017)

Movie (1964)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

Cymbeline

Shakespeare by the Sea (2016)

Shakespeare & Company (2012)

Movie* (1984)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

Hamlet ! (hint: Moriarty)

adapted and dir. Laurence Olivier (1948)

Abrahamse & Meyer Production (2015)

Bob Jones University (2020)

Broadway Production (1964)

starr. Maxine Peake (2015)

BLC Theatre (2013)

Hamlet as a Rock Opera (2007)

Radio Drama (2018?)

Studio Album star. 1964 Broadway cast (1964)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

BBC Shakespeare Plays* (1980)

Royal Shakespeare Company* (2013)

Wooster Group Re-making* (?) (2012)

Henry IV, Part I

English Shakespeare Company (1990)

Brussels Shakespeare Society (adapted I and II, 2017)

TVO (1990)

Shakespeare & Company (2017)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

Oregon Shakespeare Festival (1950)

Oakshot Press (2017)

BBC Shakespeare Plays* (1984)

H4* (Henry IV parts I and II in futuristic Los Angeles, 2012)

Henry IV, Part II

English Shakespeare Company (1990)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

Oakshot Press (2017)

BBC Shakespeare Plays* (1984)

Henry V

Laurence Olivier (1944)

English Shakespeare Company (1990)

Barn Theatre (2020?)

St. Louis Shakespeare,pt. 2 (2011)

ASC Theatre Company (2022)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

AudioBookBuzz (2018)

BBC Shakespeare Plays* (1979)

Henry VI, Part I

Royal Shakespeare Company (parts I, II, and III, 1956)

English Shakespeare Company (1990)

Shakespeare by the Sea (2021)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

BBC Shakespeare Plays* (1984)

Henry VI, Part II

English Shakespeare Company (1990)

ASC Theatre Camp (2020)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

Oregon Shakespeare Festival (1954)

BBC Shakespeare Plays* (1984)

Henry VI, Part III

English Shakespeare Company (1990?)

Whitman College (1992)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

Oregon Shakespeare Festival (1955)

(BBC Shakespeare Plays* (1984)

Henry VIII

Shakespeare Happy Hours (online, 2020)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

Oregon Shakespeare Festival (1957)

BBC Shakespeare Plays* (1984)

Julius Caesar !

starr. Gielgud, dir. Stuart Burge (1970)

Festival Series (1960)

Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival (2016)

Shakespeare at Winedale (2018)

Acting for a Cause (2022)

Shakespeare Network (1998)

Greatest AudioBooks (2013)

dir. Gregory Doran* (2012)

[nostalgia-tblr]

whatttt do period dramas have against covering women's (and men's) hair when it'd be Historically Accurate?

[britneyshakespeare]

You know what. Despite it being against my doctor's orders I think I should rewatch Jane Howell's Wars of the Roses tetralogy

[do-you-know-this-play]