#3 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]

Henry VI Part 3 III.ii name a better wooing scene you can't

[suits-of-woe]

RSC Wars of the Roses

SO. i'm on vacation in stratford right now and i got to see the rsc production of wars of the roses live on closing night and hooooooly shit holy shit. tldr: play good and i'm fucking insane. i have many thoughts.

so it was basically henry vi part 3 but with a liiiittle bit of part 2 tacked on at the beginning. we open on york arriving with his army to fuck shit up and ultimately claim the throne over the somerset issue and then go until the end of part 3

they used cameras and projections in a really cool way, there was this translucent curtain kind of thing where video was projected at different points. sometimes it was a scene going on backstage (like henry conferring with his men before confronting york in the throne room), sometimes something happening onstage but out of the audience's view (rutland cowering behind a set piece before he was killed), sometimes a close-up of something going on onstage (often when characters were killing or dying), sometimes a separately filmed scene of something related (richard killing clifford while other characters talked about it). during tewksbury edward iv and margaret's monologues were filmed like speeches bieng projected to the whole battlefield. and sometimes they would show other things, like still shots of york as his sons found out he was dead.

AND at one point in the son who killed father/father who killed son scene henry put his hand on the back of the cameraman who was filming and i don't know if that means anything but it made me kind of crazy

THE CAST WAS ALL AMAZING. mark quartley had essentially my dream henry vi vibe i wanted to hug him so much in every scene he was in. his mannerisms were so nervous and uncomfortable and sometimes he would just turn away from the conversation going on and look out at the audience like he was so conflicted and didn't know what he was doing. he made me so fucking sad and that's all i want from my poor little meow meow english monarch

ARTHUR HUGHES RICHARD. HOLY SHIT. first of all he actually has radial dysplasia of his arm which is cool, i really appreciate the casting of a disabled actor in that role. and his energy was fucking FANTASTIC. my controversial take is that i like 3h6 richard more than r3 richard as a character and this prod was absolutely an example of why. he's so scrappy and high-energy and he really feels so YOUNG. and then about a third of the way into the play he started revealing his Evil Intentions and had such a fantastic rapport with the audience, there were tons of great little nod and wink moments when we were privy to his reactions to things while the characters onstage weren't. he was soooo likeable in that evil way, i may have bad taste but he's my best friend. i'm like actively angry i won't be around to see him in r3.

minnie gale was also a great margaret! she was a little bit more overtly emotional than i've seen the role played before, in the "i here divorce myself" scene she seemed more genuinely grief-stricken than angry. she upset me so much in prince edward's death scene with her sheer desperation

honestly there wasn't a weak link for me! oliver alvin-wilson had amazing presence as york and ashley d gayle was the perfect horrible little slut (affectionate) as edward but when his emotionality came out it was. h.

WHAT THEY DID WITH THE PAPER CROWN. PAIN AND AGONY. in 1.2 rutland was wearing this paper crown as he played around with his dad and his brothers and then it got left behind onstage as he ran to escape when the army came in. and then. well. that was the paper crown they put on york's head CHECK OUT HOW HARD I CAN CRY

when margaret was waiting for york to speak in that scene she FULLY DID THIS POSE ON THE FLOOR. HELP ME

the throne was part of the set that stayed onstage the whole time and york died clinging onto it which mentalled my illnesses

richard DID cry when he heard that york was dead which made "i cannot weep" later in that scene so much more insanity-inducing. he does feel intensely he's just trying to pretend he's not grieving. god i think about the richard and york relationship it makes me so upset HE LOVED HIS DAD AND HIS DAD LOVED HIM

when margaret told henry to "unsheathe your sword" so he could knight prince edward he wasn't wearing a sword so margaret actually had to hand him one. and then he actually dropped the word and just touched his son on the shoulders instead and hugged him. henry :(((((((

king louis and bona were so french (derogatory). they were the comic relief and they just had the stupidest most over-the-top accents and gestures and costumes. watching british/french hostility in action and eating popcorn

when the watchman talked about "lord hastings, the king's chiefest friend" he coughed and did a suggestive voice. a win for bi edward truthers. also when he got captured in that scene he was shirtless and the screen projections had showed him thotting it up with three women. slut

they cut the scene where edward is trying to persuade the mayor to let him into york but there WAS a scene where he was debating with richard and hastings if he should claim his crown or just his dukedom and at one point he screamed "I CAN'T I CAN'T I CAN'T" and just. fully broke down. was not expecting edward to hurt me like that but oh god

the henry vi death scene went OFF and hurt me infinitely as usual. however my one gripe was that they cut "for this amongst the rest was i ordained" which is one of my favourite richard lines EVER. it fucks so hard why would you do that. but GOD the killing of henry was so violent and took so long, most of the onstage deaths didn't have fake blood (people had a lot of blood on their faces but it didn't appear during stage-combat) but then henry was soaked in blood as richard stabbed him over and over and over. and the banger of all bangers speech went off as usual.

the yorkists came onstage and started celebrating and dancing as richard was still standing over henry's body which was such a good representation of where richard is at going into r3, still stuck in war and violence mode while the world around him has moved on to peace and celebrations. and just the reminder that it's all only possible because of henry's death

they did the classic "end on richard holding the baby SO threateningly" thing which. vibes. and the last image was the camera close on his face as he turned toward the audience before it cut to black

ALSO i meet rosie sheehy who was king john in the recent rsc prod! i got to talking to some people sitting next to me about king john and it turned out she was in the audience so they offered to introduce me. she was super super nice (and told me that apparently eating a raw egg on stage every night wasn't that bad). she'll be anne in the rsc r3 which once again i would fucking kill to watch now

GOD WHY CAN I NOT SIMPLY LIVE AT THE RSC FOREVER AND EVER THAT IS MY QUESTION

[dramamath]

I am "no Atlas for so great a weight." --Earl of Warwick Henry VI, Part 3, Act V, Scene 1

“The weight of this sad time we must obey, Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.“ --Duke of Albany King Lear, Act V, Scene 3

[moxyphinx]

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

[virgo-dream]

Matching Tom and Ferdie roles: hollow crown season 02 episode 01 / hollow crown season 01 episode 01

[fideidefenswhore]

"Mr. Page received your letter directed unto my lady Anne, and delivered the same. There is yet no answer. She gave kind words, but will not promise to speak to the King for you." Cromwell to the Cardinal.

[longitudinalwaveme]

Shakespearean Villain Free-for-All

The setup: the villains from ten Shakespeare plays are all competing to become the rulers of a location that none of them are personally familiar with. (This is to prevent, say, Claudius having an unfair advantage in taking over Denmark.) They are allowed to use as much scheming, and as much physical violence, as they like, and they can have as much prep time as they need before they take action.

All teams will also have access to 5-10 soldiers/servants who can fight for them and carry out tasks that the main villains don't want to do.

However, team members (e.g., Macbeth and Lady Macbeth) are not allowed to side with another team or directly kill their own allies. They can fight with each other and hamper the team's overall ability to win, but they can't directly sabotage themselves.

Who takes the crown?

Side note: Regarding the characters from the history plays, this discussion is only considering their portrayals in Shakespeare's plays, not their real-life counterparts.

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

okay okay okay i get the margaret of anjou hype

[withasideofshakespeare]

If you HAD to choose!

[britneyshakespeare]

Henry VI: Come hither, England's hope. If secret powers Suggest the truth to my divining thoughts, This pretty lad will prove our country's bliss. His head by nature framed to wear a crown, His hand to wield a sceptre, and himself Likely in time to bless a regal throne. The little Henry, Earl of Richmond and the rest of the court: yeah ok that's a definitely normal thing to say.

[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!

[the-tenth-arcanum]

toxic yuri

[aroacehanzawa]

reading shoujo manga gives you the ability to understand shakespeare without the help of annotations

[richmond-rex]

| The Hour of the Wolf A Histories Ficathon XIV story for @heartofstanding ❦

The rumours are true: something is not quite right about Queen Margaret of Anjou. It took him walking into her den to find out.

[read it on ao3]