Thursday 23 January 2014

Shakespeare Scarf Theatre Challenge


Today I took delivery of two amazing scarves!  One for a friend of mine, and the other for myself.  The one for myself will dominate the entire year, because I have set myself a challenge based on it.

People of a certain background and education are supposed to have specific interests and behave in particular ways.  Being a foreigner of long standing, and anyway highly individualistic, I frequently offend against these stereotypes, much to the perturbation of unsuspecting natives.  I don’t habitually drink wine, never eat oysters, rarely listen to classical music, don't read highbrow modern French novels (except occasionally by accident), and Hate Shakespeare!

There.  I said it.  I hate Shakespeare.  The great bard has blighted my existence at irregular intervals, from having him rammed down my throat in school to being subjected to his plays at Uni.  Yet worse, any number of people have assumed over time that I would love to see his plays and have applied pressure to entrap me into going.  I have been singularly resistant, though did not always manage to escape. 

In addition to being victimised by teachers and university lecturers, I attended the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, saw several plays at the Rose Theatre in Portland, and suffered through a few open air performances in Oxford.  None of this exposure has improved my opinion of the great man’s work, which is, in my illiterate opinion, either bawdy or gory, and I appreciate neither.  I also have a problem with the guy’s literary magpieism – most of his plots were lifted from earlier folk tales or other writers.  Didn’t he have any ideas of his own?  I am continuously bemused by the praise heaped upon this hero of the middle class educational establishment by the kind of people who wouldn’t be caught dead watching a gory slasher movie or smutty Carry-on film.  Because Shakespeare appears to have been the Elizabethan’s equivalent!

Nevertheless I have decided to have another go (in a positive way!), because I fell for a truly amazing scarf and needed a justification for buying it.

The silk in question is a Jacqmar, an English scarf producer long since defunct.  I have a few of their small scarves, the silk is flimsy and perfect for hot weather, and also they tend to be quite cheap – I pick them up in charity shops and such like for a few quid.  But the Shakespeare scarf is another matter altogether.  It is large, 90cm square, and the silk is thicker than the stuff used for the small scarves.  The colours are very nice, too.  But the real selling point is that the scarf depicts the characters of four major Shakespeare plays, complete with stage instructions.  There is a different play in every corner, and the centre shows the Globe Theatre.

You have to admit, this is exciting!  So, to justify the purchase of this scarf, I set myself a challenge for 2014:  I shall see every play depicted on the scarf!  Also I will visit the Globe Theatre, a task I have put off for years, which is a cultural outrage.

So keep an eye on this blog, and you will be able to vicariously tag along to The Tempest, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth.  At least I am spared King Lear, a play I was attacked with at Uni and which struck me as utterly pointless.  I mean, finally the King learns his lesson, and he dies?!?!? What ever happened to happily ever after?  I want happy endings!  In the word of an immortal poet who occasionally inspires me,

Oh cursed tragedies
A murder on each page.
Perverted fantasies
Are acted out on stage.
I just cannot be thrilled
By people being killed!

 Anyway, I hope you like the scarf!