MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - I Want Shakespeare in Novel Form.Can you Help Me?

jehane · 12-22-2011, 03:37 AM

I've read the Lamb prose version. It was given to me as a birthday present when I was about 8? I also got a huge volume of classic children's literature. Devoured them both very quickly. They are simplified versions, about novella length. I think I still have it at home. I got my parents to buy me a complete works for my 18th, and also now downloaded my favourites from Gutenberg.

I used to love The Taming of the Shrew, until I grew up and read it with a bit more mature eye. My favourites now are Much Ado and Twelfth Night. King Lear is very powerful but a bit too depressing for me, and Hamlet, well, I just want to slap him! Personally I love the comedies, not keen on most of the tragedies (the less said about R+J the better) and haven't read/seen enough of the historicals to have an informed opinion.

In Australia there is a theatre company that specialises in modernised Shakespeare - Bell Shakespeare, which is very good. One of them was shown on tv not long ago - might have been King Lear? I missed it unfortunately. There also used to be (might still be going) Shakespeare in the Park, which used to perform one play for the summer in an outdoor setting. In Perth it was Kings Park. And of course The Complete Works (abridged)

BBC made a 4-part series a few years ago of modernised ones. Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth were two of them, can't remember the other two right now. Quite good though. And then there was the rash of Hollywood teen comedies a few years back - I was just watching 10 Things a week or two ago.

I haven't yet seen the Mirren version of Tempest, but from the reviews I read it sounded quite good.

12-22-2011, 03:37 AM	#26
jehane Book addict Posts: 441 Karma: 2650464 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Antarctica/Australia/Ohio Device: Sony PRS-300/T1/Asus TF101	I've read the Lamb prose version. It was given to me as a birthday present when I was about 8? I also got a huge volume of classic children's literature. Devoured them both very quickly. They are simplified versions, about novella length. I think I still have it at home. I got my parents to buy me a complete works for my 18th, and also now downloaded my favourites from Gutenberg. I used to love The Taming of the Shrew, until I grew up and read it with a bit more mature eye. My favourites now are Much Ado and Twelfth Night. King Lear is very powerful but a bit too depressing for me, and Hamlet, well, I just want to slap him! Personally I love the comedies, not keen on most of the tragedies (the less said about R+J the better) and haven't read/seen enough of the historicals to have an informed opinion. In Australia there is a theatre company that specialises in modernised Shakespeare - Bell Shakespeare, which is very good. One of them was shown on tv not long ago - might have been King Lear? I missed it unfortunately. There also used to be (might still be going) Shakespeare in the Park, which used to perform one play for the summer in an outdoor setting. In Perth it was Kings Park. And of course The Complete Works (abridged) BBC made a 4-part series a few years ago of modernised ones. Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth were two of them, can't remember the other two right now. Quite good though. And then there was the rash of Hollywood teen comedies a few years back - I was just watching 10 Things a week or two ago. I haven't yet seen the Mirren version of Tempest, but from the reviews I read it sounded quite good. Last edited by jehane; 12-22-2011 at 03:40 AM.