Skye Allen's Blog, page 2
December 16, 2019
What happens in Henry IV
Henry IV was published as 2 plays, Henry IV Part 1 and Henry IV Part 2. But we’ll do them both together in one post. Life is short. Shakespeare is long.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company tweeted:
HENRY IV, 1: Same as The Lion King: Princes have to grow up. Also, hakuna matata.
HENRY IV, 2: Prince Hal’s movin’ on up. MORAL: Don’t forget the little people who got you where you are.
What happens in Henry IV
(King of England from 1399-1413)
Part 1
As you might recall fromRichard II, Henry...
November 18, 2019
What happens in Richard II
Richard II is up next on What Happens in Shakespeare, which means we’re almost, almost to the Wars of the Roses, so hold your Dothraki horses. Richard II seems cruel and wackadoodle enough to qualify as the inspiration for an early Targaryen king, but that’s only because you haven’t met Richard III yet.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company tweeted: “Absolute power corrupts two in the bush.”
What happens in Richard II
(King of England from 1377–1399)
King Richard II is arbitrating a dispute between Thomas Mowbray and Richard’s cousin, Henry Bolingbro...
October 21, 2019
What happens in King John
I’m doing King John this month because it was time to kick off the histories and I needed an organizing system. “The histories,” as no normal person knows, are Shakespeare’s plays about the English monarchy. Don’t get muddled; Antony, Cleopatra, Troilus, Cressida, Caesar, and a man who powerfully resembled Falstaff might have really lived and gotten Shakespeare plays written about them, but only the English histories are “histories.” I decided to go in king order. John was the earliest king who g...
September 23, 2019
What happens in Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a comedy the same way oral surgery is an afternoon at the spa. “Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall” may be the most famous line. Plenty of sin to be found here. Virtue, on the other hand, you couldn’t find with a flea glass. Any good Shakespeare nerd will tell you about the “problem plays,” where Will took on a moral problem, which he didn’t solve 10 times of out 10 (okay, there are only 3 problem plays). Measure for Measure even ends with an unanswered question,...
August 22, 2019
Wordy news
Friends! I’m reading at Literary Speakeasy next week alongside these wonderful writers. Come have a drink with us and I’ll tell you the story about the girl with the magic eyeballs. Or the one about the DJ who gets kidnapped by the fae for a dance underneath the Van Ness Muni station. I haven’t decided.
Literary Speakeasy
Thursday, August 29, 7-8:30 p.m.
Martuni’s | 4 Valencia St., San Francisco
No cover charge, no drink minimum
Facebook event here.
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August 19, 2019
What happens in The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor. The play Shakespeare nerds everywhere are proud to hate. Tradition has it that Queen Elizabeth I wanted a play about her favorite character, the sloppy knight Falstaff from the Henry IV plays, but “to show him in love.” And to deliver it in fourteen days.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company tweeted: “Prequel to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Don’t mess with the ladies.”
What happens in The Merry Wives of Windsor
Falstaff arrives in the town of Windsor. He is broke. He is kno...
July 22, 2019
What happens in Othello
This month in plays that give everybody hives, let’s talk about Othello. A man’s character, his relationship, and ultimately his life get destroyed because he is black. Men murder their wives. It’s all awful. But we do get Iago, the most love-to-hate-him villain maybe ever.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company tweeted, “Othello forgoes marital counseling, takes matters into his own hands. Count to 10 before killing your wife.”
What happens in Othello
Othello is a respected military leader. He prom...
June 24, 2019
What happens in King Lear
Dementia. Unexpected socialist leanings. Real estate woes. King Lear is about aging: the regret, mainly, but also the loss of control and the shock when you discover you are just as frail as the old people you used to make fun of.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company tweeted: “It’s hell getting old.”
What happens in King Lear
The aging King Lear decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters. He demands each of them prove how much they love him. Whoever loves him the most will get the mos...
June 5, 2019
Wordy news
Friends! I’m on the Queer Words podcast! This is my first ever podcast, which is obvious from my terrible speaking voice. Wayne Goodman was very kind to invite me on anyway.
Queer Words has me down as “Skye Allen, musician, chicken wrangler, award-winning author of speculative fiction for younger readers.” We may have the wording for the tombstone right there.
And! Today is the book anniversary of Pretty Peg, my queer YA novel. I’m so proud this book has been in the world for five years. You...
May 27, 2019
What happens in The Merchant of Venice
I’m not the biggest fan of The Merchant of Venice. Except for that impossibly moving speech by Shylock, it’s a very hard play to love. I’m hopelessly unqualified to comment on the anti-Semitism that is rampant in the text. I grew up Catholic, nothing I know about Judaism and anti-Semitism is lived experience, and I’m not even a real student of Shakespeare. But it’s rampant. The blood libel. The forced conversion to Christianity. The feminizing of the outsider. The pitting of a sympathetic que...
