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Shakespeare in Love: A Screenplay
The screenplay to the critically acclaimed film which New York Newsday called one of the funniest, most enchanting, most romantic, and best written tales ever spun from the vast legend of Shakespeare. Marc Norman and renowned dramatist, Tom Stoppard have created the best screenplay of the year according to the Golden Globes and the New York Film Critics Circle.
169 pages, Paperback
Published March 3, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
April 4, 2013
For years I avoided Shakespeare in Love, mostly because I find Gwyneth Paltrow insufferable. I finally watched the film earlier this year, and over a decade after everyone else, I get why this film was such a big deal. It's beautiful and smart and funny and all of the best of what Hollywood aspires to be. Heck, the film is so good it even balances out the insufferability that is the Paltrow. This might be the best I’ve ever seen her (although she didn’t deserve an Academy Award, and Fiennes and Firth were robbed for not even getting nominations, but I digress).
Given how much goes on within the film – and the layers within the dialogue – I decided to read the script. And I wasn’t disappointed. It’s lovely. Beyond lovely. Reading Shakespeare in Love allowed me to focus entirely on the words, on the complex turns of phrases and the nimble asides – and it’s simply beautiful. The costumes, the acting, and the cinematography - all of those breathe life in the film. But the script is, on its own, a wonderful, brilliant piece of literature worthy of attention. Highly recommended.
Given how much goes on within the film – and the layers within the dialogue – I decided to read the script. And I wasn’t disappointed. It’s lovely. Beyond lovely. Reading Shakespeare in Love allowed me to focus entirely on the words, on the complex turns of phrases and the nimble asides – and it’s simply beautiful. The costumes, the acting, and the cinematography - all of those breathe life in the film. But the script is, on its own, a wonderful, brilliant piece of literature worthy of attention. Highly recommended.
September 1, 2019
Sajnálom, hogy a Madáchban nem láttam a darabot, talán lesz még alkalom rá. A filmről viszont kellemes emlékeim vannak, és az eredetiben sem csalódtam. Tom Stoppard nem nagyon tud hibázni és Szabó T. Anna fordítása is zseniális. Kicsit nehéz volt követni, hogy mikor ki riposztol szellemesen, talán egy részletesebb, magyarázó szereplőlista segített volna. Könnyed, pergő, vicces – ha színpadon látom, biztosan öt csillag.
November 15, 2025
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (2 hours 17 minutes)
The language used in this screenplay is rather powerful in demonstrating the emotion of love while also making allusions to Shakespearean writing. Shakespeare In Love isn’t just a film that you fast forward through on VHS cassette tape to see Gwyneth Paltrow’s bosoms.
Italics are used to describe scenes.
There is a typo on page 38: “intotwo”
(VO) = voiceover
(cont’d) = continued
Some of the few film directions include: INSERT MANUSCRIPT:, ANGLE ON WILL, DISSOLVE.
An apothecary is someone who prepares and sells medicine and drugs. Polaxed is English slang.
Presented chronologically are unique words and phrases used throughout the entirety of the script
(apologies if some are repeats):
Pinioned, (the mathematical genius with a notebook), infrequent intervals, haranguing, apothecary, hubbub, idiosyncratic, sweetmeat, coarsely, intermittently, (dumbly), tankards, aghast, sovereign, brooding, factotum, lustily, nimbly, (twice as firmly), moving trancelike, insinuated, entranced, affably, anaesthetic, parapet, candelabra, glowers, (a girlier voice now), vainly, grimly, sober interest, letter-poem, drowsily, demurely, born-again theatre groupie, royal routs, gallantly, vortex, throng, gratuitously, venomously, titter, scatters of applause, vertical, copulation, sheaf, astride, rouses, pig swill, stave, rapiers, fray, engulf, barbershop quartet of actors, stone cold sober, horror-stricken, stagnant, demented, sidesaddle, catatonic, bedraggled, ravaged, paralysed, sobered, murmurs, appaled, octavo size, planking, peephole, agony, bewildered, dumbstruck, (triumphantly), berserk, polaxed, sock to the jaw, attitudes of despair or worse, sober-faced, tankard, flintstock pistol, paste-pot, entourage, extricates, inexorably, furtive, sheepish, audacious, luckily in an aisle seat, cowering, rapt, fever of nervousness, transfixed, recoil, arresting eye, inconspicuous, gaggle
Other examples of unique descriptive language include:
“Hawkers are crying their wares, tract-sellers, delivery boys, and merchants go about their business.” (6)
“in other words he reminds us of Hamlet” (14)
“ROSALINE is big breasted, dark-eyed, dark-haired, sexual” (14)
“Elsewhere is LORD WESSEX, our villain. WESSEX is in his forties, dark, cruel, self-important.” (19)
“replaced by a beanpole of a man” (32)
“WILL emerges from the theatre into a street throbbing with nefarious life-whores, cutpurses, hawkers, urchins, tract-sellers, riffraff of all kinds in an area of stews (lowdown pubs), brothers and slums.” (36)
“Her hair tumbles down about her shoulders, so we will call her VIOLA again.” (37)
“He turns to blood. Love at first sight, no doubt about it. VIOLA has not seen him. She is doing a daughter’s duty among her parents’ friends. The guests form up to begin a changing-partners dance (the very same one you get in every ROMEO and JULIET).” (42)
“WILL tries to speak but the silver tongue won’t work. He is dumb with adoration.” (44)
“WILL is burning midnight oil- literally and metaphorically. His quill has already covered a dozen sheets. He is inspired.” (47)
“As he goes, we see that VIOLA is love-struck by him, a riot in the heart.” (58)
“He kisses here with more passion that ceremony” (60)
*“WILL finds the loose end and spins her naked.” (69)* (nice)
“She is winning” (71)
“His life has turned perfect” (73)
“They lose themselves for a fraction of a moment.” (75)
“Clearly, this stuff is a cut above the normal” (81)
“SAM exits (i.e. enters to us) through the curtain)” (85)
“In a moment they are in world of their own.” (101)
“The place is already crowded with WHORES and CUSTOMERS. It’s a party.” (103)
“An awful lot of drink has gone down.” (105)
“The church is empty, but for the demented, grieving figure of SHAKESPEARE, kneeling, praying, weeping, banging his head, in his private purgatory, dimly lit by tallow candles, gazed upon by effigies of the dead and images of his Redeemer. He is wet, bedraggled, weeds and leaves in his hair.” (108)
“Will is a spectral, bedraggled figure, backlit by a great shaft of light, he would look like a ghost at the best of times, and this is the worst.” (110)
“But after a few moments it is definitely lovemaking.” (116)
“Bu now, her loosened bosom-bandage has been pulled away and WILL passionately embraces her nakedness.” (117)
“and now it becomes a parody of the Hamlet duel” (119)
“rigid as a pole” (124)
“Some of them are cloaked and hooded, slumming incognito.” (131)
*“As WILL embraces her, VIOLA’s eyes flicker open (shielded by WILL from the audience) and the lovers look at each other for a moment as WILL and VIOLA rather than as ‘ROMEO’ and ‘JULIET.’ Their eyes are wet with tears.” (143)*
THE END
The language used in this screenplay is rather powerful in demonstrating the emotion of love while also making allusions to Shakespearean writing. Shakespeare In Love isn’t just a film that you fast forward through on VHS cassette tape to see Gwyneth Paltrow’s bosoms.
Italics are used to describe scenes.
There is a typo on page 38: “intotwo”
(VO) = voiceover
(cont’d) = continued
Some of the few film directions include: INSERT MANUSCRIPT:, ANGLE ON WILL, DISSOLVE.
An apothecary is someone who prepares and sells medicine and drugs. Polaxed is English slang.
Presented chronologically are unique words and phrases used throughout the entirety of the script
(apologies if some are repeats):
Pinioned, (the mathematical genius with a notebook), infrequent intervals, haranguing, apothecary, hubbub, idiosyncratic, sweetmeat, coarsely, intermittently, (dumbly), tankards, aghast, sovereign, brooding, factotum, lustily, nimbly, (twice as firmly), moving trancelike, insinuated, entranced, affably, anaesthetic, parapet, candelabra, glowers, (a girlier voice now), vainly, grimly, sober interest, letter-poem, drowsily, demurely, born-again theatre groupie, royal routs, gallantly, vortex, throng, gratuitously, venomously, titter, scatters of applause, vertical, copulation, sheaf, astride, rouses, pig swill, stave, rapiers, fray, engulf, barbershop quartet of actors, stone cold sober, horror-stricken, stagnant, demented, sidesaddle, catatonic, bedraggled, ravaged, paralysed, sobered, murmurs, appaled, octavo size, planking, peephole, agony, bewildered, dumbstruck, (triumphantly), berserk, polaxed, sock to the jaw, attitudes of despair or worse, sober-faced, tankard, flintstock pistol, paste-pot, entourage, extricates, inexorably, furtive, sheepish, audacious, luckily in an aisle seat, cowering, rapt, fever of nervousness, transfixed, recoil, arresting eye, inconspicuous, gaggle
Other examples of unique descriptive language include:
“Hawkers are crying their wares, tract-sellers, delivery boys, and merchants go about their business.” (6)
“in other words he reminds us of Hamlet” (14)
“ROSALINE is big breasted, dark-eyed, dark-haired, sexual” (14)
“Elsewhere is LORD WESSEX, our villain. WESSEX is in his forties, dark, cruel, self-important.” (19)
“replaced by a beanpole of a man” (32)
“WILL emerges from the theatre into a street throbbing with nefarious life-whores, cutpurses, hawkers, urchins, tract-sellers, riffraff of all kinds in an area of stews (lowdown pubs), brothers and slums.” (36)
“Her hair tumbles down about her shoulders, so we will call her VIOLA again.” (37)
“He turns to blood. Love at first sight, no doubt about it. VIOLA has not seen him. She is doing a daughter’s duty among her parents’ friends. The guests form up to begin a changing-partners dance (the very same one you get in every ROMEO and JULIET).” (42)
“WILL tries to speak but the silver tongue won’t work. He is dumb with adoration.” (44)
“WILL is burning midnight oil- literally and metaphorically. His quill has already covered a dozen sheets. He is inspired.” (47)
“As he goes, we see that VIOLA is love-struck by him, a riot in the heart.” (58)
“He kisses here with more passion that ceremony” (60)
*“WILL finds the loose end and spins her naked.” (69)* (nice)
“She is winning” (71)
“His life has turned perfect” (73)
“They lose themselves for a fraction of a moment.” (75)
“Clearly, this stuff is a cut above the normal” (81)
“SAM exits (i.e. enters to us) through the curtain)” (85)
“In a moment they are in world of their own.” (101)
“The place is already crowded with WHORES and CUSTOMERS. It’s a party.” (103)
“An awful lot of drink has gone down.” (105)
“The church is empty, but for the demented, grieving figure of SHAKESPEARE, kneeling, praying, weeping, banging his head, in his private purgatory, dimly lit by tallow candles, gazed upon by effigies of the dead and images of his Redeemer. He is wet, bedraggled, weeds and leaves in his hair.” (108)
“Will is a spectral, bedraggled figure, backlit by a great shaft of light, he would look like a ghost at the best of times, and this is the worst.” (110)
“But after a few moments it is definitely lovemaking.” (116)
“Bu now, her loosened bosom-bandage has been pulled away and WILL passionately embraces her nakedness.” (117)
“and now it becomes a parody of the Hamlet duel” (119)
“rigid as a pole” (124)
“Some of them are cloaked and hooded, slumming incognito.” (131)
*“As WILL embraces her, VIOLA’s eyes flicker open (shielded by WILL from the audience) and the lovers look at each other for a moment as WILL and VIOLA rather than as ‘ROMEO’ and ‘JULIET.’ Their eyes are wet with tears.” (143)*
THE END
September 6, 2022
i don’t think william shakespeare had an affair with gwyneth paltrow 🤔 1/5 not historically accurate 🤦🏼♀️
November 18, 2017
The pre-shooting screenplay from the Academy Award winning film.
Book Review: At first glance the published screenplay for Shakespeare in Love is a throw-away movie tie-in, worth no more than a bemused chuckle. But on reading (especially while watching the film -- I mix the two media here), it's an eye-opening learning experience for any prospective actor, screenwriter, or director. It's fascinating to see what was changed, dropped or added, between writing and filming. Some improvements, some missed bets. For someone who loves the movie (yes, me), the screenplay adds a whole other level of subtlety, showing just how intelligent the writing, how sharp the humor (both high and low), how clever the whole conception. Shakespeare in Love is the perfect definition of what literature in film should be. Set in the London of 1593, the star-bedazzled cast presents Will Shakespeare as he desperately seeks love, his muse, and to complete his latest work, Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter. The script is full of in-jokes: the more you know of Shakespeare and his time, the more you'll get from the movie. Lines from his great plays are strewn throughout the dialog. We meet Kit Marlowe (an uncredited Rupert Everett, never more handsome), a young and vicious John Webster, a Lord Wessex (Thomas Hardy, anyone?). We see the immortal playwright, a skull on his shelf, practicing his signature, writing sonnets, visiting his shrink. Since we know so little of him, the comedic imagining of Shakespeare rings true with only a little suspension of disbelief. He is humanized in Shakespeare in Love, given a credible life and personality that compels the reader to keep reading (and the viewer to keep watching), even while knowing how it all must come out. The audience roots him on. Shakespeare writes his great romantic tragedy scene by scene, even as the play is being rehearsed, the rehearsal of the growing play mirroring the budding romance between Shakespeare and Viola, his love and muse. There is ample humor, adequate swashbuckling, and just enough bawdiness to fit the times. The film's sets, score, and costumes are immaculate, the whole generously textured with perfect detail. The actors, both leads and supporting, are uniformly brilliant, and Judi Dench even more so as Queen Elizabeth. In the end this intertwined romantic comedy and tragedy reveals the power and beauty to be found in Shakespeare, and convincingly argues why we continue to read and watch his work after so many centuries. Even the question of authorship of the plays is answered. Shakespeare in Love is an incredible script and a vital film for anyone who appreciates, or wants to appreciate, the genius of William Shakespeare. How did they make this virtually perfect movie? I don't know. It's a mystery.
Book Review: At first glance the published screenplay for Shakespeare in Love is a throw-away movie tie-in, worth no more than a bemused chuckle. But on reading (especially while watching the film -- I mix the two media here), it's an eye-opening learning experience for any prospective actor, screenwriter, or director. It's fascinating to see what was changed, dropped or added, between writing and filming. Some improvements, some missed bets. For someone who loves the movie (yes, me), the screenplay adds a whole other level of subtlety, showing just how intelligent the writing, how sharp the humor (both high and low), how clever the whole conception. Shakespeare in Love is the perfect definition of what literature in film should be. Set in the London of 1593, the star-bedazzled cast presents Will Shakespeare as he desperately seeks love, his muse, and to complete his latest work, Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter. The script is full of in-jokes: the more you know of Shakespeare and his time, the more you'll get from the movie. Lines from his great plays are strewn throughout the dialog. We meet Kit Marlowe (an uncredited Rupert Everett, never more handsome), a young and vicious John Webster, a Lord Wessex (Thomas Hardy, anyone?). We see the immortal playwright, a skull on his shelf, practicing his signature, writing sonnets, visiting his shrink. Since we know so little of him, the comedic imagining of Shakespeare rings true with only a little suspension of disbelief. He is humanized in Shakespeare in Love, given a credible life and personality that compels the reader to keep reading (and the viewer to keep watching), even while knowing how it all must come out. The audience roots him on. Shakespeare writes his great romantic tragedy scene by scene, even as the play is being rehearsed, the rehearsal of the growing play mirroring the budding romance between Shakespeare and Viola, his love and muse. There is ample humor, adequate swashbuckling, and just enough bawdiness to fit the times. The film's sets, score, and costumes are immaculate, the whole generously textured with perfect detail. The actors, both leads and supporting, are uniformly brilliant, and Judi Dench even more so as Queen Elizabeth. In the end this intertwined romantic comedy and tragedy reveals the power and beauty to be found in Shakespeare, and convincingly argues why we continue to read and watch his work after so many centuries. Even the question of authorship of the plays is answered. Shakespeare in Love is an incredible script and a vital film for anyone who appreciates, or wants to appreciate, the genius of William Shakespeare. How did they make this virtually perfect movie? I don't know. It's a mystery.
December 28, 2015
This was a good screenplay, although a little hard to follow at some parts. If nothing else it has interested me in watching the film. I am glad I finally got it off my to-read list as I have owned it for close to ten years now. Overall enjoyable.
June 25, 2010
شکسپیر عاشق ، نام فیلمی است در ژانر درام و رومانس که جایزهٔ اسکار بهترین فیلم را در سال ۱۹۹۸ بدست آورد. بخش عمدهٔ داستان این فیلم، تخیلی است ولی بخشهای کوچکی از آن با حقایق زندگی شکسپیر منطبق است.
October 5, 2024
Absolutely, totally wonderful!
May 18, 2016
This is my second time to read a screenplay after Alfred Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder"
Reading screenplays can be tricky especially after seeing the piece, but sometimes it can turn into magical experience, filled with wonders, moans and souls of the characters.
Marc Norman's screenplay is without a doubt funny most enchanting, most romantic, and best written tales ever spun from the vast legend of Shakespeare.
it can't be compared but the original wonder itself "Romeo and Juliet".
The original text of course gave me pain compared to the modern but it was bless of agony nevertheless.
An epic drama with a sweet dulcet touch of comedy! a true literature my dear lord :)
"The more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite"
"Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide.
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy seasick, weary bark.
Here’s to my love!"
"A glooming peace this morning with it brings.
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head.
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things.
Some shall be pardoned, and some punishèd.
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."
Reading screenplays can be tricky especially after seeing the piece, but sometimes it can turn into magical experience, filled with wonders, moans and souls of the characters.
Marc Norman's screenplay is without a doubt funny most enchanting, most romantic, and best written tales ever spun from the vast legend of Shakespeare.
it can't be compared but the original wonder itself "Romeo and Juliet".
The original text of course gave me pain compared to the modern but it was bless of agony nevertheless.
An epic drama with a sweet dulcet touch of comedy! a true literature my dear lord :)
"The more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite"
"Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide.
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy seasick, weary bark.
Here’s to my love!"
"A glooming peace this morning with it brings.
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head.
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things.
Some shall be pardoned, and some punishèd.
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."
July 6, 2025
Shakespeare in Love by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2...
10 out of 10
Shakespeare in love was in the program again last night and could not miss the chance to see this motion picture, that is so exhilarating, complex, amusing, romantic, inspired, splendidly acted, no wonder that it has won seven Oscars and so much more, including for the disgraced monster Harvey Weinstein
I have read in Variety an article about the making of the film, which could have been cancelled altogether, seeing that it got off to a bad start, when Julia Roberts was involved in the project – and she had been the reason why a studio had approved the financing and then they travelled to England to work on it
Julia Roberts had been made famous by Pretty Woman, but the producer who tells this story had hindsight and thinks she was still too young at the time, I think she was twenty five, and exuberant, sure that she will have Daniel Day Lewis as her partner, because he was so handsome and funny, and she wanted this to happen
She has sent him a dozen roses with a note ‘Be my Romeo’, only the fabulous actor could not do it, because he had already been engaged and I think he had started work on In The Name of The Father (another tremendous achievement, Daniel Day Lewis has never acted in a flop) and could not do Shakespeare…
Nevertheless, Julia Roberts was very upset, did not pay attention to the actors invited for the casting, neglected Fiennes and some other wonderful men, that were not well known at the time, but would become huge names later, such as Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, and this nearly destroyed the prospects of the movie
One day, when they asked for Julia Roberts, they found that she had gone…hence, we have Gwyneth Paltrow in the leading role, winning an Oscar for her performance, and what a dazzling tour de force that is, albeit she is yet another bizarre personage off the stage, first we had that crying at the ceremony, then later, she became involved in an outré outfit, I think it is called Goop, the subject of jokes at late night shows…
Shakespeare aka Joseph Fiennes is in love, as we find from the title and Viola de Lesseps aka Gwyneth Paltrow is his muse, albeit she wants to be on stage and disguises herself as a man, in order to get a part…
Their love is impossible in the Middle Ages, when the rich would not intersect with the poor – indeed, there are plenty of jokes and felicitous situations, dogs attacking on stage, for the fun of the public, and then when they ask ‘who is he’, the answer is ‘nobody, the author’- the actors, writers, did not enjoy the special status they have today, at least the super stars, who have impressive fortunes…
It is true that while Johnny Depp was worth more than half a billion dollars, something we have learned from the mediatized trial, wherein he accused his wife and she said he is a wife-beater, she defecated on his bed, he intoxicated himself often and so on, there are many arrests who cannot make a living…
There is in fact a strike, for the first time in more than fifty years – I forgot how many – writers and actors walk out at the same time – the last time when that happened, Ronald Reagan was the head of the union of writers and Bob hope made a joke along the lines of ‘people with a swimming pool refuse to get out of it’, or words to that effect – and I am frustrated because I cannot watch my favorite Seth Meyers show
This is just one of the many wonderful things about Shakespeare in Love, the fact that it does not propose an impossible, sweet, corny, banal take on the story, pretending that William Shakespeare and Viola could overcome the obstacles and somehow elope, or just convince everybody that they are made for each other
Indeed, one of the best known economists of the present is Thomas Pickerty http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2... and he argues that in the old days, the encounter between the personages of Jane Austen would have been impossible, never mind the marriages that we celebaret in the pages of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility…
This imaginary Shakespeare – the genius existed, but he did not encounter this lady, and the affair is just imagination – finds the inspiration he needs, and maybe we can celebrate the end of their romance, if we listen to Andrei Plesu http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/05/o... he quotes another luminary and says that the ‘good life is not auspicious for the creator’ or words to that effect, thus, if the greatest author had found happiness with a resplendent woman, he would have been to comfortable, tempted to savor life’s joys to sit at the table and give us so much bliss http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/r... for eternity
Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
10 out of 10
Shakespeare in love was in the program again last night and could not miss the chance to see this motion picture, that is so exhilarating, complex, amusing, romantic, inspired, splendidly acted, no wonder that it has won seven Oscars and so much more, including for the disgraced monster Harvey Weinstein
I have read in Variety an article about the making of the film, which could have been cancelled altogether, seeing that it got off to a bad start, when Julia Roberts was involved in the project – and she had been the reason why a studio had approved the financing and then they travelled to England to work on it
Julia Roberts had been made famous by Pretty Woman, but the producer who tells this story had hindsight and thinks she was still too young at the time, I think she was twenty five, and exuberant, sure that she will have Daniel Day Lewis as her partner, because he was so handsome and funny, and she wanted this to happen
She has sent him a dozen roses with a note ‘Be my Romeo’, only the fabulous actor could not do it, because he had already been engaged and I think he had started work on In The Name of The Father (another tremendous achievement, Daniel Day Lewis has never acted in a flop) and could not do Shakespeare…
Nevertheless, Julia Roberts was very upset, did not pay attention to the actors invited for the casting, neglected Fiennes and some other wonderful men, that were not well known at the time, but would become huge names later, such as Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, and this nearly destroyed the prospects of the movie
One day, when they asked for Julia Roberts, they found that she had gone…hence, we have Gwyneth Paltrow in the leading role, winning an Oscar for her performance, and what a dazzling tour de force that is, albeit she is yet another bizarre personage off the stage, first we had that crying at the ceremony, then later, she became involved in an outré outfit, I think it is called Goop, the subject of jokes at late night shows…
Shakespeare aka Joseph Fiennes is in love, as we find from the title and Viola de Lesseps aka Gwyneth Paltrow is his muse, albeit she wants to be on stage and disguises herself as a man, in order to get a part…
Their love is impossible in the Middle Ages, when the rich would not intersect with the poor – indeed, there are plenty of jokes and felicitous situations, dogs attacking on stage, for the fun of the public, and then when they ask ‘who is he’, the answer is ‘nobody, the author’- the actors, writers, did not enjoy the special status they have today, at least the super stars, who have impressive fortunes…
It is true that while Johnny Depp was worth more than half a billion dollars, something we have learned from the mediatized trial, wherein he accused his wife and she said he is a wife-beater, she defecated on his bed, he intoxicated himself often and so on, there are many arrests who cannot make a living…
There is in fact a strike, for the first time in more than fifty years – I forgot how many – writers and actors walk out at the same time – the last time when that happened, Ronald Reagan was the head of the union of writers and Bob hope made a joke along the lines of ‘people with a swimming pool refuse to get out of it’, or words to that effect – and I am frustrated because I cannot watch my favorite Seth Meyers show
This is just one of the many wonderful things about Shakespeare in Love, the fact that it does not propose an impossible, sweet, corny, banal take on the story, pretending that William Shakespeare and Viola could overcome the obstacles and somehow elope, or just convince everybody that they are made for each other
Indeed, one of the best known economists of the present is Thomas Pickerty http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2... and he argues that in the old days, the encounter between the personages of Jane Austen would have been impossible, never mind the marriages that we celebaret in the pages of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility…
This imaginary Shakespeare – the genius existed, but he did not encounter this lady, and the affair is just imagination – finds the inspiration he needs, and maybe we can celebrate the end of their romance, if we listen to Andrei Plesu http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/05/o... he quotes another luminary and says that the ‘good life is not auspicious for the creator’ or words to that effect, thus, if the greatest author had found happiness with a resplendent woman, he would have been to comfortable, tempted to savor life’s joys to sit at the table and give us so much bliss http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/r... for eternity
Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
February 8, 2023
Egy bűbájos kis vígjáték Shakespeare elképzelt életéből és elképzelt múzsájáról, vegyítve sok-sok shakespeare-i műre való utalással. Bár az elején kicsit katyvaszos volt nekem, nem igazán tudtam ki kicsoda, és mi a búbánatot akar, a közepére kitisztultak a szálak némileg. A szerelmi szál teljesen okés volt, míg a korabeli verőlegények, megrendelők, színház-ellenzők és a királynő viszonya kissé kaotikus maradt – ezeket a momentumokat az tudja élvezni igazán, aki járatos az akkori társadalmi viszonyokban. Ezenkívül Stoppardék némileg modernizálták, főleg a nyelvezetet, ez lehet valakinek zavaró, valakinek meg pont könnyebbé teszi a darab felfogását, ízlés kérdése. Mindenesetre egy elég könnyed darab, érdemes elolvasni.
April 27, 2020
“If I can write in the beauty of his eyes, i was born to look into them and know myself.” -The Bard
“Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight. Oh will thou leave me so unsatisfied? What satisfaction canst thou have tonight? The exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love is deep, the more i give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
Oh blessed, blessed night,
I’m afraid, being in night,
all this is but a dream,
Too flattering sweet to be substantial.
To cease thy strife and
leave me to my grief,
A thousand times goodnight,
Goodnight.”
-Shakespeare
“Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight. Oh will thou leave me so unsatisfied? What satisfaction canst thou have tonight? The exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love is deep, the more i give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
Oh blessed, blessed night,
I’m afraid, being in night,
all this is but a dream,
Too flattering sweet to be substantial.
To cease thy strife and
leave me to my grief,
A thousand times goodnight,
Goodnight.”
-Shakespeare
April 5, 2018
I’m starting in on rehearsals for this now and honestly? This show is really funny. Yes, be pretentious and talk about how clever it is and why it won the oscar blah blah blah. For me, the best parts of the play are when it’s making fun of the genre it’s built upon, and it does plenty of that if you let it.
October 25, 2022
A quality fictitious dramatization of Shakespeare's life and romantic involvements, containing elements of Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night, as well as references to his other works, an invaluable read for Shakespearian comedy fans
April 8, 2025
2.5 Stars, I guess...
Im gonna be real here, I did not understand any of the things that happened here, I dont even know why I read this or why I own a copy of it.
I understood the most important storybeats but the rest was completly lost on me.
Im gonna be real here, I did not understand any of the things that happened here, I dont even know why I read this or why I own a copy of it.
I understood the most important storybeats but the rest was completly lost on me.
October 13, 2017
Funny romantic story written in screenplay form. I found it a quick read but would like the original story better I think.
January 9, 2018
Hilarious. Better than the film.
April 17, 2019
The screenplay to the critically acclaimed film which New York Newsday called one of the funniest, most enchanting, most romantic, and best written tales ever spun from the vast legend of Shakespeare
January 21, 2020
The screenplay is brilliant because the writers knew that Shakespeare was the real genius of it and put his creation front and center.
January 31, 2020
I am afeared. Being in night all this is but a dream,
too flattering sweet to be substantial.
too flattering sweet to be substantial.
January 11, 2021
love is what makes us feel complete and have the courage to become great.
October 11, 2021
Nice enough but a bit on the nose with its real life creating Romeo and Juliet theme.
July 19, 2022
Witty dialogue, fast-paced action, & gratifying allusions all come together for an intelligent take on cultural production as done through the genre of rom-com.
August 3, 2022
Read aloud with a group in preparation for performance. What a funny script!
September 5, 2022
Depicting the language of love. Simple yet platonic. Even, thyself begin to speak Shakesprean tounge. Hahahaha
September 15, 2022
I read this since I’m in the school play, this play is very serious with it’s sprinkles of comity and adult scenes. overall this play was pretty good and I can’t wait to preform it!
January 25, 2023
Maybe not my favorite book ever but it still had some interesting twists and moments
Read
August 28, 2023what a massive waste of time i'm really good at that
September 18, 2023
Read this as research for a play.
January 11, 2024
This has my heart.
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