Just recently I was re-reading A Midsummer Night's Dream and 12th Night and I was remembering 3 years ago in freshman English when were reading A Midsummer Night's Dream and even people who don't generally like Shakespeare books liked it -- especially people who like fantasy books. So I was wondering if people at Sorcerer's Place also fit this mode, liking A Midsummer Night's Dream the most of Shakespeare's plays since it's got fantasy-type elements. So yeah, take the poll and then feel free to post why whichever play was your favorite.

Edit: Spelling mistakes

Poll Information
This poll contains 1 question(s). 19 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Favorite Shakespeare Play (19 votes.)

Favorite Shakespeare Play (Choose 1)
* A Midsummer Night's Dream - 16% (3)
* Taming of the Shrew - 11% (2)
* Twelfth Night - 5% (1)
* Romeo & Juliet - 5% (1)
* The Tempest - 5% (1)
* Hamlet - 21% (4)
* Macbeth - 16% (3)
* King Lear - 5% (1)
* Othello - 5% (1)
* Julius Caesar - 5% (1)
* I hate Shakespeare plays, they are really really boring and hard to understand -- English teachers are evil - 5% (1)

You mean I have to pick just ONE?!?!?!

Well, I said Hamlet, but only because my favorite play was not up there - Much Ado About Nothing... Just fantastic - an incredible play of wit and sarcasm.

I love it.

My favorite (so far) would also be Much Ado About Nothing, also for the wit and sarcasm. I did not vote because I have not read enough Shakespeare to choose.

Julius Caesar. All the way. Because it taught me to never trust thin people.

lol to Yago

And I was debating putting up Much Ado About Nothing (I also really liked it) but I'm the only one I know who's read it so I put up Othello which I've known quite a few people to have read instead. I figured putting up 10 choices was quite a few anyways so I didn't just add more. Sorry

Hey! Where's Much Ado About Nothing? That was definitely the funniest out there.

Although The Tempest and Hamlet and Othello are great, I had to go with Romeo and Juliet for the simple fact of the Queen Mab speech by Mercutio. I mean, what other speech can top that?

I voted for Hamlet because of its great central character. But King Lear is as good, because of the dynamics between Lear, and his daughters, and Edgar, Edmund and Gloucester. It is perhaps his most tragic.

Gah, I am supposed to decide?

I chose Hamlet, for some weird, obscure reason that has nothing to do with Kenneth Branaghan's version. Nothing, nope... :rolleyes:


I had to pick it over MacBeth and Othello, which is quite sad.... but there can be only One. :p

I chose Midsummer night dream because i liked the way he manipulated the characters, their fears and hopes. Not that i don't like the rest plays, but i like this more :cool:

Recently I went to see Hamlet rather apprehensively, fearing that I would not understand it, but it was so good. Now I know where so many saying in English are from.

Frailty, thy name is woman!

To be or not to be.

Fun!

If any of you visit London I can also recommend "The coplete works of William Shakespeare - abridged".

Cracking fun.

Personal favourite? Too hard to chose, I'll have to think furhter on that one.

I went with Othello -- Iago is the BEST villain in literary history, IMHO. He is just so damn evil.

I said "The Tempest," probably because I'm currently reading a book that extends Caliban's story.

Let me guess -- "Caliban's hour" by Tad Williams?

You got it in one, LKD! I am just loving this book!

The best performance I've seen so far was Othello (great intensity without drifting into over-acting). The safest one to go and see (for me) is a Midsummer Night's Dream, as it's difficult to get very wrong and usually raises a laugh. The one I enjoyed reading the most (at school - I don't believe in reading plays) is Julius Ceaser (spelling??).

Just another thought - there have been many great Shakespeare rip offs - West Side Story, Some Starttrek, etc. My favourite are Return to the Forbidden Planet (the play/musical) and Elsie and Norm's McBeth (the play). I don't think I have ever laughed so much as I did at Elsie and Norm's version, despite going to see it on my own. Oh to see that play again.

Shakespeare ripoffing? The greatest of all has to be the Wyrd Sisters :D

Viking, I've been to london and seen that one!! It's great! :D really recommendable.
Unfortunately they didn't have any shakespeare plays in the globe while I was there.

as for my favorite play.. macbeth I think, although it really depends on the actors. I've seen Othello played in a special interpretation where all they had was some white linen, a few box/crate thingies and some walls with doors in them. But how they managed it! Exquisite, and Iago was of course, played brilliantly :)

The strangest adaptation of a Shakespeare play that I have ever experienced was a few years ago at Rice (university in Houston, TX).

It was called "Hamlet Trio" - it involved three actors (two men and a woman) who all played Hamlet, sometimes at the same time. Obviously, the production was mostly concerned with the madness of Hamlet. It is really hard to describe this as anything other than... strange!

For me it's Macbeth. I was even fortunate enough to get asked about it on my oral exams (Comparative Litterature, for those who'd want to know...). For some reason, Macbeth reminds me of Darth Vader. His speech in Act V, scene V, when he's told of his wife's death, is awesome. (I can't remember all of it, just the final lines:

Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Now there's a man with a grim outlook on life (although he does have reason to).