The Ides of March Madness

Caesar:
Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music
Cry "Caesar!" Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear.

Soothsayer:
Beware the ides of March.

Caesar:
What man is that?

Brutus:
A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

(Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2, 15–19)

Caesar should have paid a little more attention to that warning, but what can you do? Chief Executives back then - as now - couldn't take every threat assessment seriously, not even one that came from an occult source that had reported reliably in the past. Anyway, I'm sure Caesar figured that, if worse came to worse and his enemies in the Senate made a move on him, then Brutus would have his back. If you can't trust your closest political ally, mentee, and family member, then whom can you trust?

But, political assassinations in ancient Rome do not concern me today. Rather, I'd like to present Shakespeare's Final Four Picks, which come to us courtesy of the American Shakespeare Company, those wonderful people who present Renaissance theater the way it actually was - contemporary, entertaining, popular and often bawdy - and never the antiquarian oh-so-serious highbrow way that it is presented most everywhere else. (I'm looking at you, Folger Shakespeare Library!)

Here are the teams the Bard likes:

Kentucky Wildcats vs West Virginia Mountaineers
Will’s Tip: “Wildcats in your kitchen” (Othello, 2.1)
◊ KENTUCKY

Northern Iowa vs Ohio State
Will’s Tip: “Lament thy miserable State” (Merry Wives, 3.5)
◊ NORTHERN IOWA

Duke Blue Devils vs Saint Mary’s Gaels
Will’s Tip: “From all such Devils, good lord deliver us!” (Shrew, 1.1)
◊ DUKE

Kansas State Wildcats vs Butler Bulldogs
Will’s Tip: “Down, down, ’Dogs, down” (2 Henry IV. 2.4)
◊ KANSAS STATE

Now is the Winter of Our Discontent

The Blackfriars Playhouse, in Staunton, Virginia










"Blow, blow, thou winter wind." And so it has, with gusts up to 40 MPH today, our third consecutive day of government shut-down in the Washington, DC, area.

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day." As I look out the window at another foot of snow that has fallen overnight, right on top of all the driveways and sidewalks that I cleared off just two days ago, this is getting old.

But, "sweet are the uses of adversity" in Staunton, Virginia, where the American Shakespeare Center is offering a sweet, sweet, deal to anyone who can get there this week: $10 tickets to all plays at the Blackfriars Playhouse. "The play's the thing" and they'll go on whatever the weather, so, if you can get there, you can watch them all day and night for a pittance.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" I would, if only I'd had the foresight to get a room at the hotel next door to the Blackfriars a few days ago before this mess began. Lesson learned.

A Thanksgiving Thought From Shakespeare

From Much Ado About Nothing (which is playing now at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia, but closes on Friday, so hurry!) I give you this bit of dialog that sums up my holiday plans:

MESSENGER

A lord to a lord, a man to a man; stuffed with all
honourable virtues.

BEATRICE

It is so, indeed; he is no less than a stuffed man:
but for the stuffing,--well, we are all mortal.

Beatrice sounds just like my lovely wife!