The Shakespeare thread

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I don't know if the gag would be sustainable for a whole sitcom, but I do love me some David Mitchell.

Pretty much what I was thinking

[xoxoxoBruce]

Damn trouble maker.

But perhaps the most arresting example of Shakespeare’s role in stoking international conflict dates back to May 1849, and occurred in—of all places—New York City. The affair began as a grudge match between two actors, but escalated into a street riot outside the Astor Place Opera House in which at least 22 people died. The Astor Place Riot still counts as one of the bloodiest episodes in New York’s history. The cause of the incident seems, by contemporary standards, hard to credit: who played the better Macbeth—an Englishman or an American?

link

[DanaC]

Bloody hell - that's amazing.

[Gravdigr]

But perhaps the most arresting example of Shakespeare’s role in stoking international conflict dates back to May 1849, and occurred in—of all places—New York City. The affair began as a grudge match between two actors, but escalated into a street riot outside the Astor Place Opera House in which at least 22 people died. The Astor Place Riot still counts as one of the bloodiest episodes in New York’s history. The cause of the incident seems, by contemporary standards, hard to credit: who played the better Macbeth—an Englishman or an American?

Originally Posted by DanaC

Bloody hell - that's amazing.

No, that's just America.

[footfootfoot]

I remember reading an essay by JP Donleavy in The Atlantic Monthly, called "An Expatriate Looks at America." In it he said something to the effect of "The US is the only place in the world where a person can get killed in a knife fight over who discovered America."

I can't find it archived anywhere.

[DanaC]

Whoever wrote that probably hadn't spent a lot of time in the Uk - where one can get killed in a knife fight for spilling someone's pint.*






*I exaggerate - but not by much :p

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Whoever wrote that probably hadn't spent a lot of time in the Uk - where one can get killed in a knife fight for spilling someone's pint.*






*I exaggerate - but not by much :p

JP Donleavy wrote that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Donleavy

[DanaC]

Ahhh - Ireland. he probably has spent time in the UK then :p

I was being a little tongue in cheek. There aren't that many stabbings here - not that many - but knives have always been pretty popular as a weapon.

[BigV]

1849, eh? I wonder if that's the American Greatness Drumph wants Again.