And at Least a Couple of Them Should be Syphlitic

We are off this pm to see a CalShakes production of 12th Night in which -- tada -- for at least one of the important roles they do the "historically accurate" thing and have the part of the female who masquerades as a male played by a male actor who will masquerade as a female masquerading as a male.

As my wife says, "This is not fair. Most parts in Shakespeare are already male." And I say, "Why not just douse everyone with B.O. and let history come even more alive."

It's a gimmick. Isn't the whole point of the best of Shakespeare that he doesn't need gimmicks? If you want gimmicky Shakespeare, do Titus Andronicus with squirrels.

(Of course, I absolve all the productions done in the costume of a particular period to suggest universality. All those costumers left over from The Matchmaker -- why not?)



We few. We happy few. We band of brothers....