#thingswearereading

hi, 

this isn’t about theatre, but it’s still important. 

i just finished rereading The Catcher in the Rye - truly my favorite book of all time ever. the best narrator voice I’ve ever seen. I read this book as assigned reading in the 10th grade and I, along with probably my whole class, saw myself in the very relatable life and language of Holden Caulfield. my favorite part of the entire book is when Holden is in the taxi cab, and asks the driver, you know what, I’ll just find the quote.

"Hey, listen," I said. "You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?" I realized it was only one chance in a million.

He turned around and looked at me like I was a madman. "What're ya tryna do, bud?" he said. "Kid me?"

"No—I was just interested, that's all."

Holden doesn’t care about the ducks, really. Well, he may just be interested, but he’s also extremely self aware, and very worried about his own fate/mortality. growing up is scary. where do the ducks go when the pond freezes over = where does Holden go when time passes too quickly, and now he has to leave his adolescence behind him? 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: why? is shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew? so good? until act 5?

let’s unpack this.

I’ve always loved Taming of the Shrew, simply because of Kate. I think she is firey, passionate, proud, and not content with just sitting around waiting for a man. same, sis! I think she is one of few characters that shakespeare wrote for women of any real substance. that is, until she goes back on EVERYTHING she says in act 5, and the audience watches Kate as she is essentially brainwashed, and the characters on stage are like, wow! looks like petruchio tamed the shrew! *drop curtain*

acts 1-4 for Kate are stunning. when petruchio blindly agrees to marry Kate (for her father’s money) - he doesn’t really understand how...it may be difficult...to uh..., non-consensuallyforcesomeoneintomarryinghim? ah, but women didn’t have rights back then! ((that’s why acts 1-4 are wonderful! we finally shine a light on gender stereotypes and social hierarchy, deception in marriage, and all sorts of delicious themes that, in the 1500’s were swept under the rug!))

my favorite speech of kate’s is the one where she begins with ‘no shame but mine. i must, forsooth, be forced to give my hand, opposed against mine heart’

translation: i won’t just bring him shame, i bring myself shame if i go through with this, with giving away myself against my own will.

and, of course, there’s Act 2 Scene 2 when petruchio actually meets Kate, and she schools him left right and center about how she will not be reduced to his standards of her, because she is above the patriarchy

until she isn’t? in act 5?

I don’t want to spoil the ending (in case you haven’t read it) but, it’s, just, it almost seems like act 5 was written by a different playwright!

hi,

I’ve been wanting to create a side blog/catch-all brain dump space for things I am reading/studying in school. I’m an acting major at a music conservatory, living that BFA life