"All the world's a stage" is a line in William Shakespeare's play, As You Like It. I've not seen many Shakespeare plays. In fact, I think I've only seen one of his plays, The Tempest starring a buxom Kate O'Mara. It was an outdoor play set in Ludlow Castle and it was a school trip. Though I enjoyed looking at Kate O'Mara, I didn't enjoy the play. Shakespeare's language isn't for me!
Now dead, Kate O'Mara also starred in Dynasty and in two of my favourite but now sadly forgotten television series, Triangle and Howards' Way.
When I lived in London, I used to quite regularly go to the theatre. In particular, I enjoyed murder mystery 'whodunnit' plays, like Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. This play is the longest running play in the world. It first opened in 1952 and is still running, though the play was suspended during the covid pandemic. (I won't tell you who did it just in case you go and see the play.)
I also enjoyed farces like Alistair Foot and Anthony Marriott's No Sex Please, We're British and Michael Frayn's Noises Off. Farces seem to be very British.
When I moved to Nottingham, I started to enjoy pantomimes at Christmas time, which I also enjoyed as a small kid. Pantos, with their audience participation, are great for kids and, with their innuendo, great for adults too. They are staple festive family entertainment here in Britain - see my “IT'S BEHIND YOU. OH NO IT ISN'T. OH YES IT IS blog post.
Did or do you regularly go to the theatre to watch a play?
What's your favourite play?
Have you ever acted on stage?
I've just realised - hence this post - that I haven't seen a play in years. I think since moving from London to Portsmouth and Nottingham that there's less on in a theatre that's appealing to me. I'm not a big fan of amateur dramatics as a form of entertainment and I don't like plays that are heavy on my brain. I've walked out of a few plays because they were too taxing on my brain. Samuel Beckett's play, Waiting for Godot about two men waiting for Godot who never arrives was just too much for me.
However, having said that, the best play I've seen was a very risqué version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Though I didn't wear a basque, stockings and suspenders (garters to my American friends) like many men did, I really enjoyed the spectacle. Who doesn't want to be Dr Frank-N-Furter, "just a sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania"?!
My 'acting' days were very short-lived and unforgettable, just a few appearances in school plays, though in some ways my lecturing career was just an act. I just had to keep the audience entertained or at least interested!
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Ooooh, Kate O'Mara. When I first read this I was thinking of Kate Mara. Not quite the bombshell the other Kate is, but a red-head hottie, not bad really.
I'd be more than happy to watch a play with Kate Mara in!
@spunkycumfun She's perhaps most noted for the streaming series House of Cards. Her sister Rooney played in movie The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.
@CleavageFan4U I've seen the series, but the British version, and I've seen that film.
I have seen many plays. My high school put on incredible plays. They were better than the local community theater. I have also had season tickets to the Broadway plays that travel to Oklahoma City. I enjoy most plays.
I have acted on stage starting in kindergarten. Last time was in the play MASH with the community theater. It is fun. I prefer being backstage or in the kitchen. I have been a fluffer for plays as well as catered several dinner theaters. My social days were quite lively
I hope your fluffing involved blowjobs!
I have been working technical theatre since i was a sophomore in high school. ive produced, costumed, stage managed, propped, created programs, etc, for over 150+ plus shows since 1979. i did a few in college as well. but ive never acted and don't ever want to. ive seen hundreds of live theatre productions both community and national tours. i was blessed to see Les Miserables on its very first tour. for the most part theyve all been very good. ive actually worked on Romeo and Juliet twice, once in high school and once in the community. Several shows ive done in the community were nominated in several categories in the DC/MD/VA area for an awards called Washington Area Theatre community honors. (WATCH). i never finished college but if i had, it would have been in techincial theatre, with a move to new york to be a stage manager. But, i do have a niece that did end up getting a technical theatre degree and makes a living working technical aspects for the broadcasts of QVC, a home shopping network. Besides R&J being one of my faves, Jesus Christsuperstar is my absolute fave. Ive worked that production 3 times.
With the exception of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I've never got into musicals on stage (or on screen).
As for "All the world's a stage" even the king makes reference to it as well.
William Shakespeare would have been honoured.
Just a side note about Kate O'Mara: those of us of the sci-fi persuasion know her as the Doctor's nemisis, the Rani, in two episodes of the classic run of Doctor Who ("The Mark of the Rani" and "Time and the Rani," facing the Sixth [Colin Baker] and Seventh [Sylvester McCoy] Doctors, respectively), as well as the BBC Children in Need special "Dimensions in Time." It's a shame that she never faced any of the Doctors in the revival era, but then again, the Rani was Gallifreyan, so a regenerated Rani could show up at any time (just like the Master).
Thank you for adding more information to Kate O'Mara's career. You certainly know your Doctor Who.
Kate O'Mara was a very accomplished actress.
@spunkycumfun, thanks. I've been a Whovian ever since my teens, when the Detroit PBS station would show the classic episodes late at night. I was over the moon when BBC America started airing the revived series in 2005, and have been watching it (through good episodes and bad) ever since. That's a big reason why I stay subscribed to Disney+ (which is now showing the latest episodes), along with getting my MCU and Star Wars fixes. 😂
@FluffyInTheD I've had a on-off relationship with Doctor Who. I got into the series again when Jodie Whittaker was Doctor Who. Who has been your favourite Doctor Who?
@spunkycumfun, I thought Jodie Whittaker did a fantastic job as the Thirteenth Doctor, but she was let down by poor scripts (with some exceptions, like "Rosa" and "The Power of the Doctor" ). "My Doctor," the one I was introduced to, is Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor, as his episodes were the first ones I saw on PBS. But, as for my favorite, I think I'll have to go with Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor. He was always just so full of child-like energy and enthusiasm and often downright silliness, but lurking behind all of that was an old soul that's seen far too much in the universe (and for God's sake, don't get on his bad side; there's a reason why one of his episodes is titled "A Good Man Goes to War" ).
@FluffyInTheD Thanks for answering my question. I also liked David Tennant as a Doctor Who.
@spunkycumfun, oh, Tennant was great, too, and I liked his temporary comeback as the Fourteenth Doctor, but Matt Smith just barely edged him out. Besides, everyone cites him and Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor as their favorites, and I refuse to follow the crowd. 😂
@FluffyInTheD I wasn't a fan of Tom Baker as Doctor Who.
Kate O'Mara was a beautiful lady and she did some great work in her day. I have never been to any play as it's not my thing really. I am glad you enjoy some plays and I hope you continue too.
When I was in High School some kids were really into the Rocky Horror Picture Show they would even bring it to campus. It was quite different!!
I hope you enjoy a terrific Tuesday my friend..
Kate O'Mara was a very talented actress. And The Rocky Horror Picture Show is classic.
I've seen more high school plays (3) than Broadway (1). I've seen a few at local theaters, which I suspect were more off Broadwayish. One that I liked was Inspecting Carol, which was a comedy about a troupe putting on Christmas Carol.
Though I've been to Broadway, I've never taken in a show there.
Hi there I am new here and I want to find a sweet man to stay in my world
I hope you find that sweet man.
Great post! I love plays, not at all keen on musicals though.
The Edinburgh festival is great for the arts. I've only been once but I had a great time.
With the exception of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I'm not a fan of musicals either.
I thought I'd let you know that I've just blocked Needsomesoonplea. His abusive gibberish was just getting tiresome.
@spunkycumfun
I'm surprised you let him back on . . . He is a dick. I think I've bored him into submission. 😂
@spunkycumfun
His comment, the string of responses remain visible. I just replied to his last diatribe on your good housekeeping post. 😏
@lindoboy100 It's all a bit strange because I can't see his comments etc. I can't even see your reply to him on the Good Housekeeping post.
I'll have to get Site Support on the case.
@spunkycumfun
He comments on @Oddsagainst posts too but when i go there to look they don't appear. I've posted on this before. I thin cultists blocks are different . . .
@lindoboy100 @OddsAgainst
I've noticed that too. Perhaps the site took his comments/replies down.
@OddsAgainst Another one of the site's mysteries!
Shakespeare ... to me, his plays are much more comprehensible on stage than trying to read them. I had to memorize Hamlet's soliloquy in high school.
I love watching plays but I do not like how everything on Broadway needs to be a musical. "Deathtrap" by Ira Levin and "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller are probably my favorites.
I was on stage a couple of times in high school but not since.
I've not seen Deathtrap nor The Crucible.
The truth is, I’ve only been to the theater twice in my life, and both times were many years ago. It was nice, though what I saw were just light comedies. However, I have performed a couple of times myself too, for a limited audience, and my role was very easy: just doing what I do best and... well, I’ll stop there... I think you were asking about a different kind of performance here 😄
I hope you got naked on stage!
@spunkycumfun I did.
@AuraAviatik6 That's reassuring to hear!
Saw a Shakespeare as a school outing , had a teacher in my first year of Secondary School , that felt we needed her idea of culture, so was taken to plays,ballets ,operas ,classical concerts. Have not been to the theatre in a while . And after my disaster in a school play as a kid, i never volunteered ever again
It's quite interesting how schools, or at least many schools, ply high culture on their kids. I think if they plied so-called low culture on their kids and made links with high culture that it would have been a more worthwhile experience all round.
My school music teacher would just play a classical record for us to listen and leave the room. Now, a bit wiser, he could have done much better by linking the Mozart or Beethoven to the Beatles or Stones debate. And linking the Strauss'es waltzes to perhaps the first attempt at pop music.
@spunkycumfun I was lucky they were excursions , so no school for a few hours
, did not appreciate it then , but later found it stuck , lol, woman thought i was cultured since i could understand .
@taurean62dbn Sometimes it pays dividends to look cultured!
mat have seen some on tv, but had to read many of them in the 1960s when in high school, had an English test on the Merchant of Venice-write the whole speech with punctuation correct and you got an "A"
Marking by punctuation seems to miss the point of a Shakespearean play, or any other play for that matter.
@spunkycumfun true, but once you do it, it makes everything easier if you have to do it again, can remember punctuation, but having to remember names with faces is much harder
@notsure1949 Yes I can see that argument. But it seems to miss the wider point of a play about its story, its plot and its lesson.
@spunkycumfun some plays you remember more for what you had to do, for example in that play we shall not name Double Double Toil and Trouble, To Be or not to be in Hamlet, the St Crispin's Day speech in Henry V on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt,
@notsure1949 I never studied plays at school.
@spunkycumfun here in my state in the US, we were introduced to plays in grammar school k-8 in 5th or 6th grade, then more into Skakespeare in high school grade 9-12. but in hs Spanish had to read, translate into English, and back to Spanish Cervantes Man of La Mancha
@notsure1949 Here, though we had to study English language we didn't have to study English literature. I chose to learn the German language instead.