Shakespearean Shipping

[Ascension]

So you have your canon Shakespearean couples like the legendary Romeo and Juliet or the misogynistic Petruchio and Kate...

So you have your couples speculated about in academia like the oedipal Hamlet and Gertrude or the foe yay (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FoeYay) Othello and Iago...

But sometimes, even in Shakespeare, there are leftovers. There's nothing the Bard needs like good old fashioned pair the spares shipping.

Take, for example, The Taming of the Shrew. I'm currently playing Gremio in a production of it. Gremio is the only one of the Bianca's noble suitors who does not get anyone by the end of the play. In playing the part, though, I've noticed some ship teasing moments between him and Baptista, her father. It is my theory that he is only trying to woo Bianca in order to get close to her father. Sure, his constant attempts to remind Baptista of what a good neighbor he is may well be read as attempts to impress the man he hopes will be his father in law, but when he runs out of things to impress Baptista with he immediately declares "If you like me, she shall have me and mine." Again, potentially innocuous, but the subtext is there. Besides, since he's a dirty old man archetype he's more suited age-wise for her father anyway.

I've also been seeing some foe yay with his rival Hortensio, but that's probably just because the guy playing Hortensio puts the camp back in camp gay.

Tranio's crush on his master Lucentio is practically canon. He's eager to trade clothing with Lucentio, and his stated reason for helping Lucentio win Bianca? "Because so well I love Lucentio." Sure, Shakespeare probably meant it to be platonic, but it's there! I'm seeing him as the sort who knows the man he loves is heterosexual, but still clings to the hope that he can win him over someday, sort of like Leslie (http://www.walkypedia.com/index.php/Leslie) with Robin (http://www.walkypedia.com/index.php/Robin_DeSanto) in Shortpacked! (http://www.shortpacked.com/index.html)

So, what Shakespearean ships do you support? Crack ships are acceptable, but I'd prefer to hear about ships with some evidence.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Rosencrantz and Guildernstern.
Enough said.

[Cristo Meyers]

Rosencrantz and Guildernstern.
Enough said.

I love that movie...

Shakespeare was never really my forte', but one that I can remember one of my old teachers pointing out was Romeo and Mercutio.

[Someone Else]

^ I saw a production that hinted at that once. ;)

There's the good old fashioned Hamlet-Gurtrude.... I might just try and think of some others sometime... ;)

[Kneenibble]

Whaddya mean, Shakespeare probably meant it to be platonic?! That's giving him either too much credit, or too little.

I think Brabantio's having sexual desire for Desdemona is a source for his jealousy of Othello: subverted sexual desire that manifests as over-protection, and her need to get out of her home.

Kent and Cordelia in King Lear. Oh, and Oswald and Goneril, in a bitch-dom dynamic. That one cracks me up.

I see a relationship between Arthur and Hubert in King John. As long as Hubert isn't played by some old groddy, it's lovely.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Macbeth/Banquo

Wyrd Sisters Incest... on second thoughts, no...

If we're allowed to go cross play I'd vote for Lady Macbeth/Puck, just for lols.

The guy who's truly forgotten in Shakespeare is Paris in Romeo and Juilet, most synopsis omit the fact that Romeo kills him before his suicide.

[Someone Else]

Ooh, that's a good one

Paris and Juliette. Nurse and Romeo. ;)

[Scylfing]

Although it's extremely odd and hasty how it's concluded upon, I always thought Duke Vincentio and Isabella in Measure for Measure will make a great couple. They're both clever and moral, and should be able to govern the city wisely and beneficently, but it's still weird how that play ends when she's made it clear throughout that she's given herself solely to God. Unless Vincentio is actually a stand-in for God, which would be pretty awesome if that was Shakespeare's intent.

And call me a sap but I like Antony/Cleopatra, whose tragic outcome actually works and isn't contrived because they actually did what they did at Actium and its aftermath in reality.

As for joke ships: Coriolanus and Aufidius (I've seen one performance where this is highly, groan-inducingly suggested), though Coriolanus and himself is a lot more likely. :smalltongue:

[Closet_Skeleton]

Ooh, that's a good one

Paris and Juliette. Nurse and Romeo. ;)

Nurse has to go with Friar Laurance, no other couple can screw everything up while at the same time being the most level headed peopel in the play.

[Rutskarn]

Yorick before and Yorick after.

[snoopy13a]

Falstaff and Hotspur.

[Ascension]

Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that our director has given Katharine (what seems to me to be) a bondage fetish and really played up the sexual tension between her and her sister Bianca.

So yeah... incestuous lesbian BDSM... just what every Shakespearean play needs.

[Kneenibble]

Falstaff and Hotspur.

Ooo! I love it!

Hell, Falstaff and Harry...

[BlueWizard]

I think you're on to something with Gremio.

As an actor I applaud your study of the character. Sometimes you can be the best thing out there with little opportunity. Perhaps you can even work something out with Baptiste's actor... even going a little funny... :smallamused:

[The Extinguisher]

I'm old fashioned. Hamlet/Horatio forever.

[BlueWizard]

Shakespeare has lots hidden in the text.
Even in the WAY it was spoken.

[Lord Seth]

I wanted to see if Hamlet and Ophelia would have actually worked out. Unfortunately, Hamlet didn't take his chance to kill Claudius, so we'll never know...

[WhiteHarness]

The word "shipping" evidently means something very different to you folks than it does to me. I clicked on this thread expected (and hoping for!) a discussion on transporting goods and cargo over land/sea trade routes during the late 16th/early 17th century...

[BlueWizard]

The word "shipping" evidently means something very different to you folks than it does to me. I clicked on this thread expected (and hoping for!) a discussion on transporting goods and cargo over land/sea trade routes during the late 16th/early 17th century...

Maybe you should read the play.

[orcmonk89]

Our university's drama society put on a performance of Hamlet the other week, where they have Osric played extremely flamboyantly, dressed in bright yellow and orange, speaking longingly in his description of Laertes.

Failing that, I would have liked to see Roisin (sp?) on stage in Romeo and Juliet, just to see what she was like with Hamlet. That relationship has always interested me...

And, for those who have ever seen Twelfth Night, Sir Toby Belch and Malvolio. They're at each other's throats, but I sense something there.

[Kaelaroth]

Antonio and Bassanio (Merchant of Venice) forever! Both supported in some fields of academia, and fairly easy to infer from the test.
Damn Portia. :smallyuk:

[BlueWizard]

Sigh..... :roach: