Oh my god, that's priceless! I'd love to see that.

electricspacegirl | January 25, 03:20 CET

ditto to the nth degree.

King Lear is my favorite Shakespeare play and I'm sure Shimmerman will be an awesome Fool. Too bad the character disappears midway through the play :'(

narky | January 25, 04:40 CET

narky, with you as Lear being my favorite Shakespeare play...jeez, wouldn't it be nice if Charisma could be cast as...nah, it's not possible...unhappy that I am, I can't imagine it happening...but...just sayin'....I mean...it'd be utterly priceless, no? I mean, who ever could have thought that Charisma Carpenter could play a character named Cordelia?

Chris inVirginia | January 25, 04:55 CET

Took the words right out of my mouth, Electric. As I clicked into this thread I was thinking, "Oh my God!" And here you beat me to it. The Fool is one of the most enigmatic and complicated roles Shakespeare ever put to paper. I never thought about it before, but Shimerman is an ideal casting choice. I bet Shimerman would also kick ass playing Iago, Shylock, or Richard the Third.

I wish the cast of Buffy could get back together to do a film version of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Shimerman could play Bottom, flanked by Strong, Lenk and Busch as the other players in the play within a play. The two pairs of lovers would be performed by Gellar, Hannigan, Boreanaz and Brendon. Head and Sutherland would get Oberon and Titania of course. Puck's the hardest role to cast. I can't decide between Marsters and Seth Green. ..Or you could cast Marsters as Oberon and Juliet Landau as Titania, which would make it easier to cast Seth Green as Puck, but then where would ya put Sutherland and Head? I guess you could make them Hippolyta and Theseus, but there's not enough meat there. I've always wanted to see Sutherland and Head in a knock down drag out fight. Wouldn't they make the best unhappily divorced couple? Sutherland and Head at each other's throats but deep down loving one another: that would make great theater.

I'd have to somehow work Denisof and Dushku into the mix. And ooh! Charisma Carpenter would make a great Titania too! Oh man! Perhaps it's best Whedon's casting for Buffy never do MND. There's too much talent among Buffy alumni to squeeze in.

ZachsMind | January 25, 05:03 CET

I see Head and Sutherland as Theseus and Hippolyta...could definitely see Marsters (oddly enough) as either Oberon or Puck, depending on how cute you want to play the latter...Juliet Landau as Titania is almost too perfect...she reminds me a bit of the young Diana Rigg, who did in fact splendidly play that role...Lenk could be Puck, I think...in the (excellent) Mickey Rooney vein...a bit manic and magic...I'd put Sarah and Charisma as the lovers...and I'd make the male counterparts Alexis and Nick...hey, Boreanaz'd make a great Oberon, too...yeah, let's go back to Marsters as Puck, a very sexy, almost smarmy Robin Goodfellow...don't see a role for Eliza here...maybe as a gender-bending Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet?

Chris inVirginia | January 25, 05:17 CET

Come to think of it, Amber and Charisma as the girls...even better...

Chris inVirginia | January 25, 05:25 CET

Mmm, Buffyverse and Lear...If I could see that, I would die happy.

Flair | January 25, 09:54 CET

Shimerman as the fool of course. Brendon could do a good Fool too, but he couldn't match Shimerman. I don't see Charisma playing Cordelia, although the irony is appealing. Cordelia has to be the face of a woman who wins over the audience immediately, but doesn't look like someone who could play politics with her sisters. You want Amber Benson in the part of Shakespeare's Cordela. She's the best choice.

Goneril and Regan could be played by Charisma and Dushku. Boreanaz is a good Kent, although I'd rather see Adam Baldwin try it. I can't figure out who would play Edmund and Edgar, because there's so many guys who could pull it off. Gloucester would be tricky to cast with Whedon alumni too, but because the only one I could think of who could do it convincingly would be ASH, and I'd wanna see him play Lear. ASH would make a wonderful Lear. Although he might need a couple more decades to properly grow into the role. He still looks a bit young. Costuming and makeup could fix that though. He's got the chops for it. Imagine ASH and Shimerman? Lear and Fool? Oh that dynamic just breaks the heart.

Back to R&J, Dushku would make a better Mercutio than Tybalt. Her patented hydrochloric acid-like delivery of sarcasm would sound massive as she gritted through pained teeth delivering that famous line:

"No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a
church-door; but 'tis enough,'twill serve: ask for
me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I
am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o'
both your houses!"

Of course she laughs right after "grave man" and should be the only one on the stage who gets the joke. Can you hear it? Oh, Eliza would chew those words with a relish no man could grasp. I get chills just thinking about it.

Ooh! ASH as the apothecary! Boreanaz and Gellar as the title roles of course. Make Marc Blucas Tybalt! Brendon as Benvolio. Oh this is shaping up nicely! And Armin Shimerman would play the Nurse in drag. Or maybe ASH in drag since he's got more experience and Shimerman could play the apothecary. Although... the mental image of Seth Green and Hannigan playing R&J looks just as fitting. I'd wanna see Lenk and Strong in there somewhere. Maybe Green as Romeo and Jewel Staite as Juliet. Oh we'd have to have Jewel as Juliet - she's a natural.

Okay now I'm just giddy with the impossibilities. Problem is, we would be hard pressed to get all these talented people in the same studio for one night to do some kind of anniversary reunion show for Buffy. Getting them to do a Shakespeare film would be downright --I'd have a better chance being struck by lightning a few dozen times.

...it is fun to imagine though. They'd be great.

[ edited by ZachsMind on 2005-01-25 11:47 ]

Ooh! Ooh! Alan Tudyk as Hamlet! I don't care who else would play the other roles but Tudyk would make a kickass Hamlet. That role requires the ability to command a stage alone, look simultaneously wise-old-soul and child-like, twist from melancholy drama to dry biting comedy within half a sentence fragment, and juggle multiple emotions and thoughts within any given soliloquy. He has to be able to communicate to the audience with facial gestures and body language what's going on inside Hamlet's head without looking unrealistic. Tudyk would make a wonderful Hamlet.

[ edited by ZachsMind on 2005-01-25 11:55 ]

ZachsMind | January 25, 13:47 CET

ZachsMind, I completely agree - Alan Tudyk would play a spectacular Hamlet.

Flair | January 25, 15:31 CET

David and Sarah are too old for R&J...way too old...I know I may get hammered here, but the only actors in the Jossverse I can see pulling it off are Summer Glau and Vicnent Kartheiser. Hell, David could play either of the patriarchs.

I think Summer could play Cordelia in Lear, too. With Sarah and Amber as bitchy older, conniving, malicious sisters.

Just have this notion of Cordelia as a tiny, delicate flower, firm of resolve, but slight of stature.

Chris inVirginia | January 25, 16:35 CET

This is fun. Marsters would make a fabulous Ariel in the Tempest, which is my favourite Shakespeare play. Joss could be Prospero (acting, why not) and Amber Benson would be a great Miranda. Caliban, uh I don’t want to offend anyone…

If you ever get the opportunity to watch Derek Jarman’s version of the Tempest you’ll be in for a big treat and you’d know exactly what I mean.

miranda | January 25, 17:17 CET

Marsters as Hamlet. Or maybe Denisof. Both have the depth, and can do pain then switch instantly to mirth. I want to see Joss as either Rosencrantz or Guildenstern. Sutherland as Hamlet's mother, Tony Head as Claudius. And Ophelia, hmmmm, Summer Glau, I think.

Lioness | January 25, 22:57 CET

Just wanted to say: I am *loving* this discussion. And if Joss peeks in, I'm sure he'll be loving it too. (Cos I'm like, so attuned to his tastes and all . . .) And if I had any genuine Shakespearean credentials, other than the birthright and the high school feeding, I'd gleefully participate. Alas, all I really know about TBOA I learned from Olivier and Branagh at the movies . . . shameful, I admit.

I will say that, of all the whedonverse actors, I can really only picture Jewel as Juliet. But I could see either Sarah or Aly play Viola in Twelfth Night.

SoddingNancyTribe | January 25, 23:13 CET

I would die and go to heaven if I could see Alexis Denisof playing Hamlet. Wow. Yes, this is a great discussion. A Jossverse Shakespeare extravaganza would be an awesome thing to see.

electricspacegirl | January 25, 23:36 CET

Amy would be a great Viola...and I could see Charisma as either Beatrix or Rosalind...with Amber as Audrey!

Amber would be a great Portia, too. Aly as Viola/Cesario is a no-brainer, I think. Nick could be Tybalt, I think, and maybe a decent Macduff. Amy'd be a fetching Desdemona, too...that'd be perfect.

Gina Torres as Portia...that'd be even better than Amber...okay, I have to get back to work!

Chris in Virginia | January 26, 00:39 CET

Yes I concur that Gellar and Boreanaz are a little old for R&J, but I've seen people their age playing the parts. They could do it for a theatrical performance. Although yes, Glau and Kartheiser are more realistic choices.

Adam Baldwin would make a kickass Caliban. He understands how to play an impulsive betrayer with intelligence and humanity. Caliban is supposed to be a hulking, deformed brute, but he's also tempered with an attitude that makes the audience sympathetic. You're supposed to feel sorry for Caliban, but also want justice to prevail. Baldwin can convey that without words. He can exude that if he so chooses just by standing before the audience.

Lioness' take on Hamlet is very astute. In fact everyone's suggestions are fun to contemplate.

It'd be fun to see Denisof, Tudyk and Marsters doing a 'dueling hamlets' thing on a stage, perhaps before a fan convention. Make it like a Reader's Theater kind of presentation, but all three would need to be familiar enough with Hamlet's soliloquys to look away from the text for several lines at a time. They could each memorize the soliloquys and trade off reciting them. If anyone recalls the 'dueling brandos' on Saturday Night Live a couple decades ago between Brando himself and John Belushi, you'd see what I mean. A tongue in cheek threeway portrayal of Hamlet, where Tudyk, Denisof and Marsters ham it up, trying to outdo each other? They'd have the entire convention simultaneously in awe and in hysterics. Then they could finish it up with all three of them doing the "To be or not to be" speech in unison. God, that'd be great!

Ooh! J. August Richards as Othello, Amy Acker as Desdemona, and Alexis Denisof as Iago! Damn! That'd be brilliant! I'd also love to see Gina Torres do Lady MacBeth, but can't decide who could play MacBeth opposite her. Okay, so she doesn't look very scottish, but she's got the temperament. She's got the chops.

Though I'm now steering away from Shakespeare briefly, Nicholas Brendon (Estragon) and Adam Baldwin (Vladimir) playing the opening scene of Beckett's Waiting For Godot would also kick some major ass.

ZachsMind | January 26, 08:00 CET