Sonnet 020 - XX
A woman's face with nature's own hand painted,
Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion;
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
With shifting change, as is false women's fashion:
An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;
A man in hue all hues in his controlling,
Which steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth.
And for a woman wert thou first created;
Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,
And by addition me of thee defeated,
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
But since she prick'd thee out for women's pleasure,
Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure.

bot by @davidaugust

Christopher Marlowe, who died OTD in 1593, was the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day and greatly influenced William #Shakespeare https://toilet-guru.com/shakespeare.html?s=mb #history

Sonnet 061 - LXI
Is it thy will, thy image should keep open
My heavy eyelids to the weary night?
Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken,
While shadows like to thee do mock my sight?
Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee
So far from home into my deeds to pry,
To find out shames and idle hours in me,
The scope and tenor of thy jealousy?
O, no! thy love, though much, is not so great:
It is my love that keeps mine eye awake:
Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat,
To play the watchman ever for thy sake:
For thee watch I, whilst thou dost wake elsewhere,
From me far off, with others all too near.

bot by @davidaugust

Sir Ian McKellen to open historic all-trans and non-binary production of Shakespeare classic

A one night performance broadcast globally via livestream.

#LGBTQ #Theatre #Shakespeare #Art
#UK
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/05/28/sir-ian-mckellen-shakespeare/

And give him a worse! And let worst follow worse, till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave, fifty-fold a cuckold!
- Antony and Cleopatra (I, 2)

Sonnet 001 - I
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding:
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.

bot by @davidaugust

Hey, some fun news! Sir Ian McKellen is headlining an all #trans and #nonbinary reading of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. It’s a delightful play with much playing with #gender and the understanding of it. I’m very excited and am buying livestream tickets.

#theatre #arts #plays #Shakespeare #yay #GoodNews

(Edit to add hashtags)

https://www.attitude.co.uk/culture/sir-ian-mckellen-to-open-historic-all-trans-and-nonbinary-production-of-twelfth-night-484397/

Sonnet 038 - XXXVIII
How can my muse want subject to invent,
While thou dost breathe, that pour'st into my verse
Thine own sweet argument, too excellent
For every vulgar paper to rehearse?
O! give thy self the thanks, if aught in me
Worthy perusal stand against thy sight;
For who's so dumb that cannot write to thee,
When thou thy self dost give invention light?
Be thou the tenth Muse, ten times more in worth
Than those old nine which rhymers invocate;
And he that calls on thee, let him bring forth
Eternal numbers to outlive long date.
If my slight muse do please these curious days,
The pain be mine, but thine shall be the praise.

bot by @davidaugust

Sir #IanMcKellen to open historic all-#trans and #nonbinary production of #Shakespeare classic

https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/05/28/sir-ian-mckellen-shakespeare/

According to legend, Bladud was a king of Britain who founded the city of Bath. He was also a wizard, and created magic wings to fly. However, like Icarus, Bladud flew too high, and his wings failed, so he fell to his death. His son was Shakespeare's King Lear.

Sonnet 051 - LI
Thus can my love excuse the slow offence
Of my dull bearer when from thee I speed:
From where thou art why should I haste me thence?
Till I return, of posting is no need.
O! what excuse will my poor beast then find,
When swift extremity can seem but slow?
Then should I spur, though mounted on the wind,
In winged speed no motion shall I know,
Then can no horse with my desire keep pace.
Therefore desire, (of perfect'st love being made)
Shall neigh, no dull flesh, in his fiery race;
But love, for love, thus shall excuse my jade-
Since from thee going, he went wilful-slow,
Towards thee I'll run, and give him leave to go.

bot by @davidaugust

Just watched Sir Laurence Olivier’s 1948 Oscar-winning, gothic tour de force, ‘Hamlet’.

But poor Ophelia!

She really needed this 1927 George & Ira Gershwin tune, 'S Wonderful’.

‘Oh, 's wonderful, oh, 's marvellous
That you should care for me…’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNcBRSpXVfU
#Hamlet #Olivier #Ophelia #Shakespeare #Gershwin #Drama #Music

Sonnet 109 - CIX
O! never say that I was false of heart,
Though absence seem'd my flame to qualify,
As easy might I from my self depart
As from my soul which in thy breast doth lie:
That is my home of love: if I have ranged,
Like him that travels, I return again;
Just to the time, not with the time exchanged,
So that myself bring water for my stain.
Never believe though in my nature reigned,
All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood,
That it could so preposterously be stained,
To leave for nothing all thy sum of good;
For nothing this wide universe I call,
Save thou, my rose, in it thou art my all.

bot by @davidaugust

OTD in 1977, the Chinese government removed a decade old ban on William #Shakespeare's work, effectively ending the Cultural Revolution started in 1966 https://toilet-guru.com/shakespeare.html?s=mb #history

THIS IS THE FINAL-ISH PROMO FOR THE STEGALOSAURUS LATE BIRTHDAY SALE. ENJOY THE CAPS LOCK. https://store.steampowered.com/developer/STEG_GAME_DEV/ #repny #lovecraft #shakespeare #furryvn #visuaknovel #indiedev

The Chinese government removed a decade old ban on William #Shakespeare's work OTD in 1977, effectively ending the Cultural Revolution which had started in 1966 https://toilet-guru.com/shakespeare.html?s=mb #history

https://www.europesays.com/uk/130714/ First Dates’ Fred Sirieix admits to arguing with wife over huge issue at home #BobMarley #Entertainment #FirstDates #FredSirieix #London2012Olympics #Love #Marriage #Periods #Prisons #Romance #Shakespeare #TeamGB #TV #UK #UnitedKingdom #WorldWar2 #WorldWarI

Sonnet 141 - CXLI
In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thousand errors note;
But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,
Who, in despite of view, is pleased to dote.
Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted;
Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone,
Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited
To any sensual feast with thee alone:
But my five wits nor my five senses can
Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee,
Who leaves unswayed the likeness of a man,
Thy proud heart's slave and vassal wretch to be:
Only my plague thus far I count my gain,
That she that makes me sin awards me pain.

bot by @davidaugust

Sonnet 032 - XXXII
If thou survive my well-contented day,
When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover
And shalt by fortune once more re-survey
These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover,
Compare them with the bett'ring of the time,
And though they be outstripped by every pen,
Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme,
Exceeded by the height of happier men.
O! then vouchsafe me but this loving thought:
'Had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age,
A dearer birth than this his love had brought,
To march in ranks of better equipage:
But since he died and poets better prove,
Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love'.

bot by @davidaugust