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fmshakes1

. Sonnet 23 As an unperfect actor on the stage, Wh

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Sonnet 23
As an unperfect actor on the stage,
Who with his fear is put beside his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love's rite,
And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,
O'ercharged with burthen of mine own love's might.
O! let my looks be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
More than that tongue that more hath more express'd.
O! learn to read what silent love hath writ:
To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.

performed by actor Andrew Belmares

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follow Andrew Balmares at @ajbelmares on Instagram and Andrew Balmares on YouTube

. Sonnet 22 My glass shall not persuade me I am o

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Sonnet 22
My glass shall not persuade me I am old,
So long as youth and thou are of one date;
But when in thee time's furrows I behold,
Then look I death my days should expiate.
For all that beauty that doth cover thee
Is but the seemly raiment of my heart,
Which in thy breast doth live, as thine in me:
How can I then be elder than thou art?
O, therefore, love, be of thyself so wary
As I, not for myself, but for thee will;
Bearing thy heart, which I will keep so chary
As tender nurse her babe from faring ill.
Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain;
Thou gavest me thine, not to give back again.

performed by actor and director Alan Waserman

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Shakespeare Bingo? Coming this summer! (maybe)

Shakespeare Bingo?
Coming this summer!
(maybe)

. Sonnet 21 So is it not with me as with that Muse

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Sonnet 21
So is it not with me as with that Muse,
Stirred by a painted beauty to his verse,
Who heaven itself for ornament doth use
And every fair with his fair doth rehearse,
Making a couplement of proud compare
With sun and moon, with earth and sea's rich gems,
With April's first-born flowers, and all things rare,
That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems.
O! let me, true in love, but truly write,
And then believe me, my love is as fair
As any mother's child, though not so bright
As those gold candles fixed in heaven's air:
Let them say more that like of hearsay well;
I will not praise that purpose not to sell.

performed by actress and artist Kailey Claycamp

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follow Kailey at @_TheArtistKid_ on Instagram

. Sonnet 20 A woman's face with nature's own hand

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Sonnet 20
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.

performed by actress Kimberly Prendergast

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full video at
https://youtu.be/YkUlaAQLhko

Dear Raul R.: I see you filled out the form to par

Dear Raul R.:
I see you filled out the form to participate in the Sonnet Project, but you email address beginning with "rightraul" bounced back as non-existent... please message me so I can get you your sonnet!

. Sonnet 19 Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's

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Sonnet 19
Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
And burn the long-liv'd Phoenix in her blood;
Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets,
And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
But I forbid thee one more heinous crime:
O, carve not with the hours my love's fair brow,
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen!
Him in thy course untainted do allow
For beauty's pattern to succeeding men.
Yet do thy worst, old Time! Despite thy wrong
My love shall in my verse ever live young.

performed by actor and poet Genesis Perez

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follow Genesis at @panicversuseuphoria on Instagram and @panicversus euphoria on YouTube

full video at
https://youtu.be/J8JRU3KSLM0

. Sonnet 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s

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Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

performed by actor, and director Viven Latham

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. Sonnet 17 Who will believe my verse in time to

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Sonnet 17
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were filled with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts.
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say 'This poet lies;
Such heavenly touches ne'er touched earthly faces.'
So should my papers, yellowed with their age,
Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be termed a poet's rage
And stretched metre of an antique song:
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice, in it, and in my rhyme.

performed by playwright, actor, and director Michael Perlmutter

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follow Michael Perlmutter at www.DirectingHamlet.com

full video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugN6VDx2low

Still looking for some test readers before moving

Still looking for some test readers before moving forward on this project later this year!

. Sonnet 16 But wherefore do not you a mightier w

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Sonnet 16
But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time?
And fortify your self in your decay
With means more blessed than my barren rhyme?
Now stand you on the top of happy hours,
And many maiden gardens, yet unset,
With virtuous wish would bear you living flowers,
Much liker than your painted counterfeit:
So should the lines of life that life repair,
Which this, Time's pencil, or my pupil pen,
Neither in inward worth nor outward fair,
Can make you live your self in eyes of men.
To give away yourself, keeps yourself still,
And you must live, drawn by your own sweet skill.

performed by actor Brett Lawrence

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follow Brett at @brettlawrence621 on Facebook and Instagram

full video at
https://youtu.be/aNv6nQznKdI

. Sonnet 15 When I consider everything that grows

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Sonnet 15
When I consider everything that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and check'd even by the selfsame sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.

performed by Kindergarten teacher Lisa Walthall

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full video at
https://youtu.be/NHU_KjXtk_4

. Sonnet 14 Not from the stars do I my judgment p

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Sonnet 14
Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;
And yet methinks I have astronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality;
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,
Or say with princes if it shall go well,
By oft predict that I in heaven find:
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
And, constant stars, in them I read such art
As truth and beauty shall together thrive,
If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert;
Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.

performed by actress Deven Streeton

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follow Deven Streeton at @devenstreeton on Instagram

full video at
https://youtu.be/hiqwwdnbPu0

OK, with the first month of the year-long sonnet p

OK, with the first month of the year-long sonnet project under our belts, it's now time to look forward to the next phase of FireMuse Shakespeare...
7-Player Cymbeline!
After last year's test-read of the first version of the script, I've made some changes, beefed up the Stage Manager and added more interactivity with the audience. But before we go casting and performing the damn thing, I think it best to do one more reading of the script in a controlled situation.
If you'd like to be involved (distance is no object in this reading... this will be Zoom-ified), message me through Instagram, or at the website, fmshakes1.com.
A reminder of the cast/characters:
CHARACTERS (3 m; 2 f; 3 either)
PLAYER 1: Imogen (daughter to Cymbeline); a Briton soldier/jailer (she)
PLAYER 2: Posthumus (husband to Imogen); Cloten (son to the present queen); Cornelius/ia (a physician in Cymbeline’s court); a royal attendant; a Roman captain (he)
PLAYER 3: Cymbeline (King of Britain); Cloten's attendant lord; another royal attendant (he)
PLAYER 4: Pisanio/ia (Posthumus’s servant); Philario/ia (Posthumus’s host in Rome); the ghost of one of Posthumus’s brothers; another Roman captain; a gentleman of the court/Briton lord (they)
PLAYER 5: Iachimo (friend to Philario); Guiderius/ia (child of Cymbeline by his former queen--living in the woods under the name of Polydor); Sicilius (the ghost of Posthumus’s father); a Briton soldier/captain; a messenger (he)
PLAYER 6: Cymbeline’s Queen; Belarius/ia (an exiled noble person--under the name of Morgan); the ghost of Posthumus’s mother; Philarmonus/a (a Roman soothsayer) (she)
PLAYER 7: Caius Lucius/ia (a Roman general); Arviragus/ia (child of Cymbeline by his former queen--living in the woods under the name of Cadwal); the ghost of another of Posthumus’s brothers; another gentleman of Cymbeline's court (they)
STAGE MANAGER: ...oh, and the god Jupiter (they)

Let's do this!

. Sonnet 13 O! that you were your self; but, love

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Sonnet 13
O! that you were your self; but, love, you are
No longer yours, than you your self here live:
Against this coming end you should prepare,
And your sweet semblance to some other give:
So should that beauty which you hold in lease
Find no determination; then you were
Yourself again, after yourself's decease,
When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear.
Who lets so fair a house fall to decay,
Which husbandry in honour might uphold,
Against the stormy gusts of winter's day
And barren rage of death's eternal cold?
O! none but unthrifts. Dear my love, you know,
You had a father: let your son say so.

performed by by director and actor Bill Walthall

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follow Bill Walthall at billwalthall.com, as well as @billwalthall on Instagram

full video at
https://youtu.be/BKay-lR2X10

. Sonnet 12 When I do count the clock that tells

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Sonnet 12
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls, all silvered o'er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves,
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
And die as fast as they see others grow;
And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

performed by by director and actor Brian Robert Harris

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follow Brian Robert Harris at storylikeafire.blogspot.com

full video at
https://youtu.be/7QimIY5XH9I

Thanks, @edodi4p and @vc_reporter for the shout-ou

Thanks, @edodi4p and @vc_reporter for the shout-out!
Link:
https://vcreporter.com/2021/01/art-happens-finding-solace-in-creative-pursuits/

. Sonnet 11 As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast t

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Sonnet 11
As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow'st
In one of thine, from that which thou departest;
And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestow'st,
Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth convertest.
Herein lives wisdom, beauty, and increase;
Without this folly, age, and cold decay:
If all were minded so, the times should cease
And threescore year would make the world away.
Let those whom nature hath not made for store,
Harsh, featureless, and rude, barrenly perish:
Look whom she best endowed, she gave the more;
Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty cherish:
She carved thee for her seal, and meant thereby,
Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.

performed by by Robin DuMont

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full video at
https://youtu.be/_pww3b8uK10

Check out Robin's bloopers at:
https://youtu.be/htFjaaUoSwQ

. Sonnet 10 For shame deny that thou bear'st love

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Sonnet 10
For shame deny that thou bear'st love to any,
Who for thy self art so unprovident.
Grant, if thou wilt, thou art beloved of many,
But that thou none lov'st is most evident:
For thou art so possessed with murderous hate,
That 'gainst thy self thou stick'st not to conspire,
Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate
Which to repair should be thy chief desire.
O! change thy thought, that I may change my mind:
Shall hate be fairer lodged than gentle love?
Be, as thy presence is, gracious and kind,
Or to thyself at least kind-hearted prove:
Make thee another self for love of me,
That beauty still may live in thine or thee.

performed by actor Caleb Heulitt

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follow Caleb Heulitt at @camarillocay on Instagram

full video at
https://youtu.be/Mr0huJlOhGA

Still have some sonnets that need readers/performe

Still have some sonnets that need readers/performers/filmmakers...
If you're interested, check out the form below!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1UKX7CRJHu1ncnTodEN9Ypb0XKKrt1eehLKfpxxsmg78

Link in bio

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