Dark Chocolate and Shakespeare

I have been fostering quite an addiction to Shakespeare lately.  As far as addictions go, I figure I could be far worse off than craving a bit (or perhaps quite a plethora is more accurate) of intelligent prose from the Bard now and again.

I've always had a deep love of used book stores, and now that I've begun expanding my drama and classic literature collection, I appreciate them even more.  There is nothing better than spending hours digging through old books.  I also truly cannot get enough of that smell.  Mmm, the aroma of ancient philosophy, renaissance poetry, and medieval texts.  What more could one ask for in life?

Just yesterday I visited Books Revisited.  Or, more accurately, I revisited Books Revisited for probably the hundredth time.  In fact, I revisited Books Revisited as a visitor while visiting the visitors also visiting a similar vicinity.  The redundancy department of redundancy strikes again!  The department of alliteration would also like to take partial credit for the compilation of the previous sentences.

But I digress.  Whilst visiting Books Revisited, (don't worry; I won't start that again) I further fleshed out my drama collection with the purchase of seven books of plays by various playwrights.  My total came to about £33.71 (for you Americans reading, $20.79).  No, I did not actually pay in pounds, as I think that would have confused the rather quite American cashier.  In fact, it probably would have confused my rather quite mostly American self.

This collecting of plays, dramas, classic literature, and so forth does have a more practical purpose. Of course, I might ask; what better purpose is there than personal enjoyment?  However, as a theatre major, and one with goals related to the professional world of thespians; I realize I must know my playwrights and literature rather well.  Who wants to discover the perfect audition opportunity, only to realize they have 24 hours to memorize four Shakespearean sonnets, two contemporary dramatic monologues, and one soliloquy of a comedic nature?  I rather think that may be an exaggeration, but this is the theatre, my friends.  Anything goes.  (If you started singing music from that show in your head as you read that last comment, give yourself five thespian points.  Don't ask me what they're good for.)  Having run this particularly nightmarish scenario through my head, I decided it was best to begin marking monologues.  I would also like to note that the nightmarish scenario actually did come to me in the world of the subconscious, in a dream wherein I arrived at an audition only to realize I was unprepared, as I had no Shakespearean monologue ready.  Horrors!

But fear not, brave readers; for I have begun to remedy this problem already.  I have started with Hamlet; I saw it at the Jungle Theatre last year, and I had not yet read the play.  It was my first time seeing Shakespeare performed live, and was probably one of the greatest experiences of my life.  However, I did really wish I could have been onstage performing with them; I would have even been happy to play Yorick.  ... Please give yourself another five totally useless really awesome thespian points if you found that at all amusing.  This point system is starting to sound like Whose Line is it Anyway.  Heck, you can even have another point if you watch that show.

Back on the matter of Hamlet; I am reading it quite thoroughly, and have depleted my post-it note supply quite a bit already.  I'm not sure how I plan on making it through all my plays without ordering post-it notes in gargantuan bulk quantities.  I have been marking possible monologues for memorization and/or closer study, as well as making note of pretty much any line or chunk of dialogue I find particularly clever, amusing, or enlightening.  This unfortunately means that I have all but marked every single page of the reading thus far.  #thespianproblems, anyone? (Note to self: Create a future blog post or add a gadget containing a list of the aforementioned.)

Well, I seem to be coming to an end in my rambling, but I realize I have not made a single mention of dark chocolate, thus making my title rather misleading.  Now that I have, however, such a claim cannot be made.  Don't worry, I won't pull the ridiculously ambiguous and irrelevant card.  The dark chocolate is an important part of this post, and an important part of a balanced diet.  It's important because: 

1. It's delicious.
2. It makes you want to read this post to find out how dark chocolate is possibly connected to Shakespeare.
3. No, really, it's just delicious.

Okay, so I lied.  I may or may not have pulled the ridiculously ambiguous and irrelevant card.  And with that, I bid my good readers adieu.

A final note: Please refrain from leaving unused thespian points laying around.  They are potentially valuable and may be redeemable somewhere at some point for some purpose.