[NaNoReNo09] pXt

[JQuartz]

I think this game is quite funny if I could actually understand what they're saying. Maybe the commentators/audience should have their dialogue modernized so they speak in a way everyone understands (and provide some sort of explanation to the confused player). (Never really liked Shakespeare's cause the ancient speaking style and a lot of his stories are tragic)

[Showsni]

Which bits don't you understand? It's not really too difficult, mostly. And A Midsummer Night's Dream certainly isn't tragic; though, I guess the story of Pyramus and Thisbe technically is. (It's the basis for Romeo and Juliet, after all.)

Flourish of trumpets

Enter QUINCE for the Prologue

Prologue
If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think, we come not to offend,
But with good will. To show our simple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Consider then we come but in despite.
We do not come as minding to contest you,
Our true intent is. All for your delight
We are not here. That you should here repent you,
The actors are at hand and by their show
You shall know all that you are like to know.

THESEUS
This fellow doth not stand upon points.

LYSANDER
He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows
not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not
enough to speak, but to speak true.

HIPPOLYTA
Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child
on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.

THESEUS
His speech, was like a tangled chain; nothing
impaired, but all disordered. Who is next?

Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion

Prologue
Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show;
But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.
This man is Pyramus, if you would know;
This beauteous lady Thisby is certain.
This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present
Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder;
And through Wall's chink, poor souls, they are content
To whisper. At the which let no man wonder.
This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn,
Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know,
By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.
This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name,
The trusty Thisby, coming first by night,
Did scare away, or rather did affright;
And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall,
Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,
And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain:
Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,
He bravely broach'd is boiling bloody breast;
And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,
His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest,
Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain
At large discourse, while here they do remain.

Exeunt Prologue, Thisbe, Lion, and Moonshine

THESEUS
I wonder if the lion be to speak.

DEMETRIUS
No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many asses do.

Wall
In this same interlude it doth befall
That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;
And such a wall, as I would have you think,
That had in it a crannied hole or chink,
Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,
Did whisper often very secretly.
This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show
That I am that same wall; the truth is so:
And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.

THESEUS
Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?

DEMETRIUS
It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard
discourse, my lord.

Enter Pyramus

THESEUS
Pyramus draws near the wall: silence!

Pyramus
O grim-look'd night! O night with hue so black!
O night, which ever art when day is not!
O night, O night! alack, alack, alack,
I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!
And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,
That stand'st between her father's ground and mine!
Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,
Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne!

Wall holds up his fingers

Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this!
But what see I? No Thisby do I see.
O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss!
Cursed be thy stones for thus deceiving me!

THESEUS
The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.

Pyramus
No, in truth, sir, he should not. 'Deceiving me'
is Thisby's cue: she is to enter now, and I am to
spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will
fall pat as I told you. Yonder she comes.

Enter Thisbe

Thisbe
O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
For parting my fair Pyramus and me!
My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones,
Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.

Pyramus
I see a voice: now will I to the chink,
To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. Thisby!

Thisbe
My love thou art, my love I think.

Pyramus
Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace;
And, like Limander, am I trusty still.

Thisbe
And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill.

Pyramus
Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.

Thisbe
As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

Pyramus
O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall!

Thisbe
I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all.

Pyramus
Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?

Thisbe
'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay.

Exeunt Pyramus and Thisbe

Wall
Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so;
And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.

Exit

THESEUS
Now is the mural down between the two neighbours.

DEMETRIUS
No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear
without warning.

HIPPOLYTA
This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.

THESEUS
The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst
are no worse, if imagination amend them.

HIPPOLYTA
It must be your imagination then, and not theirs.

THESEUS
If we imagine no worse of them than they of
themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here
come two noble beasts in, a man and a lion.

Enter Lion and Moonshine

Lion
You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear
The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
May now perchance both quake and tremble here,
When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am
A lion-fell, nor else no lion's dam;
For, if I should as lion come in strife
Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.

THESEUS
A very gentle beast, of a good conscience.

DEMETRIUS
The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw.

LYSANDER
This lion is a very fox for his valour.

THESEUS
True; and a goose for his discretion.

DEMETRIUS
Not so, my lord; for his valour cannot carry his
discretion; and the fox carries the goose.

THESEUS
His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour;
for the goose carries not the fox. It is well:
leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon.

Moonshine
This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;--

DEMETRIUS
He should have worn the horns on his head.

THESEUS
He is no crescent, and his horns are
invisible within the circumference.

Moonshine
This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;
Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be.

THESEUS
This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man
should be put into the lanthorn. How is it else the
man i' the moon?

DEMETRIUS
He dares not come there for the candle; for, you
see, it is already in snuff.

HIPPOLYTA
I am aweary of this moon: would he would change!

THESEUS
It appears, by his small light of discretion, that
he is in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all
reason, we must stay the time.

LYSANDER
Proceed, Moon.

Moonshine
All that I have to say, is, to tell you that the
lanthorn is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this
thorn-bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog.

DEMETRIUS
Why, all these should be in the lanthorn; for all
these are in the moon. But, silence! here comes Thisbe.

Enter Thisbe

Thisbe
This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love?

Lion
[Roaring] Oh--

Thisbe runs off

DEMETRIUS
Well roared, Lion.

THESEUS
Well run, Thisbe.

HIPPOLYTA
Well shone, Moon. Truly, the moon shines with a
good grace.

The Lion shakes Thisbe's mantle, and exit

THESEUS
Well moused, Lion.

LYSANDER
And so the lion vanished.

DEMETRIUS
And then came Pyramus.

Enter Pyramus

Pyramus
Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams;
I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright;
For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams,
I trust to take of truest Thisby sight.
But stay, O spite!
But mark, poor knight,
What dreadful dole is here!
Eyes, do you see?
How can it be?
O dainty duck! O dear!
Thy mantle good,
What, stain'd with blood!
Approach, ye Furies fell!
O Fates, come, come,
Cut thread and thrum;
Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!

THESEUS
This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would
go near to make a man look sad.

HIPPOLYTA
Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man.

Pyramus
O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame?
Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear:
Which is--no, no--which was the fairest dame
That lived, that loved, that liked, that look'd
with cheer.
Come, tears, confound;
Out, sword, and wound
The pap of Pyramus;
Ay, that left pap,
Where heart doth hop:

Stabs himself

Thus die I, thus, thus, thus.
Now am I dead,
Now am I fled;
My soul is in the sky:
Tongue, lose thy light;
Moon take thy flight:

Exit Moonshine

Now die, die, die, die, die.

Dies

DEMETRIUS
No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one.

LYSANDER
Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing.

THESEUS
With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover, and
prove an ass.

HIPPOLYTA
How chance Moonshine is gone before Thisbe comes
back and finds her lover?

THESEUS
She will find him by starlight. Here she comes; and
her passion ends the play.

Re-enter Thisbe

HIPPOLYTA
Methinks she should not use a long one for such a
Pyramus: I hope she will be brief.

DEMETRIUS
A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which
Thisbe, is the better; he for a man, God warrant us;
she for a woman, God bless us.

LYSANDER
She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes.

DEMETRIUS
And thus she means, videlicet:--

Thisbe
Asleep, my love?
What, dead, my dove?
O Pyramus, arise!
Speak, speak. Quite dumb?
Dead, dead? A tomb
Must cover thy sweet eyes.
These My lips,
This cherry nose,
These yellow cowslip cheeks,
Are gone, are gone:
Lovers, make moan:
His eyes were green as leeks.
O Sisters Three,
Come, come to me,
With hands as pale as milk;
Lay them in gore,
Since you have shore
With shears his thread of silk.
Tongue, not a word:
Come, trusty sword;
Come, blade, my breast imbrue:

Stabs herself

And, farewell, friends;
Thus Thisby ends:
Adieu, adieu, adieu.

Dies

THESEUS
Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead.

DEMETRIUS
Ay, and Wall too.

BOTTOM
[Starting up] No assure you; the wall is down that
parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the
epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance between two
of our company?

THESEUS
No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no
excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all
dead, there needs none to be blamed. Marry, if he
that writ it had played Pyramus and hanged himself
in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine
tragedy: and so it is, truly; and very notably
discharged. But come, your Bergomask: let your
epilogue alone.

A dance

[JQuartz]

Which bits don't you understand?

Probably around 50% of the dialogue. I still can vaguely know what's going on, just don't understand enough to get the jokes (which is bad cause I love jokes...). I'm not used to the old speaking style.

I guess the story of Pyramus and Thisbe technically is.

But in this story, they are merely acting within the story so I don't think it's tragic (nobody really died).

[Taleweaver]

I came. I saw. I lol'd.

I opened a bottle for the Bard.

[kuroi]

That was EPIC! I loved the game. lol The mst3k mode was absolute genious. I wish I had thought of that.

[JQuartz]

mst3k mode

How do you get this mode? I only got MST1596.

[Jake]

mst3k mode

How do you get this mode? I only got MST1596.

You know, sometimes it's hard to tell whether you're joking...

Mystery Science Theatre 3000 was a TV series in which a guy and his companion robots watched bad movies and made fun of them over the top while they were being played. Except this play was written in [or around] 1596, hence the altered title. He's talking about the same thing.

[JQuartz]

You know, sometimes it's hard to tell whether you're joking...

I say the same to you...(not for the above post though, just in general)

Mystery Science Theatre 3000 was a TV series in which a guy and his companion robots watched bad movies and made fun of them over the top while they were being played. Except this play was written in [or around] 1596, hence the altered title. He's talking about the same thing.

Hmm...Never heard about Mystery Science Theatre 3000 before. It seems really funny though. Too bad I've never seen it. Thanks for the info, Jake.

[Ramidel]

...pffft. This was hilarious.

It was a good send-up of the original script, and a brilliant use of no original material whatever. I don't know whether it was -intended- to be a troll-VN; if it was, it cracked us up (those of us who got it) but didn't tick us off.

This forum's hard to troll, though, because like Jake said, we're so laid-back and easy-going. Must be the octopi.

[Shinrei_Reheiner]

Played it. The movements were nice and it felt like I was watching a play. =3
(One more thing, could someone explain?? I didn't understand it...)

(*Magically warps away*...but fails...then runs away...)

[Asceai]

Played it. The movements were nice and it felt like I was watching a play. =3
(One more thing, could someone explain?? I didn't understand it...)

(*Magically warps away*...but fails...then runs away...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramus_and_Thisbe

[JQuartz]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramus_and_Thisbe

Thanks. I only vaguely managed to grasp the story, so I find the wiki entry quite useful.

[Shinrei]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramus_and_Thisbe

Thank you very much^^
Now I understand. Never would've realized that it was a tragic story if I didn't
read the wikipedia entry...

[JQuartz]

Now I understand. Never would've realized that it was a tragic story if I didn't
read the wikipedia entry...

The original by Ovid was tragic. This one based on Shakespeare's is comedic. Delta made it more comedic by using an all female cast. So I feel this is a comedy not a tragedy.

EDIT: Corrected a stupid mistake.

[Jake]

Now I understand. Never would've realized that it was a tragic story if I didn't
read the wikipedia entry...

The original by Ovid was tragic. This one based on Shakespeare's is comedic. [...] I feel this is a comedy not a tragedy.

. . .

Did you not notice the part were everyone died?!

In the literary sense, it's a tragedy - trust me. Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy, but that sub-play is a tragedy still, even if it's presented in a funny manner.

In the modern-usage sense, it's a comedic tragedy. Like an inverse tragicomedy, if you will.

Man, does nobody watch Educating Rita anymore?


(Obligatry pedantry: it was Delta, not Showsni, and I think Ovid didn't so much create the original as write down an existing bit of Roman folklore...)