Posts Tagged ‘Plays’

Limerick Ode To Shakespearean Acting (2-verse Limerick)

Sunday, June 23rd, 2019

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s excellent production of Cymbeline, starring Stephen Michael Spencer as both Cloten and Posthumus, inspired me to write this 2-verse limerick:

Act in Shakespeare? You must be a fencer
And a monologue (tragic) dispenser.
You require the skill
To amuse, threaten, thrill,
With a style that will stymie the censor.

Who can fit such a bill? Stephen Spencer,
Whose skills are prodigious; immenser
Than most that I’ve seen.
He plays clowns, heroes, mean
Evil villains. I laugh … then get tenser.

Rueful Limerick (Limerick-Off Monday)

Sunday, July 15th, 2012

It’s Limerick-Off time, once again. And that means I write a limerick, and you write your own, using the same first line. Then you post your limerick here and, if you’re a Facebook user, on Facebook too.

The best submission will be crowned Limerick Of The Week. (Here’s last week’s Limerick Of The Week Winner.)

How will your poems be judged? By meter, rhyme, cleverness, and humor. (If you’re feeling a bit fuzzy about limerick writing rules, here’s my How To Write A Limerick article.)

I’ll announce the Limerick of the Week Winner right before I post next week’s Limerick-Off. So that gives you a full week to submit your clever, polished verse.

I hope you’ll join me in writing a limerick with this first line:

A fellow was starting to rue…*

or

A woman was starting to rue…*

*(Minor variations to my first lines are acceptable, but rhyme words may not be altered.)

Here’s my limerick:

Rueful Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane

A fellow was starting to rue
His decision to holler his boo
At a Will Shakespeare play.
What ensued was a fray:
About nothing, he feared, much ado.

Please feel free to write your own limerick using the same first line and post it in my comments. And if you’re on Facebook, I hope you’ll join my friends in that same activity on my Facebook Limerick-Off post.

To receive an email alert whenever I post a new Limerick-Off, please email Madkane@MadKane.com Subject: MadKane’s Newsletter. Thanks!

UPDATE: April 23 is Talk Like Shakespeare Day.

Reviewing The Reviewers (Limerick)

Monday, July 30th, 2007

Reviewing The Reviewers
By Madeleine Begun Kane

I just saw a play I abhorred
That reviewers quite simply adored.
‘Twas pretentious, third-rate,
But the dailies raved, “Great!”
Could it be that they like being bored?

Night On The Town — Judy Carmichael, Stride Pianist

Sunday, May 6th, 2007

I live in New York City, so my husband Mark and I often catch great musical acts, plays, art shows, and other entertainment and cultural diversions in the Big Apple.

Why don’t I write about our New York fun?  I keep meaning to, but quickly forget to. Blame ADD, a bad memory, or just being a wee bit disorganized.

Anyway, I’ve decided to launch a new posting category — Night On The Town — in which I’ll write more regularly about our Manhattan adventures … in theory, anyway.

And what better way to start, than with the wonderful Judy Carmichael!  We caught her stride piano act Friday night at the Knickerbocker Bar and Grill, and she was excellent, as always. Mark and I own every one of her recordings!

For those who don’t know what stride piano is, it’s a musical style that originated in Harlem early in the 20th century.  And nobody does it better than Judy Carmichael.  In fact I love her playing so much, I’ve written her a limerick:

Ode To Judy Carmichael (Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Judy Carmichael’s known for her stride.
She’s a pianist of note far and wide—
A female Fats Waller.
You’ll whoop and you’ll holler
With joy at her musical ride.