Happy Hour with Will Shakespeare! Ask us anything...

[Aristus]

[nolabear]

1. Hi Will. Is it true that where there's a you there's a way?

And Hi Aristus. Hope your week's been a good one!

[Aristus]

2. Will says:

"Where I am, dearest, there is always a way!"

My week's been pretty good so far...

How's yours?

[nolabear]

5. Good right up til I came home and found the dog had exploded.

You do NOT want to know...

I think I'll have a drink. Or three.

[Aristus]

8. "LANDLORD! A drink or three for my dearest!"

Look out! Will is swinging his tankard around. He's gonna splash somebody...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. I like it when I can ask both of you anything!

My dear Will...What inspires your writing?

And my dear Aristus...What are you drinking tonight?

[Aristus]

6. I'm drinking Manny's Pale Ale, my new summertime tipple.

Irish Death is too heavy for hot weather.

Will says: "Pegeen, lass! Oceans of love, dearest! What inspires me, you ask? Coin of the realm, dearest love. Coin of the realm. Poetry is me true love, angel, mine. But theater brought me fortune, and a coat of arms!"

[sarge43]

11. Pssst Aristus, a word in private

Dear Will may be in his cups. The coat of arms was granted to his father, John. An alderman would be considered a gentleman, therefore eligible for a grant of arms. An actor, even a writer, wasn't. As John's eldest surviving son, Will would have inherited the arms.

It's one of the arguments counting the one that the Shakespeares were too poor and lower class to secure a proper education for Will.

[Aristus]

12. I think our sources differ, sarge.

My reading tells me Will was granted a coat of arms in 1596. John Shakespeare's earlier request for arms was denied. I forget the year he applied.

As a playwright, Will would have been denied, but as a poet, with respected work in publication, and with a respectable (relatively) aristocratic patron, Will was accepted.

[pinboy3niner]

13. The initial denial may have been the inspiration for Hemingway's...

...A Farewell to Arms.

[Aristus]

14. No. That was "Boxing Helena".

[pinboy3niner]

15. I think I dismember that one

Well-played!

[pinboy3niner]

4. To be or not to be?

[Aristus]

7. To BE!

Can't have a Happy Hour if one has committed suicide.

Definitely to be!

[pinboy3niner]

9. Avon to congratulate you

That's the right answer. Bardacious, even!

[Denninmi]

10. Ask Will to give me a great line

I want to strike up a conversation with someone I have noticed, and have been told she had talked about me as well.

Something to charm a lady!

[pinboy3niner]

16. “I do beseech you - chiefly that I may set it in my prayers - what is your name?”

More here:
http://www.nerve.com/entertainment/top-10-shakespearean-pick-up-lines

Good luck!

[Aristus]

17. "Oh, she could teach the stars to shine!"

That's a good one. But save the quotes until after she knows you better. Just be yourself, friend of mine...

[pinboy3niner]

18. And any reference to your codpiece on the first date is a big no-no

[Lady Freedom Returns]

19. What is Will's sugestion to mend a broken heart.

[pinboy3niner]

20. To bear the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune?

I'm sure Aristus will come up with some better medicine than that for you.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

37. Thanks.

My Marine did throw some arrows at me.

[Aristus]

22. "Alas, poor heart, if you spite it for my sake, I will spite it for yours,

for I will never love that which my friend hates."

Also:

"Serve God, love me, and mend".

Thus says Will Shakespeare. This is his answer. And my message from him.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

24. ...

[Aristus]

26. How are you holding up, sweetie?

[Lady Freedom Returns]

30. Not well.

I fear for him. The VA has him on some meds that cloud his thinking and I know that guy is messing with him for some reason. But since I was put on a bus, I can't do anything.

It hurts to think that he might be in trouble and I can't keep an eye on his back. That is...was what we did.

I should have fought harder, stayed in Tucson, and fought for him. Now...

[Aristus]

31. It's a special kind of person who thinks of the pain of others

when she herself is hurting...

[Lady Freedom Returns]

34. 10 years together

He was my Knight. I was his Squire.

Up to now all we had was each other.

[Paulie]

21. A tipple but no snacks?

Can't be true! There must be snacks lest the galant crew will be nigh on plastered!

My favorite was a German pub where the Weiss was on draft but no food license to sell, so would give away roasted sausages with the beer. Glorious!

[Aristus]

23. Chicken Saganaki.

Wonderful stuff.

Will is suspicious of anything not English. So some plain old roast beef for him...

[pinboy3niner]

25. Chicken Saganaki?

Sounds like what happens when my cowardly, obese neighbor comes to my door.

[Aristus]

27. It is.

Only with garlic, and with pita bread...

[pinboy3niner]

29. Well, he reeks of garlic and I pita him...

[Paulie]

28. Perhaps they can boil the Saganaki

Make Will feel more at home. After the flambé of course.

[In_The_Wind]

32. How's the weather over there?

[Aristus]

33. Cool and cloudy...

Typical Northwest weather.

We just posted the driest July in 40 years, but back to business as usual...

[In_The_Wind]

36. It's raining all over the world tonight.

So the best place for me is safe and snug at home.

[Aristus]

39. Stay snug...

[AsahinaKimi]

35. A question for Will...

Would Peter Dinklage have made a good Richard the III ?

[Aristus]

38. Absolutely.

But I'm uncomfortable with the image. In Will's day, unconventional physical differences were considered an outward sign of inner evil. I'd hate to perpetuate the stereotype.

The discovery of Richard III's skeleton recently confirms that he was slightly scoliotic, but obviously it didn't cripple him, as he was known to be a skilled, strong, and courageous warrior. He was not the lame, twisted cripple of Will's play.