Ok, I’m a little behind on this one, I was on vacation. We’ve mentioned the television show Kid Nation in the past, most notably because of Jared, the Shakespeare nut who spent his hard earned money on a copy of Henry V. So this week was the talent show and we’re treated to two Shakespeare performances. Jared comes through with something from Henry V, which is surprisingly NOT St. Crispin’s Day. Instead we get a little something from Act IV, Scene 2, the Constable speaking: To horse, you gallant princes! straight to horse!
Do but behold yon poor and starved band,
And your fair show shall suck away their souls,
Leaving them but the shales and husks of men.
There is not work enough for all our hands;
Scarce blood enough in all their sickly veins
To give each naked curtle-axe a stain,
That our French gallants shall to-day draw out,
And sheathe for lack of sport: let us but blow on them,
The vapour of our valour will o’erturn them.
‘Tis positive ‘gainst all exceptions, lords,
That our superfluous lackeys and our peasants,
Who in unnecessary action swarm
About our squares of battle, were enow
To purge this field of such a hilding foe,
Though we upon this mountain’s basis by
Took stand for idle speculation:
But that our honours must not. What’s to say?
A very little little let us do.
And all is done. Then let the trumpets sound
The tucket sonance and the note to mount;
For our approach shall so much dare the field
That England shall couch down in fear and yield. It was hard to tell how much of the speech he got out, as the editing was obvious and all the lines were out of order. I wonder if they figured that nobody would recognize that? Except us Shakespeare geeks :). No idea why he would have picked that speech, I’m going to assume a producer showed it to him specifically because it would sound like gibberish. The kid himself even complained about it the whole show (“Why did I pick this? Argh I already committed myself, I can’t back out now!”) so it’s not like he went straight to his favorite passage he already had memorized, or anything. The two older boys in the town decided to do a comedy version of Romeo and Juliet, which was unmemorable except for the boy who kept saying his line as “Romeo Romeo, where are thou Romeo.” I could kill him.
