Shakespeare’s sonnets were themselves hybrid media objects, bridging established oral and manuscript cultures with the still-young form of print. We know from historical witnesses that Shakespeare read aloud at least some of the sonnets and circulated them in manuscript among friends years before they were collected and printed. So the poems are both songs and texts, individual entries and complex sequences, designed to be read both in and out of order, and infused enough complexity to be re-read forever. Even the shape of the 14-line poem makes a nearly perfect square on the printed page — or in this case, the tablet screen. The app plays up all of these contradictory and complementary elements even as it updates them for our own moment of media in transit.
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| — | Digital, print, oral: Shakespeare’s Sonnets for iPad brings reading full circle | The Verge (via infoneer-pulse) |
Catherine: How long is this going to take?
David: Here we go!
Catherine: Don’t make me do this!
David: Oh you’re going to love it!
We’re like a branch and its vine…
Catherine: Like a drunk and his wine.
David: Like the leaves in the breeze!
Catherine: Fatty food and disease…
David: And like a sheep and a lamb!
Catherine: Like a pig in a ham!
David: We go together…
Catherine: I can’t go now… can I? Just…
David: Just like Shakespeare and verse…
Catherine: Like a corpse and a hearse!
David: Like a song and a dance —
Catherine: Like the English and France.
David: Like a Persian and rugs…
Catherine: Like a headache and drugs!
Together: We go together, you and I.
David: We go together like the news and the weather,
We fit like hand in glove!
Catherine: For now and forever…
David: Just like birds of a feather we’ll fly so high above
We stick together like the earth and the sun
Catherine: Like a dentist and fun…
David: We go like honey and bees!
Catherine: Like a mould on a cheese!
David: And like a bird in its nest…
Catherine: Like a clown and depressed!
Together: We go together, you and I!
David: Wait for it, wait for it!
[Horn solo begins.]
Catherine: What. Was. That?
David: That was me, playing with my old horn!
Catherine: Oh, shouldn’t you wait ‘til I’ve gone?
David: Awwww, it feels so good to hold it again!
Catherine: Well, you’ve not had it out in ages.
David: Do you want a go on it?
Catherine: I’m not putting that in my mouth!
We go together and we know that whatever we’re stuck like nails and glue!
David: There’s nothing can sever such a well-made endeavour as me…
Catherine: And me!
David: And you!
Catherine: I guess it’s true - we’re like a yawn and a dream…
David: Like a cherry on cream!
Catherine: Like the wind in a kite…
David: Now you’ve got it, alright!
Catherine: We’re like a parent and child!
David: Like a — sorry, what?!
Catherine: We go together, you and I!
David: You and me!
Catherine: We go together, me and you!
David: That’s right, we do!
Together: We go together… you and I!
David: Awwww, see, I told you you’d enjoy yourself!
Catherine: Yeah! Smaller than I thought though.
David: You still talking about my horn?
Catherine: Yup!WE GO TOGETHER, Catherine Tate & David Tennant
(Much Ado About Nothing OLCR)
