Bard Madness: the second half of Round One

It’s March and time for Madness. But here at the Bill / Shakespeare Project, it’s not about the round ball, but about the grand Bard (of Avon, that is!). We’ve got a 32-play bracket, and today we continue with the second half (the left side of the bracket) of the first round…

1 Romeo and Juliet [#RandJ]
vs.
32 The Two Gentlemen of Verona [#2Gents]

16 The Tempest [#Tempest]
vs.
17 Coriolanus [#Corio]

9 Richard III [#R3]
vs.
24 Troilus and Cressida [#TandC]

8 King Lear [#Lear]
vs.
25 The Merry Wives of Windsor [#Wives]

4 Othello [#Othello]
vs.
29 The Winter’s Tale [#Winter]

13 The Comedy of Errors [#Errors]
vs.
20 All’s Well That Ends Well [#AllsWell]

12 Henry V [#H5]
vs.
21 Richard II [#R2]

5 Titus Andronicus [#Titus]
vs.
28 The Merchant of Venice [#Merch]

Which are your faves?

You can vote in any of the following ways:

  • Leave the titles of your winning choices in the comments below
  • Tweet @walthall with #BardMadness and the hashtagged titles (see above), one winner for each pairing
  • Use the Instagram poll in the story at @billwalthall [because of some time constraints, Instagram voting will have to wait until tomorrow…]
    Or
  • Leave the titles of your winning choices in the comments of the BSP Facebook page…

This round will last today and tomorrow (Sunday); the second round will be up Monday!

Cast your votes today!

6 Replies to “Bard Madness: the second half of Round One”

  1. Romeo and Juliet / The Tempest (though Coriolanus is awfully timely right now) / Troilus and Cressida (TandC is the Bard’s most underrated play) / King Lear (Shakespeare’s best vs. Shakespeare’s worst, duh!) / Othello (my hardest decision so far: WT might be Shakespeare at his loveliest, but Othello has Iago, one of literature’s towering creations, ear-popping poetry & a plot that rips your heart out—is this the “irrational jealousy” bracket?) / The Comedy of Errors (silliness beats sermonizing any day) / Richard II / Titus Andronicus (Merchant is the better play but at this point I’d much rather experience a terrific production of Titus)

  2. This round was harder!

    Romeo and Juliet

    The Tempest

    Troilus and Cressida

    King Lear

    The Winter’s Tale [#Winter]

    The Comedy of Errors

    Richard II

    The Merchant of Venice [#Merch]

  3. I think I already voted on Thursday for this round, but as I don’t know anything about sports/brackets, I’ll do it again just for good measure…

    R&J

    The Tempest

    Richard III

    King Lear

    The next few are tough ones and I honestly can’t remember what I picked Thursday, but tonight I’m feeling like:

    Winter’s Tale

    Comedy of Errors

    Richard II

    and lastly- Merchant of Venice

  4. Some of my favorites already knocked out! I agree with Jim Eigo on Coriolanus, but couldn’t disagree more on Merry Wives — King Lear is a great play but very disturbing, so I’ll vote for the laughs. Titus Andronicus is the only play I’ve never seen or read — and never will. Richard II vs Henry V was a tough choice, but I’ve gotta stick with Hal. So:
    -Romeo and Juliet
    -The Tempest
    -Richard III
    -The Merry Wives of Windsor
    -The Winter’s Tale
    -All’s Well That Ends Well
    -Henry V
    -The Merchant of Venice

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