Results: "The Play's The Thing" Part 4

So many more Shakespeare plays, so little time. So, in fairness to other great works, this survey will be a little different. William Shakespeare is believed to have influenced the English language more than any other writer in history, coining—or, at the very least, popularizing—terms and phrases that still regularly crop up in everyday conversation. Have you ever used any of these words or expressions (and if you did, thank Shakespeare for them!)?

Shakespeare is also credited with "inventing" the given names Olivia, Miranda, Jessica and others, which have become popular over the years (as well as others, such as Nerissa and Titania, which have not). While some of these names did exist before Shakespeare's time, they were seldom used. Do you know anyone who may have been influenced by the poetry of Shakespeare and gave their children any of these names (I know at least one person on Tellwut who very definitely was)?

In the play Julius Caesar, even though he is the title character, Julius Caesar only appears in three scenes in his own play and delivers just 151 lines. By comparison, his conspirators Brutus (722 lines), Cassius (507), and Antony (329) each have much larger roles, and Caesar has nearly three times more lines in Antony and Cleopatra (419) than he does in Julius Caesar, making his the smallest of all Shakespeare's title roles. Poor Caesar -- first he doesn't even have the most lines in his own play, and then that famous salad that carries his name wasn't named after him! Do you know any other book or film where the title character doesn't appear in it that much?

If you read one of my previous surveys, you know how Macbeth is believed to be unlucky (at least to say the name is), but did you also know it is believed that All's Well That Ends Well, is too. During rehearsals for a revival of the play in London in 1741, one of its stars, William Milward fell gravely ill. The premiere was postponed until the following January, but during the opening performance, the female lead, Peg Woffington, fainted, and her part had to be read by another actress. They postponed the next performance so that Woffington could recover, but Milward fell sick again, causing more postponements. Milward died several days later after completing only one performance. The entire thing was enough to put producers off staging Shakespeare's tragi-comic romance for another decade. Do you believe that a play can be "cursed"?

When Shakespeare wrote "all the world's a stage", I'm not sure he had this in mind. His plays have been performed on many stages, but have you heard about any of these alternatives?