I loved Scotland, PA! Such a clever, well-done movie. I will give Throne of Blood another try, when I’m feeling more awake. And my edition said that Judi Dench was one of only two actresses who really “got” Lady Macbeth–the other was Mrs. Siddons.

Steph, I’ve done some research into editions. Based on the recommendation of my erudite English friend Thalia, I favor the Ardens, though they often have way more info than I need about the minutiae of the plays. And G. Grod has had some problems with their typeface. The new Folger series is very accessible, portable in the MMPB form, and seems to have improved its content. I’ve also heard the Oxford World’s Classics are good.

As for omnibus editions, the Riverview edition is highly regarded. My husband likes his Penguin–it’s straightforward and easy to read, and if he needs more notes, he consults individual copies, like our Ardens.

My best experience with Macbeth was an old movie/filmed play, starring Ian McKellen and Judi Dench when they were younger. There weren’t very many actors and it was all done in a kind of monochrome grey, with the stage all filled with fog. It had me terrified and completely mesmerized for about three hours.

I consider Buffy to be one of my all time favorite shows, but be that as it may, I find most of it post-season 5 very difficult to watch. The show clearly peaks in Season 2 & 3, and then spirals downward from thereon out. Season 7 is fairly terrible given how fast and loose it plays with the rules of the universe and, I find many of the themes in both it and Season 6 fairly questionable and somewhat antithetical to the messages of earlier seasons… but I blame the loss of vision here on Marti Noxon rather than Espenson. Also, despite the fact that Buffy could be considered a “dramedy”, Espenson is clearly a comedic writer. Not having seen Battlestar Galactica, I can’t say whether it lends itself to jokes and the like, but that is certainly her milieu. (I would also like to state for the record that I’m not a Jane Espenson apologist! She’s written several very good and fun episodes of Buffy, but she has written some pretty terrible ones as well. But you know, even Joss Whedon does not have the Midas Touch - he did pen “Some Assembly Required” after all! Hmmm… maybe I am a bit of an apologist after all… ).

Macbeth-related, I studied the play in Grade 11 English, but we only spent about two weeks on it at the end of the year. Still, I always dug the themes of predestination (is it or is it not?) that it deals with, which I think would have resonated quite strongly with the Bard’s audience given views on religion at the time. One of my literary dreams is to get the complete works of Shakespeare in my library and to work my way through his entire oeuvre. Unfortunately, I can’t stand the “complete works” omnibus volumes, as I find them essentially unreadable and far too unwieldy.

No need to apologize for OC; when that show was on it was great fun. I’ve not liked Espenson’s episodes of Battlestar Galactica, though, and I didn’t like S7 of Buffy, many of which were written by her, I think.

I saw the actor who played Lady Macduff at my grocery coop tonight. It is a strange small world here in the Twin Cities.

But other great single seasons of tv (even if after that things went to pot):
Felicity Season 1 (I actually don’t think there is a single bad episode in this first season)
Gilmore Girls Season 1
and even if it’s a bit embarrassing to admit:
The O.C. Season 1 (I freely confess that I loved the third episode of the season entitled “The Gamble”… interestingly, it was written by Buffy writer alumna, Jane Espenson)