Althouse: "When age comes in, wit goes out."

July 1, 2024

"When age comes in, wit goes out."

A line that jumped out at us in the play we saw last night.

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The play is "Much Ado About Nothing," the prescient wordsmith, William Shakespeare.

29 comments:

rehajm said...: …when the age is in the wit is out…

Let that be a lesson to you fossils…; 7/1/24, 6:56 AM
Kate said...: Outdoor Shakespeare in the lee of a hillside with dappled light enhancing a charming set.

Maybe it's because we're in the middle of the hellish desert summer, or maybe it's because we're struggling to grow our business in the face of high gas and food prices, but I find this picture to be very fin de siecle.

I truly hope you had a lovely evening, though.; 7/1/24, 7:05 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Trump hasn’t aged like Biden; 7/1/24, 7:16 AM
BG said...: I used to attend when I lived in the area. How were the mosquitoes? Evening performances required being drenched in repellent. Always enjoyed otherwise.; 7/1/24, 7:17 AM
imTay said...: Then you have the "All the world is a stage" soliloquy from As You Like It.

The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

And speaking of prescience, in this same play he anticipates Einstein:

Time travels in divers paces with divers persons.
I’ll tell you who time ambles withal, who time trots withal,
who time gallops withal, and who he stands still withal.

Einstein couldn't have said it better himself, since his is what his theory of Special Relativity does. (Time stands still with a photon.)

And he anticipates Freud, as Rosalind as Ganymede proposes to cure madness by talk therapy rather than the madhouse:

Love is merely a madness,
and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a
whip as madmen do; and the reason why they are
not so punished and cured is that the lunacy is so
ordinary that the whippers are in love too. Yet I
profess curing it by counsel.; 7/1/24, 7:17 AM
rehajm said...: Boston Common will have The Winter’s Tale for their free show this summer. Tickets on sale now for a $100 donation…

They used to make it easy to watch- for a great view of the stage just show up around performance time with your blanket or chairs and your bottle of wine. They move the stage every year to make it troublesome for the freeloaders who only paid via their property taxes. They now put the stage close to the bandstand so only the few hundred donors can see the stage. The plebes must do with a view of the donors butts from the lower far wings. Don’t even think abut bringing your own food and beverage to the public common…our people will be checking your water bottles, too…; 7/1/24, 7:31 AM
James K said...: I see this in today's NYT about the debate: "It featured two elderly men — one 81, one 78 — who insulted each other and who most Americans wished were not the two major-party candidates for president. One candidate told frequent lies and portrayed the country in apocalyptic terms. The other struggled at times to describe his own policies or complete his sentences."

Actually, it was the same candidate who told frequent lies and struggled to complete his sentences.

Do we get the SCOTUS immunity ruling today? I don't have a good read on which way that will go.

By the way, Professor Althouse, I appreciate that you've been letting comments go unmoderated. It's much easier to have a conversation. Hope everyone behaves.; 7/1/24, 7:34 AM
gilbar said...: One candidate told frequent lies and portrayed the country in apocalyptic terms

talked to my card carrying life long democrat mother (92 yrs old) last night. Asked her about debate
she said:
"well, it wasn't a very good night for Biden, but that Trump sure lied a LOT!"
i asked her to list a few of his lies.. she said; "Everything he SAID!"
asked for details.. She thought a while and said: "WELL! he said he didn't have sex with that stripper!"

I'm STILL waiting to hear our poor Chuck's (or ANYONE'S) list of lies that Trump told; 7/1/24, 7:39 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Maybe it's because we're in the middle of the hellish desert summer... I truly hope you had a lovely evening, though."

The temperature was in the 60s. Completely pleasant weather.

The play was excellent, one of Shakespeare's best comedies, presented by the delightful and entirely reliable American Players Theater in Spring Green, Wisconsin, one of the top 20 reasons why I live in Wisconsin though I am retired and could move just about anywhere.; 7/1/24, 7:42 AM
stlcdr said...: rehajm said...
…when the age is in the wit is out…

Let that be a lesson to you fossils…

7/1/24, 6:56 AM

Jump the small talk and go straight to 'get off my lawn'.; 7/1/24, 7:44 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "I used to attend when I lived in the area. How were the mosquitoes? Evening performances required being drenched in repellent."

We bailed on the longer woodland walk up the hill to the theater. That had mosquitos. But there were no mosquitos in the regular walk up the hill or in and around the theater seats. There was spray anyone could use, but I saw no one using it at all and I didn't even consider using it. They must treat the area beforehand. I do remember the old days when you had to use the spray. Not anymore. I haven't seen that in many years.; 7/1/24, 7:45 AM
stlcdr said...: Could you say that you went to see 'Much Ado About Nothing' and not mention Shakespeare, yet people would know exactly who wrote it?; 7/1/24, 7:47 AM
EAB said...: What a wonderful play to see. A favorite. I thoroughly enjoyed Joss Whedon’s film version.; 7/1/24, 8:00 AM
rehajm said...: Jump the small talk and go straight to 'get off my lawn'.

That’s for the kids but they’re all old now. Now I yell at cloud…; 7/1/24, 8:00 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Could you say that you went to see 'Much Ado About Nothing' and not mention Shakespeare, yet people would know exactly who wrote it?"

What is the function of "exactly" in your question? Couldn't it have been written without that word, which only raises unnecessary questions? Is there some way people might have inexactly known who wrote it?; 7/1/24, 8:22 AM
imTay said...: “there some way people might have inexactly known who wrote it?”

Here we go again with Edward de Vere.; 7/1/24, 8:26 AM
Narayanan said...: WELL! he said he didn't have sex with that stripper!"
====================
Per Billy Jeff, Willie Brown never had sex with Kamala!

so there!; 7/1/24, 8:34 AM
Narayanan said...: WELL! he said he didn't have sex with that stripper!"
====================
Per Billy Jeff, Willie Brown never had sex with Kamala!

so there!

and when she is President ledger can balance/equalize with Willie Brown as her Consigliere?; 7/1/24, 8:36 AM
MadisonMan said...: Well-planned to go on a very refreshing night!
I've been out there in stinking oppressive humidity with no breeze and thousands of skeeters. Not a pleasant time to be wearing long pants, but you can't go there in shorts and not suffer from those pests!; 7/1/24, 8:36 AM
ndspinelli said...: Saw this funny play @ the Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, CT. We went every year in high school to see productions. We would first study the play in class. Touchstone was played by a character actor who had Piel's Beer ads playing in the northeast at the time[60's].. As soon as he appeared on stage several of us dudes spontaneously blurted, "Piel's!" The actor smiled, nodded, and went on w/ his lines.; 7/1/24, 8:52 AM
tommyesq said...: One candidate told frequent lies and portrayed the country in apocalyptic terms. The other struggled at times to describe his own policies or complete his sentences.

Wasn't Biden's first State of the Union pretty apocalyptic? How about his Reichstag rally in Philly?; 7/1/24, 9:46 AM
Bob B said...: I believe the full quote is:
My pick would be Gavin Newsom. I remember eating with him at the French Laundry during the pandemic and being impressed on how he kept the riffraff in line.”; 7/1/24, 9:49 AM
The rule of Lemnity said...: YouTube: Why Nothing Matters | The Art of JOHN CAGE and SAMUEL BECKETT; 7/1/24, 9:55 AM
Rocco said...: Ann said...
“there some way people might have inexactly known who wrote it?”

imTay responded...
"Here we go again with Edward de Vere."

Claudine Gay; 7/1/24, 11:10 AM
Saint Croix said...: The play was excellent, one of Shakespeare's best comedies

Much Ado About Nothing is my favorite comedy from Shakespeare. I like Branagh's version. But the funniest one I've seen this one from the BBC.

It's set in the modern day, in a TV studio. They threw out all the bard's language and just used his plot and characters. That was an audacious thing to do, and it really helped the humor.

"Beatrice, I'll do anything for you. Anything, anything, anything."

"Kill Claude."

"What?"; 7/1/24, 11:40 AM
ndspinelli said...: Mea culpa. Touchstone is in As You Like It. Sister Margaret is rolling in her grave.; 7/1/24, 1:26 PM
Narr said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/1/24, 1:56 PM
Narr said...: Espied thee a ghost, or a goat, or the ghost of a goat, or both?; 7/1/24, 1:57 PM
Former Illinois resident said...: In Chicago pre-Covid, audience for theatre productions were reliably 85% senior citizens, ditto for CSO and Civic Opera. Post-Covid, a fair number of theatre companies have reduced their payrolls, and/or ultimately closed-up shop and shut theatre productions.; 7/1/24, 3:22 PM