Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,
Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving:
O! but with mine compare thou thine own state,
And thou shalt find it merits not reproving;
Or, if it do, not from those lips of thine,
That have profaned their scarlet ornaments
And sealed false bonds of love as oft as mine,
Robbed others’ beds’ revenues of their rents.
Be it lawful I love thee, as thou lov’st those
Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee:
Root pity in thy heart, that, when it grows,
Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.
     If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,
     By self-example mayst thou be denied!

Analysis

Sonnet 142 points out to its subject that they and the poet are equally terrible at love, and that the beloved should wise up and get with the poet while the getting is good.

Will speaks here to one he loves who loves another. The lover scorns him for his love, but Willy points out that his beloved is equally worthy of scorn. They have both been promiscuous, both lied, both dallied with married partners. They deserve each other as much as the other partners have. One day, his beloved may need Will for her pleasure, so she should be much nicer to him now.
 

Will’s Wordplay

Pity is a word which traditionally covered a whole range of actions and emotions, from sympathy, to a mere friendly glance, a disposition to tolerate or listen to the lover, or the allowing of a kiss, or (rarely) sexual intercourse. Three guesses which Billy Boy had on his mind.

Gay Street, Manhattan

Gay Street, a short street that marks off one block of Greenwich Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. This street, originally a stable alley, was probably named for an early landowner, not for the sexuality of any denizens.

Since it was once too narrow to be a full-fledged street, the City of New York widened it in 1833; as a result Federal houses of 1826-1833 line the west side of the street, while on the east side, following a hiatus caused by the Panic of 1837, the houses are of 1844-1860, with remnants of Greek Revival detailing in doorways and window surrounds.

The street extends from Christopher Street one block south to Waverly Place, between and roughly parallel to Sixth and Seventh Avenues. The name first appeared officially in the Common Council minutes for April 23, 1827, which record a health inspector’s complaint against a privy belonging to one A. S. Pell of Gay Street.

Popular Culture

Its proximity to Christopher Street, the original heart of New York’s gay and lesbian culture, is a happy accident. Its street sign has become an LGBT icon.

The 1943 movie, A Night to Remember, portrays 13 Gay Street as the address of the building where most of the action, including a murder, occurs.

In 1996 Sheryl Crow made a video on Gay Street for the song, “A Change Would Do You Good”.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Street_%28Manhattan%29 – cite_note-2

ACTOR – Chris Thorn

Chris is from South Berwick, ME and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. He attended Boston University along with Sonnet 142 director Noah Bean. He played King Phillip of France in NYSE’s inaugural production of King John. Other New York credits include 3 seasons with The Acting Company, performing in Shakespeare Off-Broadway, at The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and across the country. He was a 2009 NYIT award nominee for his work in The Most Damaging Wound presented by The Production Company. He has been a participant in FringeNYC 5 times. By the time the Sonnet Project reaches its completion he hopes to tour the city bicycle on a “sonnet circuit” or “tour de shakey”, if you will.

DIRECTOR – Noah Bean

Primarily know as an actor, Noah Bean can currently be seen in the series regular role of ‘Ryan Fletcher’ on the popular series Nikita which airs on The CW, and was previously seen as series regular ‘David Connor’ on FX’s award-winning hit series Damages.

Bean’s other television credits include recurring roles on the hit ABC series Once Upon a Time, the TNT/Jerry Bruckheimer series Dark Blue, and the Brooke Shields-starrer Lipstick Jungle, as well as guest-star roles on such series as Cold Case, Private Practice, Fringe, Medium, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Numb3rs, Crumbs, Joan of Arcadia, and Law & Order: SVU.
Bean was also recently seen as the male lead in the romantic comedy feature film The Pill, opposite Rachel Boston. For his work in The Pill, Bean received the New York Emerging Talent Award at the Big Apple Film Festival; the film received a number of other awards on the festival circuit and was released theatrically in December 2011. Other recent film credits include Little Murder opposite Josh Lucas, Morning Glory with Rachel McAdams, and the horror satire Hysterical Psycho, which premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival in April 2009. In 2005, he appeared in the Marc Forster film Stay with Ewan MacGregor, Ryan Gosling, and Naomi Watts from Fox/New Regency. He recently completed filming the male lead in the independent feature Black Marigolds; the film is scheduled to hit the festival circuit in Spring 2013.

On the New York stage, Bean most recently starred in a new adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ One Arm, from acclaimed director Moises Kaufman, at the New Group in the Summer of 2011. He also starred in The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall, a new play by Sam Forman, directed by Sam Gold; Rise… was produced by Bean’s theater company, Stage 13, which he co-founded with Dan Fogler and several other New York-based actors. Previously he starred in David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face, a wild satire about cultural identity, at the Public Theater. Other New York theater credits include starring roles in Kid Simple, Amerika, Crazy Jane on God, Moon Children, Mary Rose, Voyage of the Carcass, and The Mapmaker’s Sorrow, and Bean’s regional theater credits include Lanford Wilson’s classic Fifth of July at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Bus Stop at the Huntington Theater (for which he was nominated for both an Elliot Norton Award and an IRNE Award), Romance, Our Town, A Christmas Carol, The Winter’s Tale, Philadelphia, Here I Come! and Love’s Labour’s Lost.

Bean has written and directed numerous short films as well as music videos in New York City. A native of Mystic, Conn., Bean is a graduate of Boston University’s School of Fine Arts. His training also includes the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

CINEMATOGRAPHER – Andreas von Scheele

Andreas has worked in the entertainment and advertising industry for over 15 years. As Director of Photography, his credits include the narrative features: Douglas Brown directed by Justin Daly and produced by Jen Gatien, Family Games produced by Ben Barenholtz and The Pill, directed by J.C. Khoury, starring Noah Bean.

He also filmed the documentary, Wakaliwood, produced by Ben Barenholtz and the documentary Running America 08, produced by Larry Meistrich. In television, he lensed numerous episodes of the forensics TV show Bloodwork for A&E International. He also wrote, directed, and edited, the feature film, Anna’s Thread and the short film, The Lottery, starring Kevin Conway.

As a specialist in branded entertainment, he has directed, edited and photographed films for Swarovski, Karl Lagerfeld, Valentino, Michael Kors, Veuve Clicquot, Givenchy, David Yurman, and many more.
Andreas also directed the web series Simpatico.

A full list of credits can be found at IMDB.