So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ‘twixt a miser and his wealth is found.
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure:
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight,
And by and by clean starved for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight
Save what is had, or must from you be took.
     Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
     Or gluttoning on all, or all away.

Analysis

In Sonnet 75, the poet expresses pleasure in the presence of his beloved, but that his devotion makes him a miser, filled with anxiety and pleasure.

Billy calls the youth his nourishment, the thing that makes his life possible. However, likens his behavior toward the youth to the extreme behavior of a miser. Either he sees the youth all the time, dotes on his company, and enjoys showing him off, or else he is all too aware of his absence, feeling starved and joyless. Nothing seems to satisfy him, and between the two extremes of satiety and starvation he finds no middle way.
 

Will’s Wordplay

Some critics believe that “peace” in line 3 could be a misprint. The great critic Edmund Malone argued that “the context seems to require that we should rather read ‘price’ or ‘sake’. The conflicting passions described by the poet were not produced by a regard to the ease or quiet of his friend, but by the high value he set on his esteem” [1]. Another possibility is that “peace” is play on “piece” (as in “pieces of money”), in keeping with the theme of wealth beginning in line 4. However, because of the contrast between “peace” and “strife” in line 3, the general consensus is that Shakespeare intended “peace” and not “piece.”

“Life Underground”, 14th St. A/C/E Station, Manhattan

Who knows just what goes on down there? Life Underground (2001) is a permanent public artwork created by American sculptor Tom Otterness for the 14th Street – Eighth Avenue station (A C E L trains) of the New York City Subway. It was commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Arts for Transit program for $200,000 — one percent of the station’s reconstruction budget.[1] This program has commissioned more than 170 permanent works of art for public transportation facilities the MTA owns and operates.[2] This work is one of the most popular artworks in the subway system.

The installation is a series of whimsical miniature bronze sculptures depicting cartoon like characters showing people and animals in various situations, and additional abstract sculptures, which are dispersed throughout the station platforms and passageways. Otterness said the subject of the work is “the impossibility of understanding life in New York”[1] and describes the arrangement of the individual pieces as being “scattered in little surprises.”[3] Art critic Olympia Lambert wrote that “the lovable bronze characters installed there are joined together by a common theme of implied criminality mixed with an undercurrent of social anarchy”.[4] Many of the figures have moneybag heads, and Otterness credits 19th century political cartoonist Thomas Nast’s depiction of Boss Tweed and the corruption of Tammany Hall that was ongoing at the time of the subway’s initial construction as his inspiration for these.[5][6]
One of the larger pieces depicts a sewer alligator, as described by reporter Michael Rundle: “There is a bronze alligator on the Eighth Avenue and 14th Street subway platform, wearing a suit and tie. A 10-inch-high bronze man — also wearing a suit and tie — is struggling to escape his powerful jaws. Watching the scene, aside from throngs of L train riders, is another 10-inch figure. He stands beside his stricken friend, hands clasped behind his back, as if to say: ‘I told you not to get so close’.”[7] Otterness’ sculpture has been praised for its appeal to all ages.

The New York Times published a 2003 account describing the interaction of a 4-year old boy with the sewer alligator. After jumping on the alligator’s head and trying to wrestle the little man from his bronze jaws, the observer notes that the boy, “about to give up, he kicked the alligator, his foot connecting solidly with the bronze head. Surprise spread across his face as he ran away, crying, ‘Mom, it tried to bite me!’.”[8]

Otterness became so obsessed with this project, that he delivered more than four times the amount of artwork he was originally commissioned to produce! His wife finally made him end expansion of the collection by imploring him to stop “giving away our daughter’s whole inheritance”.[5] The complete series encompasses more than 100 individual pieces.[9] Some of the individual pieces were put on public display in 1996 on the southeast corner of Central Park at Fifth Avenue and then in Battery Park City in downtown Manhattan in 1997, to get public reaction prior to its installation originally scheduled for 1998. Approximately 25 of the pieces were finally installed at the end of 2000 with the balance installed in the following years. The entire project took 10 years from commissioning to the final completion of the installation.[10]
 

Partial List of Individual Sculptures

-an alligator coming out of a manhole cover, biting the behind of a person with a moneybag head
-a sleeping homeless person being watched over by a police officer
-a couple walking arm and arm
-workers sweeping up subway tokens
-a couple of fare beaters sneaking under a barrier and a cop ready to catch them on the other side
-a little man with a big money bag sitting quietly on a bench, perpetually waiting for a train
-workers carrying oversize versions of the tools used to build the subways
people sweeping up piles of pennies
-colossal feet cut off flat at the ankles
-a totem-like sculpture whose human features are formed into the shape of a telephone
-two figures holding a crosscut saw, going after an I-beam
-little people sitting atop bulging bags of money

References

1. Fisher, Ian (1996-05-11). “New York Writ Small;Sassy Sculpture Casts Whimsical Cityscape in Bronze”. New York Times. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
2. Dunlap, David W. (2007-01-24). “Admiring art while waiting for the next train”. International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2007-10-22
3. Fredman, Catherine (January 2005). “Underground Treasures: New York City’s Subway Art”. 360 e-zine.
4. Lambert, Olympia (2007-10-23). “Tom Otterness at Marlborough Gallery”. ArtCal Zine
5. Rosenstock, Bonnie (2007-10-17). “Artist figures it’s all about engaging the public”. The Villager. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
6. Cueto, Cathleen, II (2005-06-07). “The Art Underground”. Tracts. Not For Tourists. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
7. Rundle, Michael (2007-10-22). “For public artist, ‘life is good’ : Tom Otterness can be seen at new gallery show, or in the subway system”. Metro New York. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
8. Passoni, Tara (2003-05-12). “Metropolitan Diary”. In Rogers, Joe. The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
9. Johnston, Lauren (2007-10-04). “Otterness: Private studio of the very public artist”. AM New York. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
10. “The AI Interview: Tom Otterness” (pdf). ARTINFO. 2006-09-27. Retrieved 2007-10-24

ACTOR – Susan Berkely

As voice of AT&T and Citibank and founder of www.greatvoice.com, Susan Berkley is one of the most listened to voices in America. Her voice has been featured on hundreds of non-broadcast productions and on national comercials for Land Rover and Dunkin’Donuts. She has also been a promo voice for Lifetime, The Travel Channel and CNBC.

A former radio personality, Susan was a cast member of the Howard Stern Show, his beleagured traffic reporter whom he affectionately called “Susan Bezerkowitz”

Other voice talent call Susan “the most respected voice over teacher alive”… and the list of well-known talent who freely reference Susan and The Great Voice Company as their primary mentor for voice over training is just staggering.

Susan is the author of Speak to Influence: How to Unlock The Hidden Power of Your Voice and a behind-the-scenes presentation skills coach on Donald Trump’s Apprentice (Season 4). A frequent media guest, she has been featured in The New York Times, Business Week and The LA Times, and on TV: To Tell The Truth, CNBC and ABC News.

In the 1980’s Susan was briefly married to Brazilian rock guitarist Sergio Dias (Os Mutantes) and learned Portuguese, which she speaks fluently.

She is honored by this opportunity to interpret the beautiful Sonnet 75.

DIRECTOR – Mikal Evans

Mikal Evans, a native of Moore, South Carolina, graduated with a major in acting and directing from Southern Methodist University before moving to Washington, DC, where she worked at the H Street playhouse and Firebelly productions. Since moving to NYC, she has since been in numerous films, including Jay Roach’s Emmy award winning Game Change with Julianne Moore. Other credits include Kisses, Chloe (Hampton’s International Film Festival) and How We Got Away with It (Bare Bones, MaGa Fest, Soho Int Film Fest, Sonoma Film Fest). You can also see Mikal in the upcoming Hillary Brougher/Killer Films Innocence and Alexis Gambi’s The Fly Room. Her directing debut, the short film Diminished Returns, is anticipated for a Fall 2013 release. Mikal also has two albums released, a jailhouse…a kingdom and Build a Cannon, available on iTunes.