Hi everyone,

ALl stories are submitted or in hand, which means it is now MADNESS TIME! This means you are now cordially invited to write fic of any length for all the prompts.
You do now have to have participated in the main exchange to take part in Madness! So if you missed the signup or you always wanted to try your hand at Shakespeare fic, now is the time!

Please post your fic to the AO3 collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stage_of_fools_2019/works/new and add the appropriate participant where it says "Gift this work to:" so that they can see your gift!



For small_hobbit

General
I'd like either original era or modern AU, happy if some of the characters who canonically die don't. Also happy to receive humour. I've left ideas on the individual plays, but these are suggestions.

Triggers, squicks and DNWs
Graphic sex or violence, non-canonical character death

Hamlet - gen or Hamlet/Horatio or Hamlet/Laertes or Ophelia/Horatio
I'd really like to see Ophelia get fed up with Hamlet and turn to Horatio instead, or maybe Hamlet taking to the stage himself, or Hamlet and/or Laertes coping with parental expectations.

Julius Caesar - gen (including canonical relationships) only
A modern AU in a business setting would be interesting.

King Lear - any pairing (no incest) or gen
For some reason Cordelia isn't disenfranchised and the kingdom is split in three, what happens next?

Macbeth - any pairing (no incest) or gen
I'd like to see something where the media/social media is involved (e.g. the witches tweet, Lady Macbeth posts to Facebook, reporters try to interview the key players)

Romeo & Juliet - any pairing (no incest)
Juliet taking charge of her destiny

Titus Andronicus - any pairing or gen (no incest)
Any modern AU


For reine_des_corbeaux

General
I’m totally on board with AUs, particularly historical AUs (specifically those involving classical antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Victorian era, the 1920s, or the Renaissance), “canon but with magic” AUs (e.g. soulmate or daemon AUs), always-a-girl AUs, and stuff set in canon era/setting with some slight point of divergence. I also really like ghosts, Gothic romance, manipulation, stuff involving travel/cities, literary references, penpal relationships, cooking as character development, complicated relationship dynamics, moral ambiguity, crying and general angst, angsty fluff, mind games, friendly bickering, hurt/comfort, spanking, and M/M or F/F non-con/dubcon.

DNWs (Sexual): A/B/O or anything otherwise involving humans with vaguely canine behavior (including werewolves), daddy kink, MPreg, pregnancy kink, anything scatological or urine-related, tentacles, ageplay, explicit sexual content involving characters under the age of 16, the word “pussy”, unrequested non-canon het, M/F noncon/dubcon.

DNWs (other): fic in which characters have a child they do not have in canon, unrequested trans headcanons, first person narration if canon is not written in first person, high fantasy AUs (unless requested), eating disorders or mentions thereof, non-canonical suicide, fic pertaining solely to a specific issue, moral lessons in the form of fanfic, dystopian AUs, sci-fi/space AUs, out-and-out crackfic (crack treated seriously is chill though).

Hamlet- Hamlet/Horatio, Horatio/Laertes, or Hamlet/Laertes would be great
I'd be into some kind of late Victorian AU, or something involving ghosts. Canon era is also great too. If you're doing Horatio/Laertes, I'd be into an AU where Laertes survives the final duel but Hamlet doesn't (in this case, bonus points for angry griefsex).

Twelfth Night- Olivia/Viola
I'm in love with the aesthetics of the Trevor Nunn film, if you're looking for inspiration from a particular version, though I also love Mark Rylance's mannerisms as Olivia in the 2012 Globe production. In this case, I'm all for sadness, angst, lush scenic descriptions, water imagery, and happy endings with a touch of melancholy.

The Tempest- Prospero/Ariel
Here, I'd love something absolutely pitch-dark and fucked up. I'm very into focusing on the power dynamics here. Any and all manipulation, Prospero failing to grasp Ariel's needs as a sentient being, extreme dubcon, or outright noncon is very welcome.

Winter's Tale- Hermione/Paulina or Leontes/Polixenes
I'd be very into some kind of witchy AU for Hermione/Paulina, or focus on what happens in the intervening years after everything goes to hell in the first half of the play. For Leontes/Polixenes, I'd love some kind of pre-canon thing, especially if there's a lot of foreboding foreshadowing of what's to come.


For marcelo

No general likes or dislikes

Triggers, squicks and DNWs:
No gore or non-con, please.

Hamlet
Ophelia-centric, any or no pairings.

Macbeth
Maybe something emphasizing/updating the horror aspects? Could be an historical AU.

Julius Caesar
What if it were a comedy? Any or no pairings.

Hamlet
As (more of) a horror story?



For thinkatory

No general likes or dislikes

Triggers, squicks and DNWs:
Unrequested trans or Rule 63'd characters

King Lear
I'd love something Cordelia or Cordelia&Lear focused. I would also take a story digging into Lear's madness and the tipping point before he went off the rails.

Macbeth
Suggestion: Lady Macbeth wanted Duncan dead to cover up an affair the two of them had. If you don't like that, maybe something MacDuff-centric?

Tempest
Ariel frees themselves before the conclusion of the play, somehow. How does this change the story?

Othello
AU: Emilia spills to Desdemona instead of playing along with Iago (Emilia/Desdemona would be excellent here). How would that change things? Just something Emilia/Desdemona set during the play would be great. Extra points for including Iago and their relationship.

Hamlet
Anything Laertes, but I'd love Laertes/Ophelia or if you can make it work Laertes/Fortinbras.


For lizimajig

No general likes or dislikes

Triggers, squicks, DNWs:
Vore and scat is p much my only hard no.

Othello - Iago/Emilia
I've always been under the impression that Emilia has no illusions about who her husband is at heart, but neither is she a Lady Macbeth. (And I think Lady M comes by it unfairly too, but that's another story.) So what's their relationship like? Does she have any sway with her husband? Did things Go Wrong?

Hamlet - Hamlet/Ophelia
One of my favorite dramatic essays is called "By the Way, Ophelia's Pregnant," so take that and use as you'd like. XD I know the film of Lisa Klein's novel just came out, but I can't help it. I'd just like more of Hamlet and Ophelia's pre-play relationship. If you wanted to play in an AU where Ophelia lives I'd be hella game for reading that. (Whether Hamlet survives or not is up to you.)

Much Ado About Nothing - Benedick/Beatrice
They have a history ("Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it...") and I want that history. Who were they with one another? What gave way to their canon relationship?

Macbeth - Macbeth/Lady Macbeth
I just want more of murder wife and murder husband? (Another great essay: How Many Children Had Lady Macbeth.) I do like a more nuanced look at the whole thing than "Lady M is an eeeeeevil harlot who made her husband do baaaad things!" so if you don't like Lady M maybe this isn't the prompt for you.

Measure for Measure - Isabelle
So she doesn't marry the Duke, but maybe she can do one better and help him run the godforsaken place? Or does she take the veil and become the Mother Abbess to end all Mother Abbesses? I just love Isabelle and I want her to have a good life. Maybe with some cats.

The Tempest - Ariel, Caliban
So not exactly original, but we've got two different inhabitants of the island who have two pretty different lives under Prospero. Both servants, yes, but one more willing than the other. Maybe something about their relationship towards one another, especially considering Caliban's mother imprisoned Ariel in a tree? There's a lot of history there. Before, during, or after the play would be good for this one!

For stamets

General likes and dislikes: I don't like nsfw, I do like modern AU's, and Hamlet is my favourite play

Triggers, squicks and DNWs: nsfw

Hamlet
Hamlet/Horatio modern crime/detective mystery AU

Much Ado
Beatrice/Benedick college AU

Antony and Cleopatra
any characters and pairings, cold war AU

Julius Caesar
finding out he's in a play and not being happy with it

Hamlet
trans!Hamlet AU


For lexigent

General likes and dislikes:

Likes: friendship, queerplatonic relationships, aromantic-spectrum and/or asexual-spectrum characters, polyamory, exploration of anything outside the heteroromantic normative couple relationship. I am happy for any ship that I put down with a "/" below to be explored as queerplatonic/non-normative relationship.
Happy for you to go wild with time periods - I'm very into modern productions of Shakespeare so I am writing most of my prompts with this in mind, will specify differently in the individual prompt.

Dislikes: reinforcing gender stereotypes, the word "lover", graphic sex/smut, the phrase "just friends".


Triggers, squicks and DNWs: graphic sex, hardcore kink.

Hamlet
Something focussing on Laertes would be fantastic. Maybe, do something about Laertes and Hamlet growing up. What if Hamlet is a trans boy, but doesn't realise this until Laertes goes to uni? Laertes goes away and comes back to find everything changed.
Or, alternatively, I would love an AU where the youngsters don't die. Ophelia and Horatio become the most sensible rulers in the history of the kingdom. What happens to Laertes and Hamlet and what ships (if any) are present is up to you - see my general likes and dislikes.

Macbeth

For this one, I am open to both modern and historical takes. Feel free to change settings to other wars (real or metaphorical).
I have seen this played as Macbeth being very obviously a sub - someone who is very competent as a soldier and general but as soon as he is with his wife, he becomes a different person. So something along those lines - I feel like they have such a strong bond and their relationship works so well for them, I would love to see that explored more.
Failing that, something about Banquo and how him and Macbeth became friends would also be nice. Maybe he helped Macbeth through the grieving process when the Macbeths lost their child(ren)?

The Winter's Tale
Something focussing on Paulina would be great. She's such an amazing female character and yet no one ever talks about her!
Open to any historical period takes on this.

Twelfth Night
This is the go-to polyamory, go wild with your ships etc. prompt. Trans!Viola is a pretty standard prompt, and one I am always down for, but what about genderfluid Sebastian?
Something that explores Sebastian and Olivia's relationship would be great. They get married but barely know each other, how do they make it work? What happens when they go on a double date with Orsino and Viola?
I feel Victorian/Edwardian period works very well for this play, but am happy with more modern takes as well - further back into history, not so much.

As You Like It
Celia/Rosalind please, either as romance or queerplatonic, with or without a sexual component. Maybe with Orlando as a third component to their very strong relationship, but I am definitely envisioning this as an AU where they don't get married to men and instead just admit to their feelings for each other and centre that relationship in their lives.

Romeo and Juliet
I feel like Benvolio has a lot of love for Romeo. Maybe something Benvolio/Romeo, either tragic within the framework of the canon, or an AU where Romeo doesn't die.
Alternatively, Benvolio/Mercutio. Benvolio saves Mercutio's life, what happens next?
Happy for you to use the Baz Luhrmann film as an inspiration, it's my first reference when I think of this play. Very happy for you to use anything else as well!