Any character...

If you could play any Shakespeare character, who would it be and why?

Mine would be Viola from Twelfth Night, definitely...

Mine would be Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew. Then I could sit and be waited on hand and foot and have a play be performed especially for me.

I would love to play Viola from Twelfth Night. So much fun to be had in the girl pretending to be a boy shenanigans, especially when Olivia falls in love with her.

But I would also love to play Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing - so much witty banter!

Pistol. Sir Toby. Barnardine. Stephano.

Macbeth...he has some truly well-written lines...not Hamlet calibur, but I would never be able to pull of Hamlet. Plus, Macbeth is really paranoid, I can pull that off.

On a lighter note, I would love to play Puck.

Trying to think of male character I'd like to play, and thinking about the votes for Viola and Beatrice, and also thinking about Rosalind in 'As You Like It', am I right in thinking that girls (as opposed to mature women, as well as males) have much more fun in Shakespeare?

Talking about 'As You Like It', Jacques has always been a favourite character. I've got to the age where there's a certain amount of private amusement to be had out of assuming the 'grumpy old man' character - though I've never been really sure of Jacques' age. I think I could pull of a Jacques (if only I could act, of course).

ETA - Now I'm worrying why Jacques' jaundiced world-view appeals to me so much - never considered the question before - I'm really quite a cheerful chap - honestly!

Casca in Julius Caesar. I'm not much of an actor, but I think I could pull off his blunt prose. I'd also get to be the first to stab Caesar.