I Say We Shall Have No More Bard!

Earlier today, Stanley Wells wrote on Twitter:

Also I never ever refer to Shakespeare as ‘the bard’. So don’t let me see any of you doing so either.

This set off quite the tweetstorm from his followers, many of whom (myself included) chimed in with admissions of guilt.

I plead innocent on the grounds of technological limitation, though!  I’m only talking about times when I use the word bard in a typed form, such as web sites that won’t let me use “ShakespeareGeek”.   Or, of course, if there’s a pun to be made.  I can never resist a good pun.

Spoken, though? I honestly don’t think I ever refer to Shakespeare as anything but Shakespeare when speaking of him.

Thoughts?

Free Will : Open Mic Shakespeare

Look what just fell into my lap! 

Open Mic Shakespeare

The Burren

Somerville, MA

September 11, 2010

4pm

FREE

 

I did this (well, attended) once, a couple of Shakespeare’s Birthdays ago.  Not this event, specifically, but an Open Shakespeare Mic Night.  A great time!

If you’re in the neighborhood, come check it out.  If my social director (i.e. wife) tells me we’re free and can swing a babysitter I’ll almost certainly be there.

If you can’t be there, feel free to answer this question: Given the opportunity to do an open mic Shakespeare performance, what would you perform?

Android Shakespeare Suggestions?

Hi Gang,

This question just came up on Twitter.  I’ve got an iPhone, not an Android-based phone, so I can’t say much about what’s available for those devices.

Anybody out there know what the Shakespeare situation is for Droid-style phones?  I would hope that somebody’s done a Complete Works browser, but even that I’m not so sure about.

Who can help us out here?

[Contest] IPad Owners! Got Shakespeare?

Earlier this year we were pleased to give away some copies of Shakespeare In Bits’ interactive Romeo and Juliet application, that time for the PC.

They then turned around and cranked out an iPad edition, which has been going very well for them (Apple has chosen to feature them multiple times).  To mark the Back to School season we’re offering 3 promotional codes for those who want to give it a try!

Rules

* This is specifically for the iPad version.  Don’t enter if you don’t have one, or know someone who you’ll be giving the code to.

* Contest runs between now and Tuesday, September 7.  I pick that day because my kids go back to school on Wednesday.

* Leave a comment on this post answering this question: What play would you like to see get the interactive iPad treatment next?

* I will need a way to contact you if you win, but I don’t expect people to include their email addresses in posts, so I’ll publicly post the chosen winners when the time comes.  It’s up to you to come back and look for your name.

 

Got that?  As always, blah blah blah, I have to write in here that I reserve the write to modify or extend the rules, or otherwise scrap this contest and start over, if any unforeseen circumstances would compromise the integrity and fairness for everybody involved.  Fair enough? I haven’t had to do that yet, though, but I always worry that I’ll leave a loophole that makes it possible for somebody to cheat.

Ok, go!

Flipping Black and White

Here’s another one of our thought exercises, let’s see if it goes anywhere.

The issue of racism is an interesting one in Othello. People think that it’s going to be a racist play, what with it’s black hero and all. But really, other than some fairly blatant racist commentary in the beginning it’s not really about race at all, si it? We’re not led to believe that Othello killed his wife because he’s a black guy.

Now, here’s my spin.  Imagine if Othello was white … and Iago is the black guy.  Keep everything else, plot wise, as identical as you can.  Naturally a bunch of the early, cruder commentary directed at Othello would have to be altered.  But the story could remain much the same.

Except that now, Iago’s a black guy who was passed over for promotion, by a white guy, for a white guy.  How does that change him as a character? Is he still a villain?

I know that Patrick Stewart was involved in a completely race-reversed Othello where he played a white Othello to an otherwise all black cast.  That tells a different story.  I’m wondering what would happen if race played a role in the development of the villain, rather than the hero.

Wicked Shakespeare

If you’ve not yet read it, seen it, or heard people talk about it, Wicked is what happens when somebody takes a well-known story (The Wizard of Oz) with a nasty villain (The Wicked Witch of the West), and retells the story from the villain’s point of view.  In the process the villain ends up the sympathetic character.  She wasn’t born wicked, she was just born different. It’s what the rest of the world does to her that makes her the way she ends up.

Which Shakespeare play would be most ripe for this treatment?  Which villain could you make the star of his (or her) own show, and in the process make her (or him) come out looking like the sympathetic character? 

Congratulations, Shakespeare Teacher!

Looks like I’m not the only one working on a book – Bill over at Shakespeare Teacher has announced the publication of Literary Education and Digital Learning: Methods and Technologies for Humanities Studies, where he’s a contributing author!  Congratulations, Bill!

Stealing from Bill’s summary of his own work:

So I developed and implemented a unit to teach Macbeth to a fifth-grade class in the South Bronx, using process-based dramatic activities, a stage production of the play performed for their school, and a web-based study guide to apply what they had learned. The idea was to use collaborative projects to get the kids to work together to make collective sense of the play.

Sounds awesome, actually.  To not only teach Shakespeare, but develop your own teaching methods for doing it?  And then write up and publish your results?

For more details, visit the original post – make sure he gets the traffic and any affiliate clicks from people looking to check out the book.  I don’t want to steal any of his thunder, I just want to make sure more people hear it.

The Play That I Will Never Stop Seeing Is …

…again, you tell me.

This post is a deliberate complement to yesterday’s post about plays that don’t get enough credit.

So now, answer me this:

No matter how many different productions are made available, whether on stage, in the park or on film, whether by children, amateurs or the Royal Shakespeare Company, I will always try to see …. ?

Pick one.  It’s too easy to say “They’re all good, so, all of them.”  Don’t do that.  I plan on doing something with this information, so humor me. (If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years of blogging its to clearly define your question so people don’t just ignore it and write about whatever interpretation of their question they prefer :)).

I’ll start with The Tempest. It’s primarily for personal reasons, as I’m sure longtime readers know (it’s the first play I taught my children).  But it answers my opening question. I’ve seen it performed in the middle of a strip mall, I’ve seen it performed in the park by professionals, I’ve seen it done with puppets. When Julie Taymor’s movie comes out I will see it, I’m just not sure whether I’ll take the kids until I know how much sex and violence she put into the thing.  If a local group had done it this summer, I would have gone.

I can’t lie and say Hamlet – I haven’t sat through Ethan Hawke’s version, though I’ve had plenty of opportunity.  And King Lear isn’t only Mt. Everest to play, it’s a challenge in its own right to watch repeatedly. I sat through McKellan’s version but skipped to the good parts of the James Earl Jones’.  Both those break my rule.

Shakespeare in Tennessee

Letter to the editor after “The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged” comes to Tennessee.

I bet you already know where this is, perhaps unfairly, going?

Some may wonder if I was just shielding young, innocent ears. No, had my wife and I been alone that night, we too would have walked out. And we weren’t the only ones. The couple we met in the parking garage elevator had a college-aged child and a college graduate with them, and all four were amazed at the total lack of decency. But then once again, I did get to teach my children the difference between what is decent and what is utterly crude.

In fairness to Tennessee I point readers back to this January 2010 article on a similar topic.  This time, however, Will O’Hare – Education Director for the Classic Theatre Project – came to his group’s defense.

What The Charles Dickens?

As I sit here with my kids watching the original 1966 Batman movie, a character mentions Charles Dickens.  This makes me wonder whether there will be any Shakespeare references, which makes me remember that Shakespeare is credited with first use of the term “what the dickens.”

Then it dawns on me … is there a connection there?  What came first, the family or the expression?

The House of Names website tells me that Dickens as a family name dates back to Norman origins from 1066.

I have to admit, I’m curious.  That would suggest that Dickens as a surname was plenty common during the time Shakespeare wrote “I can not tell what the dickens his name is” (Merry Wives, by the way).

So, what’s the joke?

The Play That Doesn’t Get Enough Credit Is …

…you tell me.

The Defending Timon post was pretty enlightening, actually.  I thought about doing a whole series and tackling all the, what shall we call them, less popular plays?  Pericles, Cymbeline, etc…

Instead let’s do it this way.  What play do you think doesn’t get enough credit, and why?  Plead your case.

I will be disappointed if Measure for Measure and Two Gents don’t come up.

Going Mobile

New Feature! 

For those folks who can’t live without their daily dose of Shakespeare Geek, and aren’t quite down with the “RSS feeds”, I present the Shakespeare Geek Mobile Edition.  It’s a simple stripped down version of the most recent headlines, with story summaries. Bookmark this one on your smartphone and you’ll be able to check for new stories quickly without waiting for all those sidebar widgets to load.  Clicking on a story headline will take you back to the regular full-size side for the rest of the content (which is why I’m not doing an “automatically redirect mobile devices to the mobile site” trick). 

Enjoy!

Radio Drama Indeed!

While listening to my podcasts over lunch, somebody mentioned the word "radio”.  It’s an interesting time for that word.  How long will radio as we know it continue to function, in a world of downloading and streaming content?  Already you can see that many radio station DJs have been removed, replaced by automated playlists.

My parents are from the generation where you were lucky (and rich) if you had a television.  Radio was your entertainment.  My dad will still seek out and listen to the “old time radio” shows where you gathered around the radio at a specific time on a specific day to listen to content you couldn’t get anywhere else.  Content only for your ears, and your imagination.

Which brings me to my question.  It’s often said that Shakespeare’s fans would not have gone to “see” a play, as we might say today – they went to “hear” the play.  So what if Shakespeare was a radio drama?  Would it work? Imagine hearing just the first act (or maybe just some scenes) from Macbeth.  And then being told to tune in next week.  What would your imagination do with that?

There’s really two parts to this question, feel free to answer either one.  The first is could it have worked back then, just like any other radio drama?  I’m half expecting that somebody can tell me a story of when this was, in fact, tried, and what the results were.  The second half is, could it work today?  If you found out right now that tomorrow night at 8pm, a local radio station was going to start broadcasting your favorite Shakespeare play, would you make time to listen?

Rules:

* You don’t get to know anything about the production that would help you visualize it in any specific way.  The entire effect is ruined if the radio show is just an audio broadcast of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1999 performance of so and so.  This has to be all about your attention span, your ears, and your imagination.

* You don’t get any recording equipment.  You can’t say “I’d Tivo it and then listen later, at my leisure, with the ability to go back and play certain parts over to analyze them.”  This being a live performance is part of the question.  You’re going to only get one shot, you’d better pay attention.

I deliberately put in rule #2 because I think that without that, even for me, the answer is fairly obvious – tape it and listen later.  It’s hard for us now to *not* think of it that way.  But that’s part of the fun.

RSC to Reopen Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Thanks to long-time reader Angela for the link!

The Royal Shakespeare Company today announces its plans to reopen the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres on time and on budget in November 2010, following a four year redevelopment as part of the £112.8 million Transformation project designed to bring actors and audiences closer together.

The Company will reopen its doors to the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres from 24 November 2010, inviting people in to rediscover and explore the building, which will have a brand new 1,000 seat thrust stage auditorium, 36 metre high Tower, new exhibition spaces, new places to eat and drink, including Rooftop Restaurant and Riverside Café and terrace, restored 1930s features and improved public areas including the new Weston Square. Visitors will be able to take part in a series of preview events and activities which will help test the spaces, while throughout the opening period Matilda, A Musical plays at The Courtyard Theatre.

Read more: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/RSC_to_Reopen_Royal_Shakespeare_Theatre_1124_20100901#ixzz0yID8GnB3

State Of The Blog Address

Life is what happens when you’re busy making blog posts.

Hi Geeks,

I like to do one of these every few months (though I’ve never called it this) just to play catch up a bit when it seems like I’m falling behind.  I’m pleased to see the amount of conversation that’s going on in some of the latest posts, and saddened that I’m not able to be a part of that conversation as much as I’d like.

My book is coming along nicely, first of all.  It’s content-complete and has now been to the editor twice.  Next comes formatting for publication, and going through everything that goes with that (cover design, registering copyright, getting an ISBN, getting into Amazon, all that good stuff).  Of course I’m learning this stuff on my own as I go, so it’s hard to tell from day to day when I’m going to glide over the latest obstacles and when I’m going to meet insurmountable ones.  But this thing will get done, I promise that.

Part of that release will also involve a new web site, which is at least something I do know a little bit about :).  It will not in any way replace Shakespeare Geek.  The new site will just be one of those what we call “microsites” for the whole purpose of giving the marketing traffic a place to land.  But it still needs to be functional and look pretty, and that takes time.

As that draws to a close I’m looking to ramp up on another project I’ve had on the backburner for awhile, something that requires more of my programming skills. I’ve been building up my own Shakespeare knowledge base that I plan to unleash on the world Real Soon Now. I know exactly how I want it to work, I’ve just got to plug in the social aspects.  The idea is to be a question answering site, and I want to experts who spend their time answering questions to get some recognition for their contribution, build up some cred.

I’ve also got two books on my shelf waiting to be reviewed, with a third on the way.  There’s also something supposed to be coming, not really a book, more of a toy, that I’m told I’ll actually get to giveaway.  But I have no idea when that’s going to show up.

Then of course there’s the day job.  It’s new and it’s work from home, which makes it difficult to properly judge time.  I need to make sure that I’m spending the right amount of time doing my “real” work, which tends to make the Shakespeare stuff suffer since every time I work on the Shakespeare I have to ask myself, “Did I work enough on my day job stuff?” and often the answer is, “Wellll……no, I suppose I could do more.”

Of course it doesn’t help (me, at least) that the Shakespeare blogging world seems to have taken off a bit, and for every post I make I could probably find a dozen to link from the various other blogs that have crept up on me.  Not only do I not have the cycles to properly do that justice (I don’t like to just link without having at least some comment, which implies reading and appreciating what I’m linking), but it is a bit of a downer for me to sometimes feel a bit left in the dust if I don’t keep the pace up.

Meanwhile I’ve noticed that the conversation has often been drifting into that dreaded TL;DR zone that JM loves so much :).  Mark and Ren, I know that you’re relatively new here and no offense is intended when I say this, but half the time I don’t understand at all what you’re talking about.  I’m pleased to provide the forum for you to have these discussions, because I know there are others who want to have them.  But don’t be offended when I can’t join.  I’m not a student of this stuff.  By nature of this medium I find myself more in the literary school than the theatrical one (i.e. I write about it far more than I’ll ever speak or hear about it).  So when you compare notes about directors and performance choices, I don’t have much to offer.  Don’t let that stop you, though.

School starts up over the next couple weeks, which may make the days a little bit more structured and peaceful, so perhaps things will change a bit. 

Until then, think of me as the Coffee Talk lady from Saturday Night Live (assuming people still understand what the heck that reference means, see YouTube video):

I'll give you a topic. Catcher in the Rye neither caught anything, nor was he particularly wry.  Discuss.

That was a joke, by the way.  We’ve already discussed.

All right, that’s it for me for now.  Thanks for listening and buying stuff,  keep reading and posting, and stay tuned for a couple of exciting new projects coming soon!

 

- Duane

Oh, I Get It Now

We’ve asked the question here before about when you “got” Shakespeare.  Liz at Blogging Shakespeare puts a more specific spin on the question when she asks what production did you see that made you “get” it?  With examples from Hamlet, Much Ado and Julius Caesar, Liz cites from her own experience.  Bonus points for acknowledging that she’s not yet seen her defining Lear, and until then, “King Lear is a story about a stupid old man who makes a stupid mistake and gets his comeuppance.”

I’m not sure I have my own story to add, however. I think that this is one of those lines that divides the world of Shakespeare fandom a bit.  Some people, particularly those that are in the business, will have the desire and opportunity to seek out many productions.  More casual theatre goers, like myself, will see far less.  My wife came with me to see King Lear once.  It wasn’t a good production.  But if King Lear came around every year, it’s not like I could drag her to it every time.  But unless somebody’s paying for the privilege I can’t go off on my own and see every production that comes to town, either.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen my share.  Seen a number of Midsummers’, Tempests and Hamlets in particular.  But for the most part I switch over to movies, which I have a better shot at watching in my down time, carrying around Richard Burton or Ian McKellan on my ipod.  For those live productions that I have seen?  I can’t say that any are really “get it” moments.  I leave that for the text.  I try to learn something new from every production I see, certainly.  But I don’t think I’ve yet seen one that I’d call defining in any way.