//romeo&juliet/

I don’t typically post every review or press release about every new interpretation I see, just the ones that catch my eye.  Like this one, which sums up much of what we talk about here:

You need to do it old school enough to serve the language and story, but not so old school that it flashes back to mandatory high school reading lists. It’s about splitting time between classic and cool, between poise and unpredictability.

That gets my attention right off the bat, infinitely more than people who talk about having to bring the language up to date.  Lose that, you lose the Shakespeare.  Keep that, and everything else I think is up to your own interpretation. Then again…

Some characters have been cut, or merged with others; Juliet is now raised by a single mother, for example.

Hmmm.  That’s quite the statement to make with your production.  The helplessness of Juliet’s situation is pretty crucial to her “I have no choice but to kill myself” logic.  How exactly do you get across “Marry the guy I tell you to marry or GTFO” from a single mom??? http://www.24sevencities.com/features/arts/theater/how-juliet-met-romeo.html

Happy Anniversary To My Wife, Kerry!

Today (September 30) is my ninth wedding anniversary. My ever patient wife Kerry, bless her heart, knew I was a Shakespeare geek when she married me.  I even said, during my proposal, that there’ll be time enough for Shakespeare. Since then I’ve generally showered her with Shakespeare every time the opportunity presents itself .  I whispered Sonnet 17 in her ear during our wedding dance.  I made her a Shakespearean infinity bracelet.  I write stuff on Valentine’s Day cards. And much to her credit, bless her heart, she’s driven 100 miles to sit through King Lear with me, buys me Shakespeare toys, and kept me from making a translated Bottom of myself when one of our friends said that Taming of the Shrew is better than Hamlet.  Every now and then she surprises me, too. And let’s not forget that I’ve turned our beautiful children into raging geeklets as well.  She takes it all in stride. So for our anniversary this year I thought I’d introduce her to the site.  Or, rather, the site to her.  She knows I’ve got a blog.  I tell everybody that will listen.  She sees the steady stream of books, DVDs and the occasional t-shirt with a rubber chicken on it show up at the door.  But she goes to bed hours before I do, and the last thing she’ll often hear from me before drifting off to sleep is “Going to work on the blog.”  It only seems right to give her a peek at what that part of my life means. So.  Kerry, this is everybody.  Happy Anniversary, Sweetie.  O that thou didst know how many fathom deep I am in love! O know, sweet love, I always write of you, And you and love are still my argument; So all my best is dressing old words new, Spending again what is already spent: For as the sun is daily new and old, So is my love still telling what is told. We are in the very wrath of love, clubs shall not part us.  Haply I think on thee!  For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings that I would scorn to change my state with kings.   Everybody, this is Kerry.  Say hi, Geeks.   If you’ve got any good quotes to drop on us, let us hear it.

Shakespeare Truthers

I love when my local paper talks about Shakespeare!  In this case it’s a spin on the authorship question, but I’m pretty sure that if somebody calls you a “truther” (lumping you in with the idiots who still argue that Obama can’t be president because he’s supposedly not born in this country), they don’t have a high level of respect for your argument. http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2009/09/25/the_shakespeare_truthers/ This article is a bit different in that it’s mostly about Marlowe.  Although we all know that he’s a contender (blah blah, faked his death because of secret agent stuff….) I don’t hear him spoken of in that way very often.  Usually it’s all Oxford Oxford Oxford. UPDATE: I mixed up my idiots, they tell me in the comments.  The ones that think Obama’s birth certificate is fake are “birthers”.  “Truthers” are the ones who think 9/11 was deliberately set up … by Bush.  Ok then.

Wordplay!

Those folks looking for some good cryptographic puzzles, with maybe a hint of conspiracy thrown in, are encouraged to check out Jim’s new blog Wordplay Shakespeare where he’s already “decoded” secrets including the identity of Mr. W.H. as well as Hamlet’s true age. Disclaimer: I did spot Jim’s blog in my referrer logs, and he sent me a nice note introducing himself. Particularly since English is not his first language, he’s asking for tips to make his blog better.  So be nice. 🙂 I have to admit that I don’t fully “get it”.  I don’t see the patterns that he’s seeing, and I’m not sure I always understand the rules he’s applying.  But then, I’ve never had much of an eye for that sort of thing.  Maybe there are some folks out in my audience who’d like to get some conversation going over there where we can help Jim make his case?

Show Caliban Some Love

Who’s the real villain in The Tempest?  Is it Caliban, the monster?  Or Prospero, the all powerful wizard who physically tortures him on stage? I enjoyed this article on Deeds and Words called Is Caliban a Bad Guy? that attempts to answer this question, taking the position that maybe Caliban’s not quite so bad as we think. Caliban’s supposed evil acts are all enumerated – and defended.  Did he really try to rape Miranda, or was it more a case of hormonal adolescents who didn’t have any moral structure to know any better?  Sure, he tries to overthrow Prospero, but come on, the guy tortures him and keeps him as a slave, isn’t Caliban allowed some level of anger at the man? It’s not a small article, and as you read you’re left with a well balanced but perhaps misunderstood Caliban.  That is until a certain line that comes out of his mouth, which would have likely been a throwaway line to Shakespeare and his peeps, sets the article’s author on edge and casts Caliban back down among the beasts. What’s the line, and is that a legit interpretation?  I’ll leave that as a surprise, we have to show some trafficky love to the original article after all…. 🙂 http://deedsandwords.com/?p=277