Some Love For Dame Judi

Shakespeareans already have plenty of reasons to love Dame Judi Dench – but a few more never hurt. This article takes a quick trip through her career, sprinkling in some behind the scenes stories that just make her all the more awesome. My favorite? During Antony and Cleopatra, when her Antony (played by Anthony Hopkins, by the way) died in her arms whispering “You do act five, I’ll be having a nice cup of tea.”
Bonus points for the comparison to Sarah Bernhardt – who I just mentioned earlier today, and I swear I had not read this article when I did that. Small universe.

Washington Shakespeare Company To Repeat Klingon Performance

In case you missed it this past fall, the Washington Shakespeare Company is going to repeat their very popular night of Klingon Shakespeare:

“It’s very entertaining,” said Chris Henley, artistic director for the Washington Shakespeare Company. The company will act out scenes translated into Klingon from both “Hamlet” and “Much Ado About Nothing.”

I gained much appreciation for this project when I realized that Mark Okrand – the guy who actually invented the Klingon Language – is chairman of the WSC board :). That’s a match made in heaven. 🙂

Coming Soon : The Secret Confessions of Shakespeare's Wife

In this book of historical fiction, Anne Hathaway Shakespeare isn’t the forgotten wife left behind to raise children as her playwright husband lives a theatrical life. In Ryan’s version, Hathaway makes her own mark on the London art scene and writes some of her husband’s plays – but without getting the credit.

Such is the description given for Arliss Ryan’s “The Secret Confessions of Shakespeare’s Wife”, which it should be clearly noted is a work of fiction, people. Fiction. Relax and enjoy.

Compare with Shakespeare’s Wife, by Germaine Greer if you want something more in the biography genre :).

Gender-Reversed Hamlet?

Helen Mirren just did it for Prospera in Taymor’s Tempest, so why can’t Yvonne Flack do the same with The Suffragette Hamlet, her own “truly new play” that gives her a chance to take on what she considers to be “every classical actor’s dream, and secretly, every actress’s.”

I just never seriously thought I would be able to take on the role until [director Darcie Flansburg] approached me with the idea of a reverse-gender Hamlet.

What boggles my mind is that these students of their art – Ms. Flack’s “entire dissertation is based around non-Western adaptations of the play” – seem not at all interested in mentioning Sarah Bernhardt, the legendary actress who portrayed Hamlet 100 years ago. Does this woman truly believe that a woman can’t play a man’s role?
NOTE – Do NOT miss that Sarah Bernhardt link, where we actually dug up some extraordinarily rare footage of Ms Bernhardt’s fight scene with Laertes, in 1899! How often do you get to see THAT?

Taymor's Tempest, Coming to DVD

It was just recently that I was speaking with Christine, a fellow Shakespearean, about Shakespeare movies. Coriolanus, Gnomeo, The Tempest. “Who am I kidding,” I told her, “It’s The Tempest. I may not have loved it but I’ll almost certainly get it on DVD when it comes out.”

Well, it’s coming out September 13. Will you be getting it? Apparently one of the extras is “Julie Taymor interviewing Russell Brand, as William Shakespeare.” Having now read that, I may break it into little pieces shortly after watching it. We shall see.