Month: May 2012

Take a controversial line from a controversial play, and then look at how that line is interpreted in 100 different languages.  That’s the goal set by Dr. Tom Cheesman of Swansea University.

The play?  Othello.

The line?  “If virtue no delighted beauty lack, Your son-in-law is far more fair than black”.

Perhaps somebody can explain to me the controversy in that line?

I suppose the idea is interesting, and it brings to mind that old Hamlet in the Bush story (which, until now, I thought was a real thing) where a researcher attempts to demonstrate the universal appeal of Shakespeare by reading the play to a bunch of African natives.  They don’t get it.  They don’t see the big deal of Claudius marrying Gertrude, because of course the wife of a deceased man marries his brother.  And why did Hamlet even think about listening to the ghost? The only concept of ghost in their language is “demon”, so of course it would have been up to no good.  And so on.  Does anybody know if that piece is legit, or was done as a joke?  I’d always assumed it to be real but when googling for it I found it linked on a April Fool’s Day site, so now I’m not so sure.

On a related note that combines both those stories I’ll point out my own little experiment in this arena.  I ran “To be or not to be” through a translator into a whole bunch of different languages to see how it differed, then made a poster out of it.  I think it came out pretty cool, and it’s been one of the better sellers in my shop.

Here’s an interesting project up in my neck of the woods (Boston) : a staged reading of Coriolanus by local chief executive officers.

I missed this article last week where Kenneth Branagh received the Founder’s Directing Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival…

Through the ‘90s, Branagh had a run of films that were met with mostly positive critical feedback, including two more Shakespeare adaptations with “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Hamlet.” In 2000, he hit a bit of a bump with his “Love’s Labour’s Lost” adaptation, an experience that he found humbling, though not debilitating to his career. Branagh explained, “It would be hard to say what exactly is ‘authentic Shakespeare’, but people have an idea of what it might be and they sometimes get disturbed when a strong or dominating or even disruptive idea comes in like setting it as a Hollywood musical in 1939. 

…but I’m glad they took the trouble to highlight the gem of the article for me in the title:

“I would like to make some more Shakespeare films. The film that I would like to make next has a title that I cannot mention in this building. But it’s a play by Shakespeare about a Scottish king.” 

Woohoo!  Branagh Shakespeare movies are always a good thing.

I wonder if this is a regular thing – Six New Titles on Shakespeare, explaining exactly who wrote each, what they’re about, who might like them, and so on.  Something to check out if you’re interested in upcoming Shakespeare books but not normally in a position where you get access to this information.

Did Julie Taymor and Russell Brand leave a bad taste in your mouth?

Christopher Plummer’s The Tempest is coming to the big screen!