I don’t really know much about SMB’s blog, but I think it’s worth a link.  It appears to be kids writing about Shakespeare: On the 19th October a lady named Fiona, from the Young Shakespeare Company came to act out for us The Twelfth Night. It starts off with a brother and a sister on a boat and they were shipwrecked. They thought they lost each other  but each saved themselves, they really missed each other… The categories mention “Year 6”, which is not a United States school designation, so I’m not really sure how old they are.  Is that like 6th grade, which would make them maybe 11 years old?  Regardless, I like to support such things.  They seem to be enjoying the experience and not writing things like “Ug, Julius Caesar, I hate this…” like I tend to see in most of the LiveJournal blogs I find :).  

If you’re a Shakespeare fan, and you’ve got an MP3 player, then run don’t walk to Speak the Speech, who are doing free, downloadable audio performances of Shakespeare’s plays. Right now they’ve got The Tempest (woohoo!), Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and Henry IV Part 1. The next shows will be Julius Caesar and Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Eh? What crazy order are they going in?? Seriously. Free audio performances of Shakespeare are actually few and far between. Lots of places will do the sonnets, or assorted soliloquoys, but if you really want an entire play in MP3 format you used to have to go find yourself a copy of Arkangel or something, and that runs well into the hundreds of dollars. I’ve just started in on the Tempest. I like it. It’s a performance, not just a reading, so you’ve got background music and sound effects. It’s a little like old time radio drama. While you’re at it, don’t forget about Shakespearecast, who are going through a production of Romeo and Juliet. Right now they’re on Act III Scene 4. Unlike Speak the Speech, which offers up the full play at once, ShakespeareCast is doing it podcast style where you download portions are they become available. Your choice!

Ok, download this interview with Ron Rosenbaum right now.  I haven’t read “The Shakespeare Wars”, but even listening to the man speak makes my face hurt because I’m smiling from ear to ear and nodding my head up and down furiously at my computer speakers.  From his personal explanation that seeing Peter Brooks(?) production of Midsummer’s “changed his life….made him into a Shakespearian, like a secret society…people who are forever forlorned, forever seeking an experience to equal it,” to his simply exquisite description of the two endings of King Lear, and how a simple reference to a feather is what makes the play truly Shakespearean.  Even without seeing the entire play, somehow he manages to convey something that in just one line could still bring tears to your eyes. I am deeply and truly fascinated.  Go now.  Listen.  

Dinosaur Comics has got a great idea for a new series of books — Shakespeare Prequels!  I love it.   “It’ll be Hamlet, only he’s happy and well-adjusted, walking around saying ‘I certainly hope my father doesn’t get murdered!’ and then Ophelia says ‘Thats right, baby!  I, incidentally, plan to remain sane.” and then there’s IRONY!  Shakespeare fans love irony!   Don’t we just, though? 🙂