Month: November 2007

http://thewomandirector.podbean.com/2007/11/09/ophelia-learns-to-swim-trailer/ Naturally the title caught my eye.  The film in question is a comedy from director Jurgen Vsych (The Woman Director) and starring Julia Lee (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), now available on DVD.  From IMDB:  A wimpy girl turns Superheroine when she joins bankrupt Mother Nature, The Librarian & the Chocolatier to battle wealthy villains Virginia Svelte, Cosmetic Chick & The Doucher. It apparently has little to do with Shakespeare other than the title.  I do see a character named Hamlet, and “Ophelia’s Dad” is not listed as Polonius.  There’s no Shakespeare in the trailer.  But who knows, maybe it sounds interesting to somebody out there.  Or maybe it’s going to catch your eye like it did mine and you’re wondering if there’s a Shakespeare connection. 

Ok, I’m a little behind on this one, I was on vacation.  We’ve mentioned the television show Kid Nation in the past, most notably because of Jared, the Shakespeare nut who spent his hard earned money on a copy of Henry V. So this week was the talent show and we’re treated to two Shakespeare performances.  Jared comes through with something from Henry V, which is surprisingly NOT St. Crispin’s Day.  Instead we get a little something from Act IV, Scene 2, the Constable speaking: To horse, you gallant princes! straight to horse!
Do but behold yon poor and starved band,
And your fair show shall suck away their souls,
Leaving them but the shales and husks of men.
There is not work enough for all our hands;
Scarce blood enough in all their sickly veins
To give each naked curtle-axe a stain,
That our French gallants shall to-day draw out,
And sheathe for lack of sport: let us but blow on them,
The vapour of our valour will o’erturn them.
‘Tis positive ‘gainst all exceptions, lords,
That our superfluous lackeys and our peasants,
Who in unnecessary action swarm
About our squares of battle, were enow
To purge this field of such a hilding foe,
Though we upon this mountain’s basis by
Took stand for idle speculation:
But that our honours must not. What’s to say?
A very little little let us do.
And all is done. Then let the trumpets sound
The tucket sonance and the note to mount;
For our approach shall so much dare the field
That England shall couch down in fear and yield. It was hard to tell how much of the speech he got out, as the editing was obvious and all the lines were out of order.  I wonder if they figured that nobody would recognize that?  Except us Shakespeare geeks :).  No idea why he would have picked that speech, I’m going to assume a producer showed it to him specifically because it would sound like gibberish.  The kid himself even complained about it the whole show (“Why did I pick this?  Argh I already committed myself, I can’t back out now!”) so it’s not like he went straight to his favorite passage he already had memorized, or anything. The two older boys in the town decided to do a comedy version of Romeo and Juliet, which was unmemorable except for the boy who kept saying his line as “Romeo Romeo, where are thou Romeo.”  I could kill him.

This evening while playing with her dolls I distinctly heard my 3yr old say that Princess Jasmine was playing with Regan and Goneril.  I beamed at my wife, “Those are King Lear’s daughters, you know.”  Turning to my daughter I said, “Where’s their sister?  The one with the red hair?” “Cordelia?” she replied.  “She’s lost in the forest.” I love it.  Love it love it love it. Sorry, this blog is becoming too much about me teaching Shakespeare to my kids :).  But if I can’t brag here, where can I?

Well, I found this one called  Shakespeare in Songon Amazon and it looks to be exactly what I was looking for!  One person, “folk style”, singing 14 tunes, 8 of which are sonnets.  The reviews at Amazon are almost all excellent.    Almost everything else I found even close was orchestral music, which is not what I want. I’ve got it on my Christmas list :).  It’s going to be very hard not to just buy the silly thing, but I just bought When Love Speaks, and it’s a rule in my house not to go crazy buying yourself presents when Christmas is right around the corner. Anybody have this, or heard of it?  Is it as good as I’m getting myself worked up for? Know what I’m questing after?  I realized something this morning that sums it up for me nicely.  When I see Shakespeare’s words in print, I want to hear music in my head.  That’s really it.  Sonnet 18 for me will now forever come with a tune.  I realized this when I came into the office and saw the text of Sonnet 29 pinned to my wall, and as I read, I could hear Rufus Wainright singing it in my head.  I pinned it there myself, in my eye line, because that song is in my playlist at work and when it comes around I want to map the sound to the words and fully understand what I’m hearing.  I never fully appreciate the “misheard lyric syndrome” until trying to decipher a Shakespearean sonnet without first seeing it in print :). And for the curious, I won’t rule out the possibility that I can sing this one to my kids as well.  Although it’s a much harder tune to pull off.

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/theater/reviews/30twel.html?ref=theater I’m a bit late on this one but it is still playing if anybody’s in the neighborhood.  How would you like your Shakespeare with some zombie action on the side?  A play where, to quote the article, “Orsino offers his hand in marriage…literally.”  The review does not make it sound like a particularly good play, but it’s certainly different.  Linked for the references to “zombie culture” as portrayed in Shaun of the Dead and SNL’s “Andy Punches” sketch.