So my almost 4yr old is now all into Romeo and Juliet, and each night at dinner she says, “Daddy, you promised you’d tell me the Shakespeare story again!”  I greatly enjoy feigning ignorance and asking, “Which one?  King Lear, The Tempest, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet?” Of course, her primary experience with Romeo and Juliet is that animated movie about the seals called Sealed With A Kiss.  So I find myself bouncing back and forth between the “real” story and the movie.  For instance: [at the Capulet party]  “So then the Prince says Hey, you’re not a Capulet, you’re Romeo!  And then Romeo has to run away before he gets in trouble.”
    4yr old:   “No Daddy, he doesn’t run away, he falls into the water.”
      6yr old:  “Or Daddy are you telling us the *real* story, not the movie story?”
“Actually, sweeties, that’s one of the neat things about Shakespeare stories, is that everybody tells them a little bit different.  Romeo had to leave the party, and whether he snuck out or ran away or fell in the water is really up to whoever tells it.” [And this one, near the end]  “So anyway, Juliet is asleep, but poor Romeo never got the message, so he comes to her and says Oh no, she’s dead!  And then he kisses her and he falls down dead too.  But then the sun comes up and they both wake up together and live happily ever….”
   4yr old: “Daddy, no!  That’s not how it ends!”
“It’s not?  What did I miss?”
   4yr old: “Romeo’s father comes in and says Oh no, Romeo, my son!  You forgot that part.”
“Sorry.  So Romeo kisses Juliet, and then he falls asleep, and Romeo’s father comes in and says Oh no, Romeo, my son!  But then the sun comes up and they both wake up together and live happily ever after.” (Man are they gonna be mad at me when they get to school and learn how it really ends…..)   On the other end of the table, my 6yr old is going to “camp” this summer.  At that age it’s little more than a continuation of school where she’s dropped off for half a day and “counselors” (as compared to “teachers”) walk them through some games and crafts and generally keep them out of Mom’s hair.  Anyway, my daughter has learned that camp for older kids is full day, and lasts several weeks.  She is anxious to go next year. Mom:  “We’ll worry about that next year, sweetie.  You might not even want to go to that camp.  There’s lots of camps you can go to, dance camp, swimming camp, gymnastics camp.” Dad:  “Don’t forget about Shakespeare camp!” 6yr old:  “Daddy, are you sure they let girls in there?”   (I think somewhere along the line I told her that boys used to play all the girl parts, and it’s confused her.) Dad:  “Of course!  They need girls for all the best parts!  How else are they going to have Cordelia, and Miranda, and Juliet?” 6yr old:  (with a wonderful expression dawning) “Wait….they actually *play* the stories?” Dad:  (beaming)  “Yup.” 6yr old:  “And I could get to *be* Juliet????” Dad:  “Yup!” The sparkle in her eye was wonderful.  I think she’s hooked.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0318183/ Anybody seen this documentary?  I’d never heard of it, and IMDB offers no reviews or other details.  But look at the cast!  Ian McKellen, Kenneth Brannagh, Mark Rylance, Julie Taymor, Germaine Greer, Harold Bloom….  It’d be funny to get them all in the room at once, and then throw in Greenblatt and Rosenbaum :).

http://bloggeron.net/christopher-marlowe-heady-murder-spoil-and-villainy/ Pretty much Marlowe 101 stuff, but since it’s a blog and commenting is on I thought the Marlowe fans in the audience might appreciate a new source of stuff to read.

http://www.slate.com/id/2195521

Slate’s got a lengthy story up on the recently recovered First Folio, including an amusing profile of the thief.  Or rather, the dealer who still claims his innocence, Raymond Scott.

Quote of the article: “…aside from the Ark of the Covenant, a Shakespeare First Folio is the worst loot in the world to steal.”

What I did not know, the article goes on to explain, is that a lengthy census has been done of every mark on every surviving Folio, so identification of each one is pretty much mistake-proof. I say if you’re gonna steal something like that, just keep it for yourself.  It’s worth more than money anyway.

Here’s another blog reference, with a twist.  Whenever I find a blog with a Shakespeare story I typically hunt around the blog to see if the author speaks of Shakespeare often, and whether I should follow.  In this case the blog is actually “the observations of an Iranian-American female” who uses the story to add at the very bottom, regarding the Cuban connection of the story: “at least he didn’t use Iran or an Iranian family as his source for the book!  … it might have been the only cause for war against Iran that the academic, intellectual Shakespeare adoring community may have supported.  Phew!”

http://nakedbard.ca/ So I just stumbled across this new Shakespeare podcast called Naked Bard.  It’s only on episode 2, so I haven’t missed much. I like it.  Quite a bit, actually.  The near hour-long shows are doing an in depth analysis of Hamlet, at the level that I like.  For instance the author (Dr. Melissa) doesn’t just reference the “melancholy Dane”, she actually busts out a reference on the subject of melancholy from 1621 or so about the relationship between melancholy and, if I remember the term right, “overmuch study.”  She then relates it back to Hamlet’s college experience.  It is very deep on content, and I both managed to learn a lot while not losing interest because it got too far over my head. Having said that, I have two major concerns.  The first is that it’s terribly over produced.  She stops every few minutes for a music break.  When she’s talking, there’s background music.  It’s just too much.  It’s one thing to accompany the presentation with some sound, but I’m talking about just stopping in the middle of your point to play a rap song.  Stuff like that annoys me.  I didn’t sign up for your podcast to hear rap music, I signed up to hear about Hamlet.  Don’t make me sit through that other stuff.  That’s long been a complaint of mine with podcasts in general that do that.  “I’ve got your attention, so here’s a song I like!” My second concern is that….well, I can see where it would be pretty boring except for us geeks.  It sounds very much like high school English, where you sit down and somebody talks at you for 45 minutes.  I felt like she could have lost me at any moment if not for my love of the subject matter.  I wonder if maybe, instead of wasting my time with too many sound clips, she could interact more with the reader, maybe open up opportunities for interaction, ask questions, stuff like that that makes me connect more with her as the author and not just as the random person that’s reading the Hamlet material.
Overall, though, I give it the thumbs up, and I’m glad I found it.  I plan on listening, and learning some things.  I also plan on contacting the author directly with my thoughts (if she doesn’t contact me first).  Who knows, she might be up for the input. Update: The more I listen, the more I don’t love her analysis, actually.  I’ll still listen, because it’s still good content – nothing wrong with dissenting opinions.  Like her idea that “Hamlet can’t kill Claudius and live.”  Huh?  Why not?  Or how she finds the “undiscovered country” bit a little odd, seeing as Hamlet’s seen the ghost – and comments that “I don’t think this is an area of the play most people consider.”  Well that’s just not accurate, since we’ve discussed it here. I hardly think that my little blog breaks new academic ground.