http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/wwlp_ap_mass_shakespeare_company_layoffs_200903172056 While CommShakes struggles to stay alive on its own in Boston, over on the other side of Massachusetts the Lenox-based Shakespeare & Company is tightening its budget as well.  They’ve laid off a few, and cut pay for the rest – including the founders, who will take no salary at all for several months. I’m sure most theatre groups are having similar difficulties all over, not just in my neighborhood.  So go see some shows, huh?  Even better, drag your friends along.  And when the time comes to pass the hat or rent a chair or buy a t-shirt, be generous.  You are closer to getting no Shakespeare than you might think.  And should that time come, it’ll be too late to break out your wallet.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/03/west-side-story-portfolio200903 I knew that West Side Story was experiencing something of a revival.  With the help of Jennifer Lopez and friends, Vanity Fair magazine recreates some scenes from the famous (infamous?) musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Note that the pictures are actually in a slideshow format, you have to click on the navigation arrows atop the title screen to get it started.

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2009/03/17/season_of_renewal_for_shakespeare_on_the_common/ When I heard that we’d be getting Shakespeare on Boston Common again, my first thought was “Really?  After all the financial whining that Citibank does?  Quite frankly I’m surprised.” Now, after reading the article in the Boston Globe about director Steve Maler, I’m not – they’ve cut ties, and he’s going it alone, and he needs to raise $350,000 to fund the planned 16 performances of The Comedy Of Errors.  I also understand that choice better now, as it is a small and strategic play without large and expensive set requirements. You see, now I want to give money.  More to the point, I want Citi to give me back the money I gave them, so I can give it to Mr. Maler. Link for donations on the second page, or just go straight to CommShakes.org and help them out!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/5005557/Academic-discovers-six-works-by-William-Shakespeare.html Funny I should mention “Arden of Faversham” just yesterday, innit?  Here we have a new scholar, Dr. John Cosson, with a new book called “Enter Pursued By A Bear.”  Cute title. Some of his “discoveries” include: Shakespeare’s first published poem, the Phaeton sonnet, his first comedy, Mucedorus, and his first tragedies, Locrine and Arden of Faversham. I truthfully don’t know how to parse that – is “the Phaeton sonnet” the name of the poem, or an independent thing? Anyway, he’ll also present evidence that Cardenio is a genuine work by Shakespeare and John Fletcher. I suppose we can chalk this up to yet another variation of conspiracy / authorship theories, but still, it’s interesting.  Doesn’t say much for the topic, though, that the article switches to coverage of the Cobbe portrait for the last 3 paragraphs.

http://blog.oup.com/2009/03/five_shakespeare_names/ When I read the title of that article I thought “Ok, this will be all about Lady Macbeth and such.”  So I was surprised that it is, in fact, a look at Shakespeare’s female characters who share a name with women from mythology.  Examples include Hero, Helena, Lavinia, Hermione and Diana.  I wish the writeups were longer, but it’s a start.  Somebody could probably take any one of those and do a college research paper on whether Shakespeare intended to make that exact connection, or if it’s just complete coincidence.  Diana and Helena are common enough names, but the only time I’ve ever seen “Hero” as a name is in Much Ado, and in the appropriate myth (Hero and Leander).