Month: February 2011

We’re always on the lookout for good Shakespeare games, so here’s a simple online Jeopardy game specifically about Romeo and Juliet Act One, or Act Two. It’s a shame they didn’t do all five acts :).
The game appears to run on the honor system — pick a category and an amount, then read the question. You can then ask to reveal the correct answer, and it’s up to you whether you think you got it. If so, score yourself some points. Doing this, and then hitting continue, will blank that particular square from the board and require that you pick another one.
Cute idea. I could see it having some use in a classroom, perhaps as a study guide. Really, though, it’s just a fancy way to do flashcards.

There’s plenty more to be found at Jeopardy Labs.

Here’s an interesting find. An online version of Beerbohm Tree’s 1904 The Tempest, including all his edits to the text, cast list and so forth. I’ve got to sit down and read this, I’m intrigued. Does anybody know details about this particular version, and why somebody might have gone to the trouble of preserving it like this?

Popeater has a funny collection of pop songs as spoken word pieces, like that time Jude Law read Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” on one of the late night talk shows.
Not much Shakespeare, but it’s Sunday and I’m linking it because it’s amusing – and because the book critic doing Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” does bring in a King Lear reference :).

“I thought I knew what ‘try to touch my junk, junk’ meant. A junk is a boat. So, you know, she could be in China.”

So today I was hanging out watching one of the many King Arthur movies, and a question dawned. Surely this story is far older than Shakespeare. Would Shakespeare have known this story? Do we have any idea why he chose not to tell it? I realize that there were many stories to retell and obviously he couldn’t retell them all, just curious whether this one was significant back then and there was a reason why he never put his spin on it.

Here’s a fun new feature for everybody. You may recognize Alexi as one of our most frequent commenters here on ‘geek. Well, Alexi also happens to be directing The Scottish Play coming up, and we had an idea for a feature called (obviously), Ask A Director. What sorts of questions do you have for Alexi? I know I’d like to get the inevitable curse question out of the way by asking whether there was any particular bouts of bad luck on his set? Any injuries?
What else would you like to know? No boundaries, though of course Alexi’s not required to answer, either :). Let’s try to keep questions to the subject of directing this particular show, if at all possible – we’ve all got plenty of opportunities to voice our opinions on general issues of the day in other posts.
Who’s got a good question?
Ambition. Deception. Guilt. Madness. Shakespeare’s most harrowing tragedy has it all. See a twelve-person cast bring the rise and fall of Macbeth and his Lady to life in this innovative production.

The ShakesPEER Group is a not-for-profit student-run theatre group. Previous productions have included Othello, Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, and The Importance of Being Earnest.
The production’s Facebook page can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=141404825902112
View a trailer on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEAuQ1RJTiU