“Let’s ban Shakespeare,” says Helen Mirren,

Got your attention? 🙂 What she actually said was to ban reading Shakespeare in class, and start taking kids to plays instead. I don’t know that anybody here is going to disagree with that.
At least, not totally ;). I’ve always felt that people feel the need to take sides in the “see, don’t read” war. In truth the answer can only ever be, both. If you see a live show of Hamlet once in your life and never think about it again, consider how little you really got out of it. You probably missed half the dialog. You certainly missed any bits that this particular interpretation chose to excise. And you’re left thinking that Hamlet is a whiny git because this guy happened to play him that way.
See it, yes, *and* read it. Stop with the either/or nonsense. By seeing performance you are doing two things – you are getting closer to the source material, but you are also seeing one particular group’s interpretation of that source material. Here’s the beautiful thing — every time you see it? The first bit remains the same, you get closer to the source material. But the second changes every time.
You know how else you can get close to the source material? Read it. 🙂 As long as you understand that reading the text for yourself is just another tool in your arsenal, another step in your journey, then I don’t see where all the hating comes from.

[ Apologies for the slur, just trying to turn a phrase ;). And me mother’s name is Daly, my daddy’s name is Moran, so I’m as Irish as they come! ]
New research out of Scandinavia adds a piece to the puzzle of Hamlet’s source material – by linking the name “Hamlet”, via Snow Bear’s “Amlothi”, to an Irish story called The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel, featuring a character named “Admlithi”. That extra D, the story is quick to point out, is silent.
From there Dr. Lisa Collinson makes the connection between this name and sea monsters, and then to Hamlet’s “sea of troubles.” Although I think that last one is a bit of a stretch :).
It’s an interesting idea, I suppose, but I’ve never been that interested in the history. Would new research in this area make you change your understanding of Shakespeare’s Hamlet? Is there any possibility at all that if this story is true, that Shakespeare actually would have known and understood the original story?

I’ll let him tell it

I’ve been sitting on this particular piece of news for a couple weeks, but the official announcement went out today. My original Caesar/Brutus play, EVE OF IDES, has been chosen for a reading at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey this September, as part of their Lend Us Your Ears play reading series. The reading will be directed by the amazing and talented Rick Sordelet.

Congratulations to The Master Of Verona, and go see it if you can!

Yesterday we had a gender-reversed Hamlet, so today how about a one-man show?

In describing his one-man version of Hamlet, Bhaneja said: “For many of us, our most powerful experience with the play Hamlet occurred on our first reading of it — outside of the theatre ­— where we, alone, had to conjure up the setting, characters and drama. With this production, the audience is guided through the actual text, almost in the way an ancient storyteller might do, where the actor/storyteller provides an outline of a character upon which the viewer extrapolates.”

With the firm understanding that this is pretty far-afield from going to see a Shakespeare show, I think it would be quite interesting. When I tell my kids one of the plays, I’m basically the one-man storyteller. And isn’t a teacher doing the same thing, for a larger audience? So why not put the storyteller on the stage and have him speak to as many people as will sit for the show?

Shakespeareans already have plenty of reasons to love Dame Judi Dench – but a few more never hurt. This article takes a quick trip through her career, sprinkling in some behind the scenes stories that just make her all the more awesome. My favorite? During Antony and Cleopatra, when her Antony (played by Anthony Hopkins, by the way) died in her arms whispering “You do act five, I’ll be having a nice cup of tea.”
Bonus points for the comparison to Sarah Bernhardt – who I just mentioned earlier today, and I swear I had not read this article when I did that. Small universe.