http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/bal-ages-of-man-0327,0,1031508.story “Ages Of Man” sounds like the sort of show I would love. Think of Ages as a collection of Shakespeare’s greatest hits. The show is a one-actor tour de force initially performed by Sir John Gielgud in the late 1950s in Europe and the U.S.The concoction includes the monologue from As You Like It that provides the title of the current show; King Lear mourning the death of his daughter, Cordelia; Hamlet’s soliloquy on suicide and Prospero’s retirement speech at the end of The Tempest. Ages also showcases several much-loved sonnets: the 18th (Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?), the 116th (Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediment) and the 29th (When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes).  

http://chicagoist.com/2009/03/27/its_a_bird_its_a_plane_its_a_shakes.php So says the Chicagoist article about an upcoming production of The Tempest at  the Steppenwolf. “Safe is not exactly what I do," said Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi, co-artistic director of the Actors Gym and aerial coach for The Tempest. I wonder if my pal David Blixt, the Master of Verona, is still out there, because he’s a) based in Chicago but also b) outspoken on the need to keep actors safe onstage.

“I’m reading a book by Douglas Crockford called "Javascript: The Good Parts" and he precedes each chapter with a Shakespeare quote that underlines the topic of the chapter. Very cool considering it’s a very technical book. There’s your Will + geekery for the day” JavaScript: The Good Parts Thanks to Jay for the old-school geeky link.   He’s right, here’s the opening for chapter 1, which is titled Good Parts: ….setting the attractions of my good parts aside I have no other charms.  – William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives Of Windsor That of course is only going to be of interest to web programmers, but I happen to be one of those :).

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123809862598451041.html I don’t know anything about Japanese Kabuki theatre, but I like the idea of the cultural crossover.   Also of note is that a single actor will play both Cesario/Viola and Sebastian, her twin brother.  In Kabuki theatre all the parts are played by men, just like Elizabethan times. From the article: In Kabuki, there are many, many forms — you could call it a toolbox — and it was a matter of choosing the right ones and putting them together. Because they know the forms so well — some of which I didn’t understand — they normally rehearse and put on a play in three days. Wow.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/27/gdc09_jeffrey_kaplan_session/ What happens when the leader of a very popular computer game company gets on stage and mentions Shakespeare?  My news filters all go frickin bananas, I’ll tell ya that! This is only borderline related to us, but basically the maker of computer game World of Warcraft said very publicly to his developers, and I quote, “to stop writing a f***ing book in the game because nobody wants to read it…the sooner we accept that we are not Shakespeare, Scorcese, Tolstoy or the Beatles, the better off we are.”   I’d just like to say that there’s nothing wrong with building your game on a literary foundation such as those you mention.  Why not write in a plot that lifts directly from Kurosawa’s “Ran”, for instance?  You’re right, you won’t come up with stuff on your own that’s nearly as good.  But most of the good stuff is public domain, so why not just take it? He’s right about not putting everything into text, no doubt about it.  I don’t play many games, but when I do (on Wii, mostly) I tend to skip the text.  Show me the story, don’t tell it to me.