http://www.starobserver.com.au/entertainment/2009/03/25/shakespeares-daughter-accused/5084 Interesting play about a case in 1613 that saw one Susanna Hall, eldest daughter of William Shakespeare, accused of adultery and having a venereal disease. Always interesting to see stories involving Shakespeare’s children, we don’t hear much about them after they’re grown and on their own.

Last night I’m busy putting the girls to bed, so my wife’s got the boy.  I hear from down the hallway, “I sang you all the songs!  Mommy doesn’t know Shakespeare, Daddy sings that one!” 🙂

http://www.ellisparkerbutler.info/epb/biblio.asp?id=2358 Made you look, right?  Yeah, me too.  Actually my first thought was, “Umm…there’s no controversy.  The Bacon theory was started by Delia Bacon (no relation) who was pretty much insane.” So I was even more confused when the opening line to the piece said “Yes, and the solution is this : Of course Bacon wrote the plays, and I can prove it.” Turns out that the article is a humor piece by Professor Ellis Parker Butler, whoever that is.  It’s somewhat reminiscent of Mark Twain in its “so simple any fool could see it” presentation that makes a connection between a Stratford breakfast order (ham omelette, naturally) and, you guessed it, ham-let.  [I choose Twain deliberately, since he himself was a questioner of Authorship.] I suppose it’s funny if you like such things.  I just felt like reposting it to see how many of you get trapped by the subject line, like I did. 🙂

http://www.pbs.org/engage/blog/five-good-questions-king-lear You’ve probably already heard, but the press releases are coming at me fast and furious this week reminded us that PBS has scored the broadcast rights to Sir Ian McKellen’s King Lear and they are shouting it from the rooftops. First off let me start by saying that earlier reports of “airing in late March, check your local listings” will I’m told be Wednesday March 25 – that’s tomorrow people.  So if you haven’t set the DVR yet, get hopping.  (Thanks to bigtimebobdowning for reminded me of that one).  Let us know in the comments if you find it at a different time in your area. Second, I’ve gotten word about the PBS Engage event called “Five Good Questions”.  They are actively soliciting Shakespeare questions for Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library Gail Kern Paster.  Go and check it out, if for nothing else to see that I was first in line to get my question posted ;).  I hope she plugs the blog if my question gets picked 🙂 🙂 :). Busy week!

Last night after watching “It’s The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown” I tried a little experiment.  I put in a movie without telling the kids what it was.  Naturally they freaked out (in the good way), very excited about the surprise movie.  Well when I told them it was a Shakespeare movie they went bananas.  I’d put in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the version with Kevin Kline.  I’ve not seen it, but I did find a copy recently and thought I’d add it to my collection. The kids asked what the story was about as the opening credits rolled.  “Well,” I said, “This one girl is in love with this boy, but her daddy does not want her to marry that boy, he wants her to marry the boy that he likes.”  This is logic that toddlers understand, it is almost directly out of Aladdin and other “princess must marry a prince” stories. “Then what happens?” they ask. “Well the girl and the boy that she does want to marry, they run off into the woods to get married without telling anybody.  But the other boy finds out, so he chases after them into the woods.  And then you know what?  A girl that likes *him* goes into the woods after him, too, because she wants to marry him.” Well, this is just thrilling to them.  “You know what happens then?” I ask. “What?” they are intrigued. “That’s when they meet the Fairies.” Then you get one of those moments where  you’re convinced your child is going to explode, like when you tell them you’ve purchased their own private ice cream truck and it’s parked outside in the driveway right now, go help yourself. Of course it is far too late to start a full length movie at this point, so being the cruel and heartless Daddy that I am, we pause the movie (which is right at the “ask the ancient penalty” line) until tomorrow.   Fast forward to today when I come home for lunch.  A neighbor is over having a playdate.  My 4yr old daughter delivers a flying powerhug, and then looks up at me with big eyes and says, “Please Daddy, PLEASE can we finished Midsummer Night’s Dream tonight?” I explode a little inside, myself.  “Say that again?” “Can we please watch the rest of Midsummer Night’s Dream?” she repeats. “I love hearing that,” I say out loud. “I was about to ask if I heard right,” says the neighbor. At this point my daughter runs over to her to explain the movie. “It’s about these boys and girls who run into the forest to get married…and then guess what?  They meet Fairies.”   All day long I watch a Twitterstream go by with students whining about how much they hate boring Shakespeare.  Me, I’ve got a child who hasn’t started kindergarten (and one in first grade, equally enthusiastic) who are begging me for more. I win :). I’m having a good week.  First my wife spots a Lear reference, and now my kids are explaining Dream to the neighbors?  Who wants to trade places with me?  Ha!  You can’t!  Wouldn’t trade this for the world.