The One Where Shakespeare Geek Is Left Speechless

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

So we’re out driving with the kids this long weekend. I tell them over my shoulder, “So guys, Amazon made a new original version of King Lear that’s going to be on this month, does anybody think they’d want to watch that with me?”

“Yeah.”   “Sure.”   “Are we allowed to?”

“You’re always allowed to watch Shakespeare with me,” I tell them. “I just didn’t want to force anybody.  King Lear’s a tough one.”

“Is that the one where the king dies, and his daughter hates him?” asks my oldest from the far back seat.

And then this happened.  My son, my youngest, who can’t take his head up and away from his phone and his YouTube videos, says, “No, his daughter loves him the most. But she doesn’t want to just say oh blah blah we love you so much we love you more than anything like the two sisters do because all they want is the land. So the father sends her away but then when he figures out that the other two don’t really love him the other daughter comes back with her army to save him.”

I swear I got teary-eyed.  As soon as he started talking I looked my wife, unable to speak, with what I hope was a, “All my life has built to this moment” look.

When he stopped, and when I could speak, I said, “Nice job, son.  That made daddy very happy.  Well done.”

“But I only know it because you told me.”

“Yes but I think the last time I told you the story of King Lear was like six years ago. I didn’t think you were listening.”

 

Shakespeare Doesn’t Pay The Bills, I Guess

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Here’s a weird coincidence.  There’s a story this week about how actor Geoffrey Owens, perhaps most well known for his role as Elvin on The Cosby Show, was spotted bagging groceries at a Trader Joe’s.

I didn’t really pay much attention.  Hey, honest day’s work, right?  But then, by the magic of customized news feeds, I got a link to a Shakespeare acting class by Geoffrey Owens?

I’m not sure the timing.  I don’t know if the class is an older thing that’s no longer around, or if it’s a very small window of time and not a full-time job, or what the story is. I hope that, if he wanted to support himself teaching Shakespeare, he could.

 

 

Bet I Can Predict The Future

~ duane ~ 1 Comment
Which character was he supposed to be?

Finally, finally, my oldest gets to participate in a dedicated Shakespeare course this fall. I don’t have the title in front of me but it’s basically Shakespeare and Modern Film.  Given that my bestest online Shakespeare pal is a dude whose actual name is “Bard Film” I can’t wait until she gets homework.  (“Daddy, can I please do my own homework for once?”  “It’s ok sweetie, Bardfilm and I have got this.”)

Anyway, we had to order textbooks and I see they’ll be studying Othello, Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night. Folger editions, for the curious.

Hmmm.  Anybody else seeing a pattern there?

I’m calling it right now – I’m going to have my daughter watch O, 10 Things I Hate About You and She’s The Man before school starts because I’ll bet you anything that’s what they’ll be doing in class. I never thought I’d say this but I’m glad Hamlet’s not among her required texts. If they had her watching Lion King I don’t think I could stand it.

 

 

That’s What Friends Are For

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

One of my favorite things is when people come up to me and say, “I saw something the other day and thought of you,” and it turns out to be a Shakespeare reference of some sort. I especially love it when it’s friends I rarely hear from or coworkers with whom I wouldn’t otherwise interact during the day.  I always relay the story here and I always say “My plan is working.” Because every time that happens, that means that there’s a little more Shakespeare awareness in the world.  Whatever it is that I’m doing, that the people around me are picking up and taking with them in the back of their brains, made them recognize a Shakespeare thing they saw, and pay enough attention to it and think, “I have to tell Duane about that.”  (Seriously, just this week a coworker told me that at an antique store he spotted a coffee mug in the shape of Shakespeare’s head. “I thought you’d like that. But it’s not like I was going to buy an antique for you.”)

I am extra happy to report that the next generation has taken over.  As summer vacations wrap up and the kids get ready to get back into the school schedule, sports practices begin and so on, my daughter texted me a picture and said, “Look what I got!”

Turns out one of her friends went to Italy for vacation and, while in Verona looking at “Juliet’s balcony”, decided that she had to bring my daughter home a present.

On the one hand it’s a just little tchotchke brought back from vacation, like a souvenir spoon or refrigerator magnet. But I see it quite differently. I see it a whole new generation of Shakespeare geeks.  My daughter’s friends know that she’s “into Shakespeare.”  So now they’re the ones seeing Shakespeare things in the world and thinking, “Hey, I should tell her about that.”  Now my daughter’s actually starting her own collection of memories along those lines.  Hopefully one day (NOT soon!) one of her kids sees this hanging out on a knick knack shelf, takes it down to admire, and starts hearing stories about Romeo and Juliet?  

My plan is working better than I could have dreamed.

 

Is Shakespeare’s Library Still Out There?

~ duane ~ Leave a comment

It’s long been one of the go-to arguments of the authorship question.  Shakespeare’s work proves knowledge of certain topics and literary works. Therefore he must have had books for researching and referencing those topics.  We have no record of his books, therefore he owned no books, therefore he cannot have had that knowledge, therefore he didn’t write the plays.  Then again, as Bill Bryson pointed out in The World As Stage, there’s no evidence that Shakespeare owned pants, either.  Therefore he must not have. Surely he would have willed his pants to someone!

Apparently there are people who still hold out hope that a trove of books inscribed “Property of William Shakespeare” is going to turn up any day now.  A new book by Stuart Kells details his quest to find it.

While positing that of course Shakespeare had a personal library, the article only barely hints at what happened to it.  Shakespeare’s friend Ben Jonson had a fire at his place. Maybe Shakespeare gave Jonson his books, and they were all lost in that fire?  That’s the same kind of reasoning that the authorship people use.  “I have no proof this didn’t happen, and it supports my argument if it did, so…”

I support any research that turns up actual facts about Shakespeare. I just don’t know how many of those this guy is finding. Besides that, this particular author loses credibility with me for citing the story of Samuel Ireland and his son “finding” the letters and diaries of Shakespeare that “turned out to be forgeries.”  Yes – because Ireland’s son was the one who forged them. You forgot to mention that part.