3 hour play too long for the attention span of your typical 11-15 year old? Wish Merchant of Venice was about 30 minutes instead? Better call in Tom Stoppard to make it happen. A BBC documentary follows the staging of Stoppard’s shortened play by the National Youth Theatre.

Oh, great. Falstaff wrote the plays? The new book “The Truth Will Out” claims that Sir Henry Neville, nicknamed “Falstaff”, was the real brains behind the operation.

The “evidence” described is just painful:

* Neville’s ancestors (Edward III and John of Gaunt) are described with such accuracy that they could only have been written by someone with special knowledge.

* Neville had acecss to a letter about the Bermuda Shipwreck of 1609, “thought to have” inspired The Tempest.

* the plays could only have been written by someone deeply familiar with court life.

Yeah, that makes me want to run out and get that one. Real groundbreaking stuff, there. Aren’t points 1 and 3 basically the same thing? Could I sum them up as “They’re just so good, it’s impossible for Shakespeare to have written them!” Is that evidence?

BBC program where two gentlemen, John Caird and Simon Russell Beale, discuss their interpretations of Macbeth. I find it odd that the short summary refers to Macbeth as Shakespeare’s most popular tragedy. I have to think that either Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet would take that title.

If the audio link is no longer working (I have it on my list of things to listen to), I found the original link on BowBlog, where there is a link directly to the MP3.

Tag: Shakespeare mp3

You have to love an interview that is entirely about Shakespeare, like this one with Kevin Spacey. He chickens out of most of the questions, refusing to name a least favorite play and saying “They’re all good, I don’t have a favorite” to picking a favorite one. But who knew he was playing Richard II? I don’t really see it.

Edit: I originally wrote “Richard III” because I read the article wrong. It’s Richard II.

The Dick and Jane Hamlet is pretty cute, and worth a link. I’d never seen it before.

“See the man. What a funny man. His name is Hamlet. He is a prince.

He is sad. Why are you sad, Hamlet?”

…

On the way he passes a brook. In the brook he sees Ophelia. Ophelia is drowning.

“Where are you going?” asks Ophelia.

“I am going to find Uncle Claudius.”

“Glub, glub,” says Ophelia.