I’ve been keeping an eye out for a Shakespeare podcast for a long time, and now ShakespeareCast has come along. Very cool. It appears to be a high school theatre group who is actually going to podcast their own presentation of the plays, starting with Romeo and Juliet. Right now it is just filler, with the kids reading the sonnets.

Even still, the very existence of the podcast is a good thing, and you should subscribe. It’s nice to hear the sonnets read aloud. I hope for good things from them.

Reality TV Magazine: Jim Bozzini Leads On The Apprentice Martha Stewart
This is a silly thing to link to but it’s funny because when I’m not posting about Shakespeare on this blog I’m posting about reality TV on my other blog. In particular this story is about Jim, the evil/crazy one on Martha Stewart’s Apprentice. The producer likens him to Iago, saying Jim “seems nutty enough not to be a threat in the short term, but in the long term his calculated razor sharp mind intimidates the competition.”

I don’t particularly like Jim, as I’ve mentioned on the other blog, and want him voted off. But comparing him to possibly Shakespeare’s greatest villain is a bit much.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts | Dame Judi part of Shakespeare CD
No word on how much it costs or where to get it. These are recordings of live performances. Plays include King Lear, Richard II, War of the Roses (what?), Coriolanus (featuring Olivier) and All’s Well That Ends Well with Dame Judi Dench.

Ah, found it : Royal Shakespeare Company homepage. I can’t link directly to it because it’s in the shopping section and you get a session parameter. But look for “Essential Shakespeare” in the audio CD section. 15.95pounds. I don’t know how much that is in US.

If you’re in Charlotte, NC this sounds pretty cool — a Renaissance Music concert featuring “original music from Shakespeare’s plays”. They play on historical instruments and even provide commentary and context for the play so you understand the placement of the music. Plays include Twelfth Night, Henry V, Merry Wives, Tempest, Hamlet, Othello and Macbeth.

I love it. One of the great things about Shakespeare that many people forget is that his work is now in the public domain, and thus its often the first place people go for quality source material when they want to try something new. The BBC is at it again, this time with
Interactive TV Apps.

Known as “red button apps”, the four productions (Much Ado, Macbeth, Shrew, and Midsummer’s) will allow the viewer to view various scenes in original text, from a variety of angles, with the help of a glossary, interviews with the actors, and so on.

From the first paragraph, in a parenthetical note: “the productions…are part of a BBC initiative, dubbed “ShakespeaReTold”, that is designed to bring Shakespeare’s work to new audiences via TV, radio and the web).” Love it! I only wish that over here in the US we had a similar appreciation for the man.