Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet — Watch it again.

October 11, 2005June 19, 2025 ~ duane ~ 1 Comment

In my morning’s browsing I found this excellent (and positive!) review of Luhrmann’s famous Romeo and Juliet. Perhaps I should say “infamous” as there are plenty of purists out there that would take the Zeffirelli version over this one anyday. This reviewer, however, reminds us just how good a movie this is (as opposed to how exact an interpretation) by pointing out the homage to classic spaghetti Westerns, John Woo, and Shakespeare’s other works scattered throughout the movie (“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Hot Dogs”?)

I’ve always been a believer that whatever it takes to make Shakespeare accessible to the masses — without sacrificing the original! — is worth encouraging. If Leonardo DiCaprio screaming his lines at John Leguizamo is what it takes, then so be it. At least they’re not rapping.

This review makes me want to watch it again. What more can you ask from a review?

Tags: Shakespeare

The Puck Building

October 11, 2005July 22, 2024 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

I found the Puck Building’s entry on Wikipedia this morning in my batch of Shakespeare links. I recognize the place from the opening of tv show Will and Grace (which is noted in the article, gotta love Wikipedia). But I never knew it was supposed to be Puck. Guess I never really pictured him in that sort of hat.

Tags: Shakespeare

Mrchnt f Vnc by Tm Stpprd

October 11, 2005February 7, 2017 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

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.

So now it’s the Henry Neville theory?

October 5, 2005February 7, 2017 ~ duane ~ 1 Comment

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 – Radio 4 – Interpretations – 2/3 Macbeth

October 5, 2005July 22, 2024 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

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