Who says there’s no room for liberal arts in STEM education?
My family of course knows that today is Shakespeare Day. It actually causes some funny moments, like when my wife had to write out a check for some school function and said, “What’s today’s date?”
Children: “Seriously, Mommy? Daddy is standing *right there*.”
Or this impromptu math lesson with my middle child:
SG: “So, how old would Shakespeare have been today?”
E: “Well he died in 1616. So, 400 years would be 2016, and it’s 2018. Four hundred and eighteen!”
I’ve always wanted an original logo for Shakespeare Geek, it just took me a long time to decide what I wanted. Everybody always saw the word ‘geek’ and served up a Shakespeare Nerd instead.
Then it hit me. That image of Albert Einstein sticking his tongue out at the camera.
Albert Einstein, a man whose name is synonymous with genius, had a sense of humor. He could be silly and have a little fun. You know, in between revolutionizing our understand of the universe.
That’s how I think of our approach to Shakespeare. Sure, his name is synonymous with the greatest literature the world has ever known. Does that mean we can’t be silly and have a little fun?
I knew what I wanted. I wanted the Chandos portrait (my favorite depiction of Shakespeare) crossed with Einstein and his silly face.
I pitched this idea a little while ago and long time reader Alexi Sergeant made me this original sketch.
I love it! I’ve been using it as my avatar on various social media sites ever since.
But I also wanted something that I could use for merchandise, just like the Einstein photo. I imagine people having a poster of Shakespeare Geek on their wall just like we had that Einstein poster back in college.
So I had this version designed!
What does everybody think? I’ve got him in color as well, but I showed him around in various forms and everybody seemed to like this black and white version. I agree, because it’s more reminiscent of the original Einstein inspiration.
The other day I saw a discussion about how you think a modern Hamlet’s ghost should be staged. My first thought was, “I was the ghost popping up randomly, in the audience, in a way that makes them think it’s impossible for that to be happening.”
My first thought was, “Hologram?” But I put that off as too expensive, but also because the evidence about what was to happen (such as a mini pedestal/stage where he’d appear) would ruin the effect.
Then I thought, “Just have multiple actors dressed as the ghost, so when one exits, another one can appear elsewhere.” But if they don’t look identical, the effect isn’t the same.
Twins! Comedy of Errors had twins. Ok, fine, maybe Shakespeare didn’t actually have twins to work with (did he?) I know that I’ve yet to see a Comedy of Errors with actual twins.
But that brings me to our question. What if you did have twins in your group? How would you use them? On the drive in to work today I was thinking about the difference between doubling an actor (Theseus / Oberon anybody?) versus how you’d do it with twins. If you never have them on stage at the same time there’s no point, so how would you change the staging to take advantage?
How about two Hamlets? One that devolves slowly into madness (complete with costume change), while the other remains his normal self, silently watching the proceedings. Until at some crucial point late in the play the good Hamlet disappears. (I saw a high school production once with five Hamlets, all on stage at once, all delivering the lines. It was weird.)
King Lear where Goneril and Regan are twins? Not sure how much that really changes the story, but it strengthens the bond between them versus Cordelia, and later shows how big a deal it is when they split.
A Tempest where Ariel and Caliban are twins? I saw a production once where they were handled like conjoined twins, and at the end Prospero separated them.
I’m clearly no director, but I know many of you are. What better ideas can you come up with? Assume that you can have access to a set of twins of whatever type you need, young or old, male or female.
I try to get a little Shakespeare into all my days. I can’t crank out the posts like I used to (once upon a time averaging more than two per day), both because life’s gotten in the way more often than not but also because it feels like we’ve done everything already.
But I’ve “decorated my life” with Shakespeare and it gives me no end of joy when somebody says to me, “I saw something about Shakespeare the other day and thought of you.” In fact I ran into a new coworker in the company kitchen last week and I said, “I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet, I’m Duane.”
He shook my hand and said, “I don’t think we have, but I know you. You’re the Shakespeare man.”
Just one of the myriad ways Shakespeare makes my life better.
This year we’re doing a retrospective. It’d be impossible for me to link to the dozens upon dozens of marathon posts I’ve made on April 23 each year, but just like I’m doing now I like to kick it off the same way…
For those folks who follow on Twitter I’ve set up an extra special treat – all day long I’ll be retweeting some of our most popular jokes and hashtag games from across the years. My very special thanks to Bardfilm and all my loyal Shakespeare geeks who’ve brought more Shakespeare into the world for everybody.
This year I am going to ask a favor. There’s going to be a bunch of links to all my latest merchandise, both on Amazon (where you can get t-shirts, both long and short sleeve, as well as sweatshirts and hoodies) and Red Bubble where you can get other merchandise (stickers, phone cases and so on). If you’ve enjoyed Shakespeare Geek over the years and want to help it continue forever, I’d appreciate your support. Even if you don’t see anything that’s right for you, surely most of us have a Shakespeare friend that’s got a birthday coming up, don’t we? Thanks so much for all you’ve done to keep the site running a remarkable soon to be thirteen years!
Know what I’m gonna say next? It’s my favorite part. Ben Jonson was right. He was not of an age, but for all time. I therefore will begin.
Ok, how did I not know about this? Google Arts and Culture has virtual tours (or, rather, panoramic images) of a number of Shakespeare locations including his birthplace, the Globe, Juliet’s balcony, New Place, and others.
I’d literally never seen Shakespeare’s birthplace in context before. The ability to simply turn my head and see what’s across the street (in this case, it appears to be some sort of cafe?) makes the whole thing real to me. Can’t wait to get there one day.
Which one is your favorite? How many have you been to in real life?
Who says there’s no room for liberal arts in STEM education?
