http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca/multimedia/video/j_mill_complete_video.mov This isn’t what I thought it was going to be. It’s Romeo and Juliet, sort of . With space aliens.
Category: Shakespeare Plays
William Shakespeare is widely regarded as one of the most influential playwrights in history, and his plays have been performed and studied for centuries. From the timeless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet to the hilarious antics of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s plays continue to captivate audiences around the world. Whether you’re a fan of tragedy, comedy, or romance, there’s a Shakespeare play for everyone. So why not revisit these timeless classics and discover the magic of Shakespeare for yourself?
Browse the entire text of Shakespeare’s plays right here on Shakespeare Geek.
Daddy, Can I Read Your Book?
That’s what my 3yr old asked me this morning while I was getting ready to go to work.
“Sure,” I told her.
The thing is, the book was King Lear. More specifically, it was one of the comic versions of Shakespeare that I have. I also have The Tempest as I’ve mentioned, Taming of the Shrew, and Romeo and Juliet. In general I have refused to actually read them the story of King Lear, as we don’t do that degree of violence in my house (hence my emphasis on the non-violent Tempest).
But she does like to look at the pictures. So there she sat, doing her morning business, flipping through the pages. Like any 3yr old she was also carrying around what if she were a boy I would call “action figures” – small statues of her favorite Disney princesses, including Belle and Ariel.
“Her name is Cordelia,” my daughter tells me, pointing at the Belle figure. Then she points to the cover of the book and asks, “Is that Cordelia with the red hair?”
I look at the cover and sure enough, Cordelia is in fact the one with the red hair. “That is Cordelia,” I tell her. “And those are her sisters, Regan and Goneril.”
I think I reached her limit, though, as I never heard the names of the evil sisters mentioned. She did go off playing, speaking of Cordelia’s friends Jossa, Brak and Ryda, which I thought was rather unusual. At first I thought she was getting in to the imaginary friends stage (her older sister’s imaginary friends were named Cartlyn, Neejin and Lonoze). But then I wondered if maybe hearing all the weird names in Shakespeare that she hears nowhere else, she’s tuned to thinking that names can in fact be any stream of sound, and not just repetition of the same names she’s heard over and over again.
Romeo and Juliet
http://geek.shakespearezone.com/?p=2529 Tad Davis, in what appears to be his first post on a new blog, merits a link for the depth of his analysis of Romeo and Juliet while still remaining actually readable. It’s not a small novel, it goes maybe 10 paragraphs, but he manages to touch upon the loneliness of Juliet in the second act, points out a few of the more overt sexual references, makes a comparison of Lord Capulet to King Lear, offers some thoughts on staging in the Globe, and even hypothesizes parallels to Shakespeare’s own children. I’m not sure I agree with his opening line that the play “has to be his most heartbreaking one.” It’s certainly his most popular and approachable (who hasn’t been in love with someone that society told them they couldn’t have?) But I think that both Cordelia and Ophelia both die more tragic deaths than Juliet.
Technorati tags: Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet….as Scientologists?
http://www.romeopublishing.com/ Ok, the Scientologist comment is my own. But in this “sequel” to Shakespeare’s most popular play, Romeo dies for Juliet…and then awakens “on a volcano in Hawaii.” Volcanos in Hawaii play a role in the Scientology creation story, you see. Anyway, the story we’re talking about is a “time-travel romance” where Romeo crosses paths with a reincarnated Juliet on the chatboards. The search is then on as Romeo tries to reunite with his lost love. Sounds…different. If I found it as an ebook I may grab it, that’s the only real way I read anything these days (not counting audiobooks). Apparently there’s some “kinky cybersex” in there as well which might turn some folks off, but I’ve been around the net long enough to shrug that off. The press release, by the way, makes one comment I don’t agree with. The author says that he “wanted to place significant social barriers between them, as it was in Verona.” The only thing keeping them apart was the feud between their families, which is not what I would call a “social barrier”. Wasn’t that the whole point of “Two houses, both alike in dignity”? Society in general, the townspeople who kept having their nights disturbed, thought the whole thing a big annoyance.
Romeo And Juliet … As A Management Exercise?
http://www.management-issues.com/2007/6/26/opinion/romeo-and-juliet.asp Here’s an interesting spin. With the challenge of taking a Shakespeare play and exploring what it says about “business life today”, the author and his team of eight read the play (with obligatory complaining about the language), see the play, divide up the characters and then brainstorm about lessons they can learn about the drinking industry. I’ll give you a hint, it has lots to do with communication. Interesting reading.