These Foolish Games (Inside Folger!)

April 23, 2012April 17, 2023 ~ duane ~ 4 Comments

So, picture it. Georgianna has begun our tour of the Folger Library, and we’re in this very cool dining hall decorated with stained glass representations of characters from the plays. She asks my son whether he can name a particular piece.

“That’s Hamlet,” my boy replies, pointing at one before I can even figure it out. “Because he’s talking to a skeleton.”

“Very good,” Georgianna replies. “Now can you find someone else from that play?”

Again, before I can take it all in (I think I spy Polonius, actually), the boy points to another window and says, “Over there! The Joker!”

I laugh. “No,” I tell him, “I think that’s the Fool from King Lear.”

“No, he’s right!” Georgianna tells us “See the skull that he’s stepping on? We’ve always taken that to mean that this is Yorick.”

Now, I’m quite sure that this full time employee of the center of the Shakespeare universe knows more about this stuff than I do. But it strikes me as odd. Not only is every other window a major character – Henry V, Cleopatra, Portia, Julius Caesar – but, as far as I can tell, each play is only represented once. Why then would Hamlet be represented not only by two windows, but with a minor character that never even appears in the play?

I must know! Surely somebody reading this has been in that room and knows the story of those windows. Clue me in!

My trip continues …

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A Natural History of Shakespeare

April 23, 2012April 17, 2023 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

During my browse through that “Alphabet of History” I also spotted the really cool Natural History of Shakespeare. This is not a book *about* Shakespeare, per se – this is a collection of quotes from Shakespeare’s work, organized by what bits of nature he mentioned:

A pretty neat way to flip through the works if you’re looking for something specific. I love this old public domain stuff, and which I had reference books like this on my shelf at times. I suppose they exist in various forms now, and I could go create a library of this stuff, but the 100yr old ones have a sort of simplicity to them that I really like. I think that we’ve gone a bit off the scholarly deep end in more modern editions. 100 years ago they’re written as if they’re saying, “Anyone at all might have an interest in this stuff.” Now they’re written like, “Ok, you’ll only want this if you’re already a Shakespeare scholar.”

The Good Booth

April 23, 2012April 17, 2023 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

While in Washington D.C. we of course visited Ford’s Theatre (see post on the subject, possibly coming soon) so of course I spent most of the time talking about the Booths and their Shakespeare connection.

What I did not realize is that Edwin, the good one, is buried right here in Massachusetts. What do you think, does the picture of him look anything like the engraving on his tomb? I don’t see it. Then again the tomb version I’m sure was of him as an older man. Bonus history geek points if you already knew the ironic (?) story about Edwin saving the life of Lincoln’s son when he pulled him out of the way of an oncoming train.

If you ever get the chance, don’t miss Prince of Players – starring Richard Burton as Edwin himself. An absolutely fascinating movie that has a surprising amount of Shakespeare in it, and manages to tell the story of the man who shot Lincoln as nothing but a subplot. I loved it.

Lincoln, on Shakespeare

April 23, 2012April 17, 2023 ~ duane ~ 2 Comments

We’ve certainly covered the relationship between President Abraham Lincoln and William Shakespeare previously. So when I went to visit Ford’s Theatre, I wasn’t sure how much Shakespeare I’d find. Who am I kidding, if I’d spotted any Shakespeare at all I would have considered it a win.

Win!

I wish I could read Lincoln’s writing to learn more about the argument. Who is this James Hackett person, and why is Lincoln having correspondence with him about Hamlet analysis? It’s one thing to hear about presidents who were in the habit of reading or quoting Shakespeare (there were a lot of them). Here we’ve got an example of the president in active discussion about the play. Not only that, he’s making a case not typically made (from my own personal experience). I wonder why the President of the United States of America is making the case that King Claudius’ private admission of how heavily the guilt for his crimes weighs upon him is greater than “To be or not to be,” widely regarded as one of the greatest soliloquies in our language?

Shakespeare at Ford’s Theatre

April 23, 2012April 17, 2023 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Heading down the stairs into the Ford’s Theatre Museum I was wondering how much Shakespeare I’d see. Turns out, quite a bit! They have a whole kiosk (if you can call it that) dedicated to the subject.

First up we have Miss Charlotte Cushman, performing “3 of her most artistic impressions”, including Hamlet! This is curious to me. I’m sure I’ve heard the name Charlotte Cushman before. In fact, I heard it just today in the same story where I read about Edwin Booth’s grave (in a separate post). Somebody tell us more about her? I thought Sarah Bernhardt (late 1800’s) was the first great female Hamlet? Or, rather, that’s what I always assumed, I suppose.

If you want Hamlet at this time period, though, I’m thinking you wanted the master himself – here is the card for an Edwin Booth performance.

We know the story of Edwin already, so there’s not too much I can say here (especially given the next card). There’s a curiosity on this poster, though – does anybody know who S.K. Chester might have been? I find that name curious because he’s playing Claudius, while “Mrs. S.K. Chester” is listed as well, playing “An Actress.” So it sounds like Mr. Chester was important enough to request a role for his wife. They each have a page on the Internet Broadway Database, but it provides no information that’s not already on this poster.

But, I’ve got one more very cool poster to show….

Look at that. The whole Booth family, starring in Julius Caesar. Junius Brutus Booth, the father, as Julius Caesar. Edwin as Brutus. John Wilkes as Marc Antony. Insert some sort of clever observation here about how maybe “the bad one” should have played Brutus? Also of note, there’s a “Mr. C.K. Chester” in the credits – I wonder the relation to S K Chester above?

The poster clearly shows this performance as some sort of special occasion. I’ll bet it was! Does this show mark a historic event of some sort? That is, do we know more about it? When was the date relative to Lincoln’s assassination? Was it a travelling show, or a one time event? Were Edwin and his brother rotating parts?

I have one more picture of the Shakespeare booth (ha! get it? booth?) from Ford’s Theatre, but I’m saving that for another post…