Shakespeare's Words - The online Glossary & Language Companion: "The inspiration for this site comes from the Penguin Books publication Shakespeare's Words, published in hardback (UK) and paperback (US) in 2002. A UK paperback edition was published on 23 April 2004. Both editions are available from online stores or from any good bookshop. "

Caltech Relaxes With Shakespeare's Every Word


In a marathon convergence of arts and science that ended Saturday afternoon, a group of Caltech students figured out just what it would take to pull off a 24-hour Shakespeare Read-a-Thon, reciting all his comedies, histories, tragedies and sonnets in one bleary-eyed event.

They just can't help themselves, these budding mathematicians, scientists and physicists.

Chicago Shakespeare's Rose Rage to Reach Off-Broadway in Fall

Rose Rage, Edward Hall's adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry VI, Parts One, Two and Three, which had its American premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre in fall 2003, will come to Off-Broadway Sept. 17, the New York Times reported.

The venue will be the Duke at 42nd Street, where the show will run for a month. Hall directs."

Judith Shakespeare Company presents RICHARD 3

June 5-26, 2004 at TADA Theatre, 15 W. 28th Street, NYC

The award-winning JUDITH SHAKESPEARE COMPANY, now in its ninth season, is proud to present its long-awaited full production of Shakespeare’s Richard 3, June 5-26 at TADA Theatre (15 W. 28th Street, 2nd Floor). JSC’s Artistic Director Joanne Zipay directs. Tickets are $19 - call 212-592-1885 for reservations. This production is made possible with the generous support of Mr. Charles Bockwith, the New York State Council on the Arts, and our individual donors.

In this Fiftieth Anniversary Year of Rock-and-Roll, Ms. Zipay has envisioned a Richard 3 set in a plugged-in, high voltage, sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll world – inhabited by the decadent, the rebellious, and the violent. Richard 3 will crown and complete JSC’s “Shakespeare Unplugged” History Cycle which has been presented in chronological order over the past three seasons, featuring women in all the title roles. This series of eight plays (Richard 2, Henry 4 Parts 1&2, Henry 5, Henry 6 Parts 1-2-3, Richard 3), follows the struggles for the English crown for over 100 years.

An original rock score composed and played live at each performance by composer/electric guitarist Mike Clemente will be an integral part of the production. The multi-level, metal scaffold set design is by Jason Ardizzone-West, the edgy, contemporary costumes are designed by Lea Umberger, with a dramatic rock show lighting design by Colin D. Young. Elizabeth Mozer directs the specialized movement with fight choreography by Dan O’Driscoll.

Richard 3 features special guest artist Gail Cronauer (JFK, Boys Don’t Cry, The Newton Boys, Flesh and Bone, Born on the 4th of July, Positive ID…) in the leading role of the murderous crook-backed king. Gender-blind casting is employed for the rest of the cast, which includes: Laurie Bannister-Colón, Bruce Barton, Zack Calhoon, Jovinna Chan, Ivanna Cullinan, Emma Devine-Warman, Lindsey Harrison, Mary E. Hodges, David Huber, Assiatou Lea, Dunaugh MacSweeney, Marcia Montané, Jan-Peter Pedross, Vanessa Shealy, Jane Titus, Alison White, Eric Emmanuel Wilson, and Raymond Wortel.

Judith Shakespeare Company, founded in 1995, is committed to bringing Shakespeare's language to life with clarity and vitality, while expanding the presence of women in classical theatre. JSC won a 1996 OOBR Award, has been featured on national television’s Lifetime Live, and recently The British Theatre Guide proclaimed of the company’s work: “…a passion and mastery of the text which is awe-inspiring!” This production of Richard 3 marks JSC’s completion of exactly half of Shakespeare’s canon of 38 plays!

Grace Tiffany's second novel offers new view of "Will"

In 'Will: A Novel,' Grace Tiffany combines fact and fiction to provide a compelling account of what William Shakespeare's life could have been, and she does it with the same style and attention to detail that won praise for her first novel, about Shakespeare's younger daughter.

A professor of English at Western Michigan University, Tiffany's first novel, 'My Father Had a Daughter,' is about Judith Shakespeare and was released in May 2003. The two fictionalized accounts have more in common than just the family name. One actually spawned the other, but not in the order they were published."

What did Shakespeare say about war?

Some Democrats in Congress have begun comparing Iraq to Vietnam, but the parlor game elsewhere in Washington last week was to size up President Bush II by looking at Henry V.

Like Bush, the 15th-century English monarch took a while to grow up (as Prince Hal), then followed in his father's royal footsteps, took over the throne, and invaded a country.

Who says Shakespeare is irrelevant in 2004?: "
Tuesday, 25 May 2004

Certainly not the 450+ students who attended the Shakespeare Festival Schools Day on May 14th at the Gloucester Showground.

As the buses pulled up for a morning matinee on a beautiful Autumn day, students bristled with anticipation at the prospect of attending a raucous Elizabethan comedy. Newcastle's Shakespeare et Al didn't disappoint with its energetic production of the Bard's The Merry Wives of Windsor.

This is not a well-known Shakespeare play but students appreciated the colourful language and costumes on display.

Saskia Rosenblatt declared the production 'fantastic.'"

Shakespeare group won't skip Butte:
BUTTE (AP) - The Montana Shakespeare in the Parks group, responding to protests from local residents, has decided it will perform here this summer after all.
The group originally passed over Butte because of scheduling problems and what it said was insufficient sponsorship in the community.

Mainstreet Butte led efforts to request that the company reconsider, saying local leaders had not been told the annual local performance was in jeopardy.

'I was just appalled there had been no notice of this, and there was just a huge outpouring of people wanting to bring it back,' said George Everett, executive director of Mainstreet Butte.
The troupe is expected to perform Moliere's comedy 'Tartuffe' on Labor Day, probably at Emma Park.

Three Rivers Wireless Office was arranging to sponsor the 2005 showing in Butte when the company's Jessica Johnson learned there was no 2004 show planned because of a lack of a sponsor Three Rivers then offered the $1,375 need for a 2004 show."

ESU 2004 Shakespeare Competition Highlights

National Shakespeare Competition

Since 1983, approximately 200,000 students from public, independent and parochial high schools have explored the beauty and scope of Shakespeare's language through the National Shakespeare Competition.

Annually, 16,000 students and 2,000 teachers from 60 ESU Branches participate in a curriculum-based program designed to help high school students develop their communications skills and appreciation of language and literature, through the study, interpretation and performance of Shakespeare’s monologues and sonnets. Students participate in three qualifying stages at the school, Branch and national levels. The winner receives a summer study course in the United Kingdom.

Laughs come thick and fast in Shakespeare parody

Even the Day-Glo imaginations of Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann couldn't come up with a musical number in which Romeo sings to his recently expired ladylove the heartfelt ditty "Thank You for Dying First."

But for Ron West, the author and director of Second City's whip-smart, intensely amusing, PG-13 summer "Romeo and Juliet" parody on Navy Pier, that's an obvious emotion for a musical Montague -- a.k.a. Keegan-Michael Key -- with an eye on his own historical import. Not that Juliet gets forgotten. In the hands of "MADtv's" Nicole Parker, this is the kind of teenager who doesn't hesitate to extract a post-mortem admission from Romeo that he was a lousy kisser all along.

Shakespeare redo may soon Measure up
By Mark Lowry

FORT WORTH -- Desperate Measures, Peter Kellogg and David Friedman's musical loosely based on Measure for Measure, transplants Shakespeare's action of 17th-century Vienna to the 19th-century American West. Had the team kept all the Bard's characters and subplots, this could've been one convoluted piece of musical theater.

The King and We: Henry V's War Cabinet
Mock Debate at Shakespeare Theatre Has Familiar Ring
By Bob Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 18, 2004; Page C01
To invade or not to invade, that was the question. Once again, you had a bunch of Washington pundits and insider types shooting off their mouths about a decision that would get thousands of people maimed or killed and poison international relations for the foreseeable future. "

The British Shakespeare Association Biennial Conference 2005

The British Shakespeare Association Biennial Conference 2005 will be held at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, September 1-4, 2005. We now invite proposals for papers, panels and seminars addressing any aspect of Shakespeare's works - context, text, performance, reception and appropriation. Panels and seminars may be convened by individuals, or by two or more collaborators. Proposals from colleagues at all career stages, and from all parts of the world, are welcome, and there will be a series of sessions dedicated to postgraduate students. Full details on how to submit proposals can be found on the conference website.

Lady who is not shy

Popular Northern Broadsides are at Richmond's Georgian Theatre Royal for the week from Tuesday with Shakespeare's gripping drama, The Merchant Of Venice.

Barrie Rutter directs and plays Shylock in a production that many claim is closer to Shakespeare's original intentions than many more feted productions.

Barrie, the artistic director and founder of the company, has brought together a cast of 15 that includes Claire Calbraith alias Dr Summerbee in TV's Heartbeat as Portia and Richard Standing as Bassanio.

"This is one of Shakespeare's most enduring plays and also a play for our time as Shakespeare evokes a world dominated by money, and populated by questionable characters," says the Georgian's Laura Hannaway. "It eloquently challenges racial stereotypes in a way that is timeless and topical as Christian and Jew are locked in a bitter racial hatred which escalates to tragic proportions."


The production also features live music on stage and acapella singing.

Mike LoMonico conducts a workshop for teachers at the ESU National Headquarters. 

During the 2004 National Shakespeare Competition sponsored by the English Speaking Union, Michael LoMonico, editor of Shakespeare magazine, led a symposium for all the teachers who accompanied their students to New York.

The Hamlet Machine

The New York Times > Theater > News & Features > Shakespearean Diet: Pasta, No Coffee

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