The many faces of the Bard
A surprising number of people believe someone else wrote Shakespeare’s plays. BIll Bryson analyses the theories, some more madcap than others, that keep the conspiracy bubbling
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Playbill News: Shakespeare Gets Punked Out for Love Sucks at NYMF
Shakespeare Gets Punked Out for Love Sucks at NYMF
Love Sucks, the new punk-rock musical by Stephen O'Rourke and Brandon Patton, will receive its world premiere as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival this September.
Using Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost as inspiration, Love Sucks "is set in the burgeoning underground scene of the 1970's East Village," according to press notes. "Two competing rock bands, The [all-guy] Molotovs and [all-girl] The Guttersnipes, swear off love because they've lost too many musicians to jealous lovers. In order to stay focused on the music, each band member can have sex with someone only three times. But when the guys and girls meet up, their rule comes back to bite them in the ass."
Love Sucks, the new punk-rock musical by Stephen O'Rourke and Brandon Patton, will receive its world premiere as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival this September.
Using Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost as inspiration, Love Sucks "is set in the burgeoning underground scene of the 1970's East Village," according to press notes. "Two competing rock bands, The [all-guy] Molotovs and [all-girl] The Guttersnipes, swear off love because they've lost too many musicians to jealous lovers. In order to stay focused on the music, each band member can have sex with someone only three times. But when the guys and girls meet up, their rule comes back to bite them in the ass."
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Bill on Will - Times Online
Bill Bryson on Will
Who was he really? Bestselling author Bill Bryson, fascinated by the mystery of William Shakespeare’s shadowy life, tries his damnedest in a new book to establish the real facts of the Bard
Who was he really? Bestselling author Bill Bryson, fascinated by the mystery of William Shakespeare’s shadowy life, tries his damnedest in a new book to establish the real facts of the Bard
A Midsummer Night's Obsession
Shakespeare troupes abound despite slings and arrows; Puck sees a shark
Shakespeare troupes abound despite slings and arrows; Puck sees a shark
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Shakespeare dumbed down in comic strips for bored UK pupils
Thousands of teenagers are to study cartoon versions of famous plays such as Macbeth which reduce finely-crafted passages to snappy phrases.
Shakespeare's plays are being rewritten as comic strips for pupils who find his poetry boring, it emerged today.
Thousands of teenagers are to study cartoon versions of famous plays such as Macbeth which reduce finely-crafted passages to snappy phrases.
Monday, August 13, 2007
allAfrica.com: Kenya: Shakespeare Defies Time and Space (Page 1 of 1)
Kenya: Shakespeare Defies Time and Space
Just on its second year of study as a set book in Kenya's secondary schools, some critics still have misgivings on the suitability of William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.
The critics say the play's setting is alien in place, time and culture, having been written in 16th Century Europe. Some have also taken issue with archaic English in which the comedy is written.
Just on its second year of study as a set book in Kenya's secondary schools, some critics still have misgivings on the suitability of William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.
The critics say the play's setting is alien in place, time and culture, having been written in 16th Century Europe. Some have also taken issue with archaic English in which the comedy is written.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
KENNETH BRANAGH ADAPTS AND DIRECTS AS YOU LIKE IT
PREMIERING AUG. 21, on HBO
HBO Films presents director Kenneth Branagh’s imaginative adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic AS YOU LIKE IT, celebrating the enduring power of love in all its many disguises. Witty, playful and utterly magical, the story is a compelling romantic adventure in which Rosalind and Orlando’s celebrated courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry, banishment and exile in the Forest of Arden – set in 19th-century Japan. The film debuts TUESDAY, AUG. 21 9:00p.m. ET/PT, exclusively on HBO.
Marking Branagh’s fifth Shakespearean screen adaptation, AS YOU LIKE IT features a cast that includes: Brian Blessed (“I, Claudius”), Romola Garai (“Vanity Fair”), Bryce Dallas Howard (“Spider-Man 3”), Kevin Kline (Oscar®-winner for “A Fish Called Wanda”), Adrian Lester (“Hustle”), Janet McTeer (HBO Films’ upcoming “Five Days”), Alfred Molina (“The Da Vinci Code”) and David Oyelowo (HBO Films’ upcoming “Five Days”).
For more information visit HBO.com to read an interview with Brannagh here:
http://www.hbo.com/films/asyoulikeit/interviews/index.html
And check out this preview on iFilm: http://www.ifilm.com/video/2875849
PREMIERING AUG. 21, on HBO
HBO Films presents director Kenneth Branagh’s imaginative adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic AS YOU LIKE IT, celebrating the enduring power of love in all its many disguises. Witty, playful and utterly magical, the story is a compelling romantic adventure in which Rosalind and Orlando’s celebrated courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry, banishment and exile in the Forest of Arden – set in 19th-century Japan. The film debuts TUESDAY, AUG. 21 9:00p.m. ET/PT, exclusively on HBO.
Marking Branagh’s fifth Shakespearean screen adaptation, AS YOU LIKE IT features a cast that includes: Brian Blessed (“I, Claudius”), Romola Garai (“Vanity Fair”), Bryce Dallas Howard (“Spider-Man 3”), Kevin Kline (Oscar®-winner for “A Fish Called Wanda”), Adrian Lester (“Hustle”), Janet McTeer (HBO Films’ upcoming “Five Days”), Alfred Molina (“The Da Vinci Code”) and David Oyelowo (HBO Films’ upcoming “Five Days”).
For more information visit HBO.com to read an interview with Brannagh here:
http://www.hbo.com/films/asyoulikeit/interviews/index.html
And check out this preview on iFilm: http://www.ifilm.com/video/2875849
Friday, August 10, 2007
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Hamlet (2005)
Hamlet (2005)
"Hamlet", the Derry Film Initiative production of 2005, is now available to view online here:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-8957003244474950410
As Derry Film Initiative is a not-for-profit organization, and as everyone who contributed their time and talents to the production did so for nothing, it was decided by the producers and director that, rather than distributing the film commercially, it should be shared free of charge to reflect the spirit in which it was created.
"Hamlet", the Derry Film Initiative production of 2005, is now available to view online here:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-8957003244474950410
As Derry Film Initiative is a not-for-profit organization, and as everyone who contributed their time and talents to the production did so for nothing, it was decided by the producers and director that, rather than distributing the film commercially, it should be shared free of charge to reflect the spirit in which it was created.
Hamlet (2005)
Hamlet (2005)
"Hamlet", the Derry Film Initiative production of 2005, is now available to view online here:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-8957003244474950410
As Derry Film Initiative is a not-for-profit organization, and as everyone who contributed their time and talents to the production did so for nothing, it was decided by the producers and director that, rather than distributing the film commercially, it should be shared free of charge to reflect the spirit in which it was created.
"Hamlet", the Derry Film Initiative production of 2005, is now available to view online here:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-8957003244474950410
As Derry Film Initiative is a not-for-profit organization, and as everyone who contributed their time and talents to the production did so for nothing, it was decided by the producers and director that, rather than distributing the film commercially, it should be shared free of charge to reflect the spirit in which it was created.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Polish Radio – External Sernice - Shakespeare in Gdansk
Shakespeare in Gdansk
One of the week’s culture highlights is an International Shakespearean Festival in the Baltic city of Gdansk.
One of the week’s culture highlights is an International Shakespearean Festival in the Baltic city of Gdansk.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Monday, August 06, 2007
Thursday, August 02, 2007
by: JARREL WADE World Staff Writer, Tulsa World
8/1/2007
Active lessons stressed
A meddler may be who mixt Shakespeare and teens, but schooling those who teach the art yields gold.
Writing in iambic pentameter is no simple task, but teaching students to understand and enjoy Shakespeare in any meter is a feat many middle school English teachers and scholars of all levels fail each semester.
That is why Tulsa's branch of the English-Speaking Union hosted scholars from the the Folger Shakespeare Library from Washington, D.C., and others from around the country this week at the University of Tulsa's Zink Hall.
The Teaching Shakespeare Institute collected Shakespeare scholars from various fields of study and 30 teachers who learned new ways to teach Shakespeare in the program's three different styles of learning: scholarly lecture, teaching classes and teaching through performance.
Ruth Ann Willsey, chairwoman of the local English-Speaking Union's Shakespeare workshop, said the program brings together the country's most talented teachers to offer participants active, practical ways of teaching Shakespeare and the love of language.
"This has been so exciting for me. I can't believe how well it's going," she said. "I didn't do any exercises this morning because I was so tired" from Monday night's workshop, she said.
Michael LoMonico, Folger Shakespeare Library senior consultant, said the teachers who attended were among the best he has encountered through the program, which draws attention wherever it goes.
"We had people apply from out of Oklahoma that we didn't take because we wanted to concentrate on Oklahoma," he said.
About 23 of the institute's participants came from Oklahoma and seven came from out of state, including one from Idaho and another from North Carolina.
Amber Harrington, a teacher at Edison Preparatory School, said the program was intense, but it gave her an educational opportunity that is not specifically offered at many schools.
"I'm a drama teacher, so there isn't any professional development for me. I've never been to Shakespeare camp," she said.
Harrington and fellow teacher Miranda Johnson were performing in a scene Tuesday from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in which Caleen Jennings, professor at American University, told them to overact and have an action for each word to find individual meaning in the play.
"Leap in. Overact. Ham it up," Jennings told the enthusiastic participants. "We are our students."
She said the group was achieving the impossible with only two days devoted to acting and learning to teach Shakespeare from a stage instead of a book.
Lars Engle, chairman of the English department at TU, was a participant in the institute for acting but was also a faculty member who provided morning lectures and seminars.
"I tend to be teaching literature rather than drama, but we often use drama. We do little acting exercises in my classroom," he said.
Paul Stevenson, Edison Preparatory School curriculum specialist, said Tulsa was fortunate to get the institute to help improve local teachers' knowledge and teaching of classic literature.
"It's a real plum for Tulsa. It's something I think Tulsa can be proud of," he said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)