Book Note: Hamlet Off Stage

Berry, D. C . Hamlet Off Stage. Texas Review Press, 2009.

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Longtime readers will know that I try to keep my finger on the pulse of modern literature that relates to Shakespeare.

Sometimes, that takes the form of poetry, as in the volume In a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare (q.v. for a representative example).

I don't remember where in my vast and copious reading this book came up, but I do know that I requested it, waited for it, checked it out, and put it in the pile for later. While it sat there, my mind placed it in the "plays to read" category.

But it's a collection of poems written from Hamlet's point of view.

And this Hamlet is a very angry one.

The collection as a whole doesn't altogether work. It's a bit too one-note, and that note is an uncomfortable one to hear. That's likely the intention, but it does get fairly old fairly quickly.

Nonetheless, I'd like to call our collective attention to three poems that stand out. The first is highly critical of the 1990 Zeffirelli film version of Hamlet—the one with Mel Gibson in the title role:

I like the play of sounds there, and the final line is good (though I don't know that I agree with its sentiment).

Next, we have a play on the character T. S. Eliot created who said, "No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be":

The advice is clear: Don't be like Prufrock. Whether Hamlet is able to follow that advice is uncertain.

Last, we have one where the poet uses all the different names for Hamlet that have been developing throughout the series:

That one is of primary interest in the way the multitude of names reflects the variety of perspectives on Hamlet.

One of these three may make its way into the syllabus when next I teach my Modern Shakespearean Fiction course, but the entirely collection won't.

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Book Note: Nine Girls

Pettitt, Wilfrid H. Nine Girls: A Play in a Prologue and Two Acts. The Dramatic Publishing Company, 1943.

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I need to post this today so that I don't lose my one-post-a-month streak!

My university recently put on a production of Nine Girls, a murder mystery play from 1943. It was a very good production of a pretty good play.

And it has some Shakespeare in it!

The plot involves eight women—all part of the same sorority—who are off in a cabin in the woods when they hear the news that a ninth woman of their fairly-tight-knit group has been murdered. The news bulletin actually interrupts the radio Shakespeare program that they were (some happily, some less so) listening to:

Note: Spoilers follow.

It turns out that one of their number is the murderer—and she murders a second time to cover up the first.

Later, Sharon (our resident Shakespeare Freak) enters, practicing for her role as Lady Macbeth:

I'm very fond of that comedic moment.

The play itself is fair (though our actors performed it quite wonderfully), and it's a useful play to have on hand if you have far more female Theatre majors than male.

As a final image, I'll provide you with the original set:

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Book Note: Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud

Greenblatt, Stephen, and Adam Phillips. Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud. Yale University Press, 2024.

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Stephen Greenblatt's new book on Kit Marlowe is on my list, but that will need to wait until the library purchases a copy.

In the meantime, I'm catching up on other Greenblatt that I've missed, including Second Chances, a recent collaboration with Adam Phillips. The scheme is that both authors will deal with Freud and Shakespeare—Greenblatt using some Freudian theory to interpret Shakespeare and Phillips concentrating on analyzing Freud.

I've been puzzling over the book for a while. The second half of Second Chances (Phillips' section) is beyond me. And the first half (Greenblatt's) seems too basic.

I think Greenblatt relies too heavily of plot summary, and he does that very well—but it doesn't amount to analysis. It distills something of the genius of Shakespeare, and we all benefit from that, but it doesn't take us very far. 

All the same, Greenblatt tells (or re-tells) a good story. I was struck by some of his work on The Winter's Tale in particular:

. . . and so it goes. That's fairly solid, and it's not too speculative (a common failing in Greenblatt when dealing with Shakespeare's biography).

I'm glad I read it, but I won't be going back to it.

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Book Note: Drury Lane's Last Case

Queen, Ellery [Barnaby Ross, pseud.]. Drury Lane's Last Case: The Tragedy of 1599. Little, Brown, 1946.

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Unavoidably (at least for me), when I started planning a course called "Studies in the Novel: Mystery and Detective Fiction," I gravitated toward the Shakespearean possibilities. Ngaio Marsh will make an appearance with her Death at the Dolphin (for which, q.v.), though not with her Light Thickens (for which, q.v.). Agatha Christie's Nemesis (for which, q.v.) may be assigned to a group—but for reasons besides its use of Shakespeare.

But I've also been exploring novels that have some sort of Shakespearean connection that I'd not previously read.

Ellery Queen (under the pseudonym Barnaby Ross) has written four Drury Lane novels; this, as may be evident by the title, is the final one.

I came to Drury Lane's Last Case without encountering the hearing-impaired, lip-reading, former-Shakespearean-acting amateur detective in the other novels (The Tragedy of X, The Tragedy of Y, and The Tragedy of Z for those of you keeping score), and I think having done so would have increased my enjoyment of this one—but it also worked very well as a standalone mystery.

During Shakespeare's lifetime, a volume of poetry entitled The Passionate Pilgrim was published under Shakespeare's name—though only about 25% of the poems were authentically by Shakespeare. Its first edition was printed in 1599 (or, possibly 1598); a second, expanded edition was printed in 1612. 

As Grandmother Jones used to say, I told you that to tell you this. Part of the plot of Drury Lane's Last Case involves the theft of the rare 1599 edition of The Passionate Pilgrim . . . and its immediate replacement with the even rarer (in the world of the novel; elsewhere, it's non-existent) 1606 edition!

All that is part of a larger mystery, but that's the primary Shakespearean connection.

Here's a representative chapter (apologies for the difficulty of reading the later pages, but I didn't want to damage the binding of the 1946 edition I had in hand):

The mystery is solid and intriguing (though the m-e-t-h-o-d o-f l-o-v-e in the romantic subplot is by no means modern). Give it a try!

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Bonus Image: The Title Page of the 1946 Edition

Book Note: Manga Shakespeare: King Lear

Appignanesi, Richard (Adaptation), and Ilya (Illustrations). Manga Shakespeare: King Lear. Amulet Books, 2009.

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Honestly, I don't know quite what to make of Manga Shakespeare: King Lear. First, I suppose, it's far more graphic novel than strictly manga. But that's mostly a quibble.

The book sets the plot of King Lear in America in the 1750s in the troublesome time between the colonizers (French and British) and the members of the Iroquois Confederacy. So far, so good. Lear's story could be made interestingly relevant to that setting. The characters are divided into Native Americans (Lear, Kent, the Fool, Cordelia, Edmund), Colonizers (Gloucester, Cornwall, Regan and Goneril—unless those last two are meant to be merely adopting the dress, manners, and facial expressions of the Colonizers), and Mountain Men (Gloucester and Edgar). Again, so far, so good.

But there's nothing beyond that that shows us how the story tells us anything about that time period or those relationships. Therefore, the setting seems arbitrary rather than telling or compelling.

Here are some illustrative images from the book:

It's well done—as far as it goes. It just doesn't go very far.

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An Evil Prospero Analogue Quotes from The Tempest in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

“Our Man Bashir.” By Ronald D. Moore. Perf. Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Alexander Siddig, Terry Farrell, Colm Meaney, Nana Visitor, Andrew Robinson, Carlos Lacamara, Joseph Ruskin, Darwyn Carson, Julianna McCarthy, and Paul Dooley. Dir. Avery Brooks. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Season 4, episode 9. Syndicated television. 27 November 1995. DVD. Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, 2021.

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Inspired by the podcast Star Trek: The Next Conversation, I've been re-watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, this time with an eye more peeled for Shakespeare.

At this point, I'm well ahead of the podcast, but I'll be certain to call their attention to the Shakespeare in "Our Man Bashir."

Unfortunately, there's not much Shakespeare here. In this episode, something (imagine that) has gone wrong with the holosuite. I won't trouble you with the details, but Dr. Bashir is playing (essentially) James Bond, Kira is the Russian femme fatal, and Captain Sisko is the evil villain.

The Shakespeare comes in when the evil villain reveals his dastardly plot:

For those of you who aren't terribly fond of Prospero, this can be taken as an interpretation of his twisted vision of his power over the island (even though he appropriates Miranda's line for his idea of the future). Through science (rather than magic), he'll have complete authority over the vastly-geographically-reduced brave new world.

To provide much-needed additional depth to what is otherwise a pretty disappointing episode, we're given a biblical allusion as well: The evil genius is named Dr. Noah.

Beyond that, there's not much positive to say about the episode. But the allusions to Shakespeare and the Bible do raise the overall tone somewhat.

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Links: The Episode at IMDB. Subscribe to Star Trek: The Next Conversation.

For more connections between Star Trek and Shakespeare, head to Shakespeare and Star Trek Complete.

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Book Note (Short Story Note, Really): "Dead in Deptford"

Aird, Catherine. "Dead in Deptford." In Playing Dead: Short Stories in Honor of Simon Brett by Members of the Detection Club. Edited by Martin Edwards. Severn House, 2025. 133–40.

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The short story "Dead in Depford" is, for me, doubly tangential: It's tangentially connected to Shakespeare, and it's tangentially connected to mystery and detective fiction.

The plot involves a group—or club, really—of retired police officers who gather to talk about all sorts of things. In this instance, they're discussing the death of Christopher Marlowe in 1593. Our main character claims to have solved the mystery of his murder.

Therein lie both the tangents. Marlowe was a contemporary of Shakespeare (who is dismissively mentioned on page 135); that's the first. The second is that the mystery of Marlowe's death isn't addressed in any particularly definitive "detective story" manner. The "solution" isn't terribly interesting, nor is it genuinely based in any sort of detection from the facts of the case.

Indeed, it all comes down to one simple—and not terribly convincing or compelling—idea about Marlowe's death. Note: It isn't a conspiracy-theory solution. That's all.

The story attempt to overcome this defect by breaking up what could be one paragraph with interruptions and reactions from the other retired police officers. That's amusing, but it doesn't manage to elevate the story significantly.

Here are a few pages to give you an idea:

Although I do like the individual characterization worked in throughout, there's just not much here.

But feel free to discuss this in the comments!

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An Elementary Error about Shakespeare's Signature in Elementary?

“Pushing Buttons.” By Jeffrey Paul King. Perf. Jonny Lee Miller, Lucy Liu Jon Michael Hill, and Aidan Quinn. Dir. Christine Moore. Elementary. Season 6, episode 3. CBS. 14 May, 2018. DVD. Paramount, 2019.

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Recently, it's all about the mysteries, isn't it?

Shakespeare has made his way into the modernized Sherlock Holmes show Elementary before (for which, q.v.), and that by way of a relatively-obscure quotation.

Here, Shakespeare appears by way of example in claim is about the relative values of signatures:

But I'm not sure that's accurate. The show says that there are fifty-one authenticated signatures of Button Gwinnett. There are six Shakespeare signatures extant (seven, if you count the one on the Folger Shakespeare Library's copy of William Lambarde’s Archaionomia). I've done some searching, and I can't find anything about any of those being sold as a signature of Shakespeare's (the sixth was discovered in 1909, and, had it been sold around that date, it would have likely sold for considerably less than it would today). Note: Please let me know in the comments if I'm overlooking something.

But there are records of Gwinnett's signature being sold at auction: One sold at Christie's in 2002 for $270,000 (with free shipping, I see); another sold for $722,500 at Sotheby’s in 2010 (this may be the signature Elementary is referencing, though they've rounded up considerably—or else the show's stated price includes shipping costs).

In a sense, then, Sherlock's claim is correct. Button Gwinnett's signatures have sold for more than any one of Shakespeare's. 

But imagine that an eighth Shakespeare signature were discovered and authenticated. Even though I acknowledge that my bias leans more toward Shakespeare than toward obscure Revolutionary War figures, don't you imagine that one of eight highly-sought-after signatures would fetch more than one of fifty-one?

Sherlock knows a lot about what he knows about—types of tobacco ash, types of municipal gravel—but when it comes to knowledge about his own national poet, I think he misses the mark.

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Links: The Episode at IMDB.

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Book Note: Bullets for Macbeth

Kaye, Marvin. Bullets for Macbeth. Saturday Review Press / E. P. Dutton & Company, 1976.

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Alert readers will have noticed an uptick in posts on Shakespeare-related mysteries on Bardfilm. I've been working on a possibility for a new course on mystery and detective fiction, and, as is my modus operandi, I've been exploring ways to incorporate Shakespeare into the course.

I'll certainly have James Thurber's "Macbeth Murder Mystery" (for which, q.v.) as a reading early in the course, and I'm thinking of assigning Ngaio Marsh's Death at the Dolphin (for which, q.v.)  as the novel representing her work—it may not be her best work, but it's representative, and it's better than Light Thickens (for which, q.v.).

But I also want to branch out and explore some mysteries I haven't read. Bullets for Macbeth is unlikely to make the main list, but it might serve as a choice for a supplementary novel. It has its flaws (the relationship between the two main characters seems generic and forced), but it's quite compelling and, at least for the Shakespeare scholar, it falls into the "genuine page-turner" category.

The first interesting twist is that our two detectives, while falling clearly into the classification "Private Investigators," aren't actually PIs. Gene, our narrator, has an investigator's license, but he's actually working as an assistant to Hilary Quayle, who runs a Public Relations firm but has an affinity for detective work.

The second is that the mystery's plot depends on the scholarly debate over the identity of the Third Murderer (which is also a key point in Thurber's short story). The director has a theory about who Shakespeare would have intended to double that role, but he won't reveal it to anyone until opening night—and the actor isn't called on to play the role until the dress rehearsal. And I'm not giving much of a spoiler to say that that's when the murder occurs.

If you know who the Third Murderer is, you know who the mystery's murder is.

Let me give you a fair bit of Chapter Two so you can see how this starts to play out:

That's more than I normally provide in a post, but it provides a very good sense of how the novel works.

I do recommend the novel. It's relatively short and quite compelling. And the overal solution is quite clever and convincing.

But that doesn't mean that I agree with the director's argument about which character in the play doubles as Third Murderer.

Feel free to join the conversation in the comments—unlike this post, they are not a spoiler-free zone.

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