I've enjoyed the "Martha Speaks" books by Susan Meddaugh ever since LeVar Burton told me about the first one—Martha Speaks—on Reading Rainbow.
But it's relatively new news to me that PBS has a Martha Speaks show for children.
And for Shakespeare aficionados! In a recent show, Martha accidentally eats a copy of Hamlet (the actor had left a sandwich on it), and she starts speaking in Convenstional Shakespeare-Style Olde Englyssishe (CSSOE)—viz., a great prevalence of thee, thou, thy, doth, and -est endings of both nouns and verbs.
But she also quotes from the plays (notably Hamlet), and ends up being cast as Hamlet in a production. And the production is clever enough to use a title from Merchant of Venice and a few other interesting inside jokes (e.g., the solipsistic actor's name is "Armin Burbage").
I offer a few samples below, but you can watch the entire episode on-line. Just click here, and then click on the "Thou Callest Me a Dog" episode.
In this first clip, Martha's language malady is diagnosed:
The second clip shows her being offered the lead role in Hamlet.
The most famous six words in Shakespeare make up the entirety of the third clip:
Links: The Show at IMDB. The Episode on-line.
Click below to purchase a Martha Speaks DVD
(not the one from which this episode comes)
from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).
(not the one from which this episode comes)
from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).