tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75810998727246836502012-01-28T10:25:44.750-06:00Bardfilm, the Shakespeare and Film Microblog, is a blog that comments on films, plays, and other matters related to Shakespeare.kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.comBlogger5911100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-46694761947677662672012-01-17T08:00:00.002-06:002012-01-17T08:00:06.251-06:00

Theatre of Blood. Dir. Douglas Hickox. Perf. Vincent Price and Diana Rigg. 1973. DVD. MGM, 2001.While working on an article that deals with film versions of Titus Andronicus, I remembered Vincent Price's Theater of Blood. I first saw the film when I was in eighth or ninth grade. It was broadcast as a Saturday Morning Film on KPLR-TV (Channel 11) in St. Louis, and what they were doing

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-73377113990332913402012-01-16T07:05:00.004-06:002012-01-16T07:29:39.018-06:00

The Tempest. Dir. Julie Taymor. Perf. Helen Mirren, Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, Djimon Hounsou, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, Alan Cumming, Ben Whishaw, Reeve Carney, Felicity Jones, and Tom Conti. 2010. DVD. Miramax, 2011.Thanks to all who submitted their favorite quotes from The Tempest to our recent Tempest Giveaway (for which, q.v.). We have our winners:

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-68490276908926743472012-01-11T09:23:00.010-06:002012-01-11T10:26:42.016-06:00

"Bleak Midwinter." By Foyle's War. Season 4, episode 3 (in American markets); Season 5, episode 1 (in British markets). ITV. 11 February 2007. DVD. Acorn Media, 2007. If you're patient with British dramatic television series, they will usually reward you with a Shakespeare allusion or two—or even, if you're lucky, a quotation. For example, I detected no Shakespeare in the first season of

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-64839670500674823582012-01-10T08:00:00.006-06:002012-01-16T07:28:45.965-06:00

The Tempest. Dir. Julie Taymor. Perf. Helen Mirren, Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, Djimon Hounsou, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, Alan Cumming, Ben Whishaw, Reeve Carney, Felicity Jones, and Tom Conti. 2010. DVD. Miramax, 2011.Thanks to the kindness of Disney Studios In-Home Entertainment, I have five copies of Julie Taymor's Tempest to give away. The last time I had a giveaway, readers were

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-57441298351401343012012-01-09T08:00:00.002-06:002012-01-09T08:34:29.678-06:00

St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold. Dir. Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson. Perf. Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, David Tennant, Talulah Riley, Tamsin Egerton, Zawe Ashton, and Toby Jones. 2009. DVD. The film also has David Tennant as miscellaneous evil villain.Some time ago, I watched St. Trinian's, hoping to find some Shakespeare allusions. It had a grand total of one. For you

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-31946328427452220072012-01-05T11:19:00.006-06:002012-01-05T11:45:39.830-06:00

Woelfle, Gretchen. All the World's a Stage: A Novel in Five Acts. Illus Thomas Cox. New York: Holiday House, 2011.Please allow me to throw out a quick review of a book that I read at the beginning of Christmas break.All the World's a Stage: A Novel in Five Acts has, at its center, an imaginative re-enactment of the events described at the opening of James Shapiro's 1599: A Year in the Life

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-744949336209977592012-01-04T08:00:00.000-06:002012-01-04T08:00:01.901-06:00

“Romeo & Juliet & Dick.” By Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner. Perf. John Lithgow, Kristen Johnston, French Stewart, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Wayne Knight, and Jane Curtin. Dir. Robert Berlinger. 3rd Rock from the Sun. Season 2, episode 14. NBC. 12 January 1997. DVD. Mill Creek Entertainment, 2011.Following the lead provided by avid Bardfilm reader and Twitter user @GtThee2ANunnery, I glanced

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-14308076207600124132012-01-02T17:24:00.006-06:002012-01-03T07:12:21.644-06:00

Being John Malkovich. Dir. Spike Jonze. Perf. John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener . . . and John Malkovich. 1999. DVD. Universal Studios, 2003.The odd, delightful, disturbing Being John Malkovich has a few bits of Shakespeare thrown in to the odd, delightful, disturbing mix. Malkovich, whose brain (in the film, at least) can be entered from an odd, disturbing tunnel, is rehearsing

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-25058808933229821532011-12-13T09:10:00.003-06:002011-12-13T09:23:35.169-06:00

“Body and Soul and Dick.” By Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner. Perf. John Lithgow, Kristen Johnston, French Stewart, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Jane Curtin. Dir. Robert Berlinger. 3rd Rock from the Sun. Season 1, episode 8. NBC. 27 February 1996. DVD. Mill Creek Entertainment, 2011.Shamefacedly, I admit that I know next to nothing about this show. However, avid Bardfilm reader and Twitter

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-32230677769814475602011-12-08T08:42:00.006-06:002011-12-08T09:37:51.524-06:00

Prince of the Himalayas [Ban dao yin xiang; a.k.a. Ximalaya wangzi]. Dir. Sherwood Hu. Perf. Purba Rgyal, Dobrgyal, Zomskyid, Sonamdolgar, Lobden, and Lopsang. Hus Entertainment, Shanghai Film Studios. 20 October 2006. Starting on Friday, December 23, and running periodically through mid-January, the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City will be screening the astonishing Tibetan derivative

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-52040083930493184842011-12-02T08:57:00.007-06:002011-12-05T09:48:43.591-06:00

Dyce, Alexander, ed. The Works of Thomas Middleton: Now first collected, with some account of the author and notes by the Reverend Alexander Dyce. By Thomas Middleton. Vol. 1. London: Edward Lumley, 1840. 5 vols.In an attempt to address the mistaken idea that Shakespeare's burial record is odd in not indicating his poetic abilities (for which, q.v.), I started on a quest to find contemporary

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-66662116642509007222011-11-30T15:00:00.001-06:002011-11-30T15:03:42.871-06:00

Fire Over England. Dir. William K. Howard. Perf. Laurence Olivier, Flora Robson, and Vivien Leigh. 1937. Videocassette. After an earlier post on Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth I, I remembered that the 1937 film Fire Over England also has a version of Elizabeth I's speech at Tilbury. That film's version is much more thrilling and much more moving—possibly because it's closer to the actual thrilling

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-19796392136105724932011-11-29T12:00:00.003-06:002011-11-29T13:45:33.616-06:00

The Merchant of Venice. Dir. Trevor Nunn. Perf. Gabrielle Jourdan and Lawrence Werber. 2001. DVD. Lexington Road Entertainment Group, 2001.The anti-Semitic attitudes portrayed in The Merchant of Venice cannot be eliminated. Although we may loathe them, those attitudes are an integral part of the plot—as are the attitudes sympathetic to Jews that the play presents. Whether Shakespeare

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-74005103758044270962011-11-24T08:00:00.001-06:002011-11-24T08:23:48.123-06:00

Much Ado About Nothing. Dir. Kenneth Branagh. Perf. Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton and Keanu Reeves. 1993. DVD. MGM, 2003.We all occasionally find it difficult to find adequate words to give thanks.When we do, we turn to Shakespeare.Perhaps the best expression of thanks in the Shakespeare canon is Don John's terrific monologue in Much Ado About Nothing, here

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-49783526089537581222011-11-22T08:00:00.002-06:002011-11-22T08:28:15.552-06:00

Franson, J. Karl. "Shakespeare in the King James Bible." Notes and Queries 16 (1977): 21. A while ago, I wrote a post on the oft-touted theory that Shakespeare had a hand in the translation of Psalm 46. The idea is based on the fact that the forty-sixth word of the forty-sixth Psalm in the King James Version is "shake" and the forty-seventh (or the forty-sixth, if you leave out the closing "

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-15145278362579426882011-11-10T11:32:00.002-06:002011-11-10T12:01:26.251-06:00

Shakespeare, William. Dear Diary: You Won't Believe What I Did from 1585 to 1592. Stratford: The Press-upon-Avon, 1593.I recently read about a person who became skeptical of Shakespeare's authorship when he learned that there is no extant diary of Shakespeare's. He later became an Oxfordian—presumably on other grounds, because the Earl's diary isn't extant, either.Modern expectations are

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-85361392249155898722011-11-09T10:09:00.006-06:002011-11-09T10:35:17.933-06:00

Leslie Howard? Orson Welles? Charles Dickens? James Joyce? In the last two posts, I’ve argued that Orson Welles and Leslie Howard do not belong on the lists of famous people who hold the Oxfordian position on which they frequently appear. I could spend some more time debunking other names about which I am skeptical, but I’d rather make one last sweeping statement about them all.The

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-29708514388516177202011-11-08T08:00:00.002-06:002011-11-09T09:43:29.491-06:00

Beaton, Cecil, and Kenneth Tynan. Persona Grata. New York: Putnam, 1954. Orson Welles has been making his way onto lists of Oxfordians complied by Oxfordians. I wish that I could simply say that there is no evidence to connect Orson Welles to the conspiracy theory that the Earl of Oxford wrote the works attributed to William Shakespeare. But I can say that the tiny bit of evidence connecting

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-13396728038593498812011-11-07T09:00:00.016-06:002011-11-07T20:56:41.673-06:00

Eforgan, Estel. Leslie Howard: The Lost Actor. London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2010.Boyle, Charles. Another Hamlet: The Mystery of Leslie Howard. N.p.: Forever Press, 2011.Pimpernel Smith (a.k.a. Mister V). Dir. Leslie Howard. Perf. Leslie Howard. 1941. British National Films, 1941. Timeless Multimedia, 1997.Shapiro, James. Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? New York: Simon &

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-24022457060454045022011-11-04T18:55:00.006-05:002012-01-16T07:06:26.829-06:00

Shapiro, James. Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010.Anonymous. Dir. Edward D. Wood, Jr. Perf. David Hasselhoff, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mark Wahlberg, Lindsay Lohan, and Willem Dafoe. Columbia Pictures. 30 September 2011.They write the haiku.The judges deliberate.Victory is sweet.Thanks to all who submitted haiku to our recent Authorship Haiku Competition

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-91012382213180600002011-11-02T10:00:00.006-05:002011-11-04T10:23:16.532-05:00

The Merchant of Venice. Dir. Trevor Nunn. Perf. Gabrielle Jourdan and Lawrence Werber. 2001. DVD. Lexington Road Entertainment Group, 2001.Near the beginning of the trial scene in The Merchant of Venice, the Duke makes a speech that foregrounds what is to follow and gives directors and actors some interesting leeway for playing it. After Shylock enters, he is asked to stand before the Duke,

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-59724944321916230352011-10-28T06:16:00.009-05:002012-01-16T07:08:03.185-06:00

Shapiro, James. Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010.Anonymous. Dir. Edward D. Wood, Jr. Perf. David Hasselhoff, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mark Wahlberg, Lindsay Lohan, and Willem Dafoe. Columbia Pictures. 30 September 2011.Thanks to the kind auspices of Simon and Schuster, I have two copies of James Shapiro's magisterial Contested Will: Who Wrote

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-71283625897873853352011-10-10T10:00:00.006-05:002011-10-10T10:07:25.689-05:00

"Episode Two." By Douglas Adams. Perf. Peter Jones, Simon Jones, David Dixon, Sandra Dickinson, Mark Wing-Davey, and Stephen Moore. Dir. Alan J. W. Bell. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Season 1, episode 2. BBC. 12 January 1981. DVD. BBC Worldwide, 2002.The Shakesphere recently re-considered the perennial question of whether an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-87539467709383856642011-09-28T11:27:00.003-05:002011-09-28T11:32:26.502-05:00

Much Ado About Nothing. Dir. Joe Dowling. Perf. Robert O. Berdahl, Raye Birk, Michael Booth, Dennis Creaghan, Bob Davis, Laura Esping, Nathaniel Fuller, Daniel Gerroll, Peter Michael Goetz, Emily Gunyou Halaas, H. Adam Harris, David Manis, Bill McCallum, Ron Menzel, Dearbhla Molloy, Michelle O'Neill, and Max Polski. Guthrie Theatre Company. Minneapolis. 10 September—5 November 2011. We're

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-50615813315099473472011-09-14T10:00:00.001-05:002011-09-14T11:30:43.661-05:00

Much Ado About Nothing. Dir. Joe Dowling. Perf. Robert O. Berdahl, Raye Birk, Michael Booth, Dennis Creaghan, Bob Davis, Laura Esping, Nathaniel Fuller, Daniel Gerroll, Peter Michael Goetz, Emily Gunyou Halaas, H. Adam Harris, David Manis, Bill McCallum, Ron Menzel, Dearbhla Molloy, Michelle O'Neill, and Max Polski. Guthrie Theatre Company. Minneapolis. 10 September—5 November 2011. On

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-40155072630259203932011-09-06T10:00:00.000-05:002011-09-06T10:13:19.013-05:00

Jones, Keith. "The Immeasurable Rewards of Directing Shakespeare in a Grade School." Making a Scene: Shakespeare in the Classroom. 6 September 2011. Folger Shakespeare Library, 2011.Having directed two grade-school productions of Shakespeare plays, I naturally count myself the definitive expert in the field.And, naturally, by “definitive expert,” I mean “dedicated amateur.”It was in that

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-60729340708058169312011-09-05T08:00:00.012-05:002011-11-22T08:17:54.687-06:00

Franson, J. Karl. "Shakespeare in the King James Bible." Notes and Queries 16 (1977): 21. Note: An update to this post may be found here. The conclusions are the same, but the updated post covers additional information about the evidence.I'm sorry if the question above is a bit misleading. The correct answer is "None of them," but the story frequently makes the rounds that he contributed to

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-68948533076450771512011-08-18T08:00:00.007-05:002011-11-30T14:42:32.785-06:00

Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Dir. Shekhar Kapur. Perf. Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush. 2007. DVD. Universal Studios, 2008.Elizabeth: The Golden Age answers the golden, age-old question of what would happen if you took a thrilling narrative, an immense budget, a number of top-notch actors and actresses, a lush soundtrack, and beautiful cinematography and tried to make it as bone-wearyingly

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-63632477224532695462011-08-16T08:00:00.003-05:002011-08-16T14:04:12.278-05:00

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. Dir. Michael Curtiz. Perf. Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Vincent Price, Donald Crisp, Alan Hale, and Olivia de Havilland. 1939. DVD. Warner Home Video, 2005.I watched this film some time ago, more as a curiosity about how the times of Shakespeare were portrayed in film in the 1930s than anything else. I found it to be wonderful and terrible in equal

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-53545599278765877642011-08-11T08:00:00.001-05:002011-08-11T08:17:30.251-05:00

“Quality of Mercy.” By Alan Plater. Perf. Kevin Whately, Jo Herbert, Bryan Dick, and Ronan Vibert. Dir. Bille Eltringham. Inspector Lewis. Season 3, episode 2 [also listed as Season 2, episode 6]. BBC. 29 March 2009. DVD. PBS, 2010. Mysteries invoking Shakespeare are often difficult to write about. Being analytical without giving spoilers is difficult. Bardfilm circumvents that

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-5911546944394812822011-08-09T08:00:00.000-05:002011-08-09T08:00:01.634-05:00

Rockin' Romeo and Juliet. Dir. David McGaw. Oto Brezina, Stephen Burr, and Tristan Creeley. 2006. Chockablock Productions, 2006. A theme of obscure and odd Romeo and Juliet-related material seems to be inadvertently developing. To follow that trend a bit further, I'll draw our collective attention to the trailer for a weird (not "Wëird Sisters" weird—just weird weird) film titled Rockin' Romeo

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-72817802229583945812011-08-04T08:00:00.002-05:002011-08-04T08:00:19.597-05:00

Romeo and Juliet: A Monkey’s Tale. Dir. Karina Holden. Perf. Tim Hopper and Thousands of Monkeys. 2007. DVD. Animal Planet, 2008. When I first wrote on this film, I was a bit dismissive (for which, q.v.). I'm still pretty dismissive, but now I have a video clip to back up my dismissiveness!Actually, the film isn't bad. It's an intriguing way of telling us about these amazing monkeys—it

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-70176275537466211932011-08-02T09:00:00.002-05:002011-08-02T09:00:07.564-05:00

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Undead. Dir. Jordan Galland. Perf. Jake Hoffman and Devon Aoki. 2009. DVD. C Plus Pictures / Indican, 2010. My hopes were high for this film. When I first learned about it—back in 2008, no less (for which, q.v.)—I was skeptical, but, as the release date was pushed back and pushed back, I became more and more entranced.Perhaps because my hopes were so high,

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-9120138301267158082011-07-22T07:00:00.003-05:002011-07-22T07:12:06.411-05:00

A Time to Love [Qing ren jie]. Dir. Jianqi Huo. Perf. Wei Zhao and Yi Lu. 2005. DVD. N.p., 2009. For five brain-packing weeks, the attendees of this year’s Folger Summer Institute studied under the general title “Shakespeare: From the Globe to the Global.” We intensely and deeply explored innumerable aspects of the world in Shakespeare’s day and Shakespeare in today’s world. Of

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-40031944566589710252011-07-21T09:00:00.003-05:002011-07-21T11:12:15.712-05:00

Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. Dir. Phil Nibbelink. Perf. Daniel Trippett, Tricia Trippett, and Chip Albers. 2006. DVD. Indican , 2007.I'm sure Shakespeare Geek will be among the first to point out that he mentioned this film in 2006. He's always cutting edge, and I'm always limping along behind.All the same, I often—eventually—get there. This time, when I got there, I found seals

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-75694588523134734442011-07-19T11:25:00.008-05:002011-07-19T20:47:36.366-05:00

CGI Macbeth. Dir. Daniel Gallagher. Perf. Kevin McLeod and LibriVox. Bright Red Productions, 2011.The alternate title for this post is "Do Androids Dream of Daggers that They See Before Them, the Handles Toward Their Hands?" The second alternate is "I, Robot Macbeth."A new version of Macbeth may be coming, and I owe my knowledge of it to Shakespeare Geek. The twist this time involves an

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-72117277555490582242011-07-14T09:00:00.004-05:002011-07-18T09:45:33.963-05:00

The Last Lear. Dir. Rituparno Ghosh. Perf. Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, and Arjun Rampal. 2007. DVD. V One, 2008.And the last Lear post in this brief Lear sequence is The Last Lear. The film is Indian, and it centers on the relationship between an aging actor and an aspiring director.In the scene below, the director tries to convince the actor to play a role in his latest film:

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-14101430729733214082011-07-12T09:00:00.004-05:002011-07-12T09:00:04.760-05:00

House of Strangers. Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Perf. Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward, and Richard Conte. 1949. DVD. Twentieth Century Fox, 2006.House of Strangers is a derivative of King Lear where three of four sons (instead of two of three daughters) take over their father's kingdom. In this film, the kingdom is a bank, and the king (Gino Monetti, the bank's director) doesn't willingly

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-70168770333231916032011-07-07T09:00:00.006-05:002011-07-07T09:00:08.503-05:00

The Madness of King George. Dir. Nicholas Hytner. Perf. Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, and Ian Holm. 1994. DVD. MGM, 2001.I think I've gathered enough material for a few posts on the use of King Lear in films that aren't King Lear.The first of them comes from a pair of alert readers. They let me know that there's a scene in The Madness of King George in which King Lear plays a prominent

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-64933488999465948262011-07-05T09:00:00.005-05:002011-07-05T09:00:12.549-05:00

“Hamlet.” By Joel Hodgson and Paul Chaplin. Perf. Kevin Murphy, Michael J. Nelson, Mary Jo Pehl, Bill Corbett, and Patrick Brantseg. Dir. Kevin Murphy. Mystery Science Theater 3000. Season 10, episode 9. Sci-Fi Channel. 27 June 1999. DVD. Rhino Theatrical, 2003. During the course of my Literature of Humor class, I had cause to mention Mystery Science Theater 3000 and its Hamlet episode.

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-32885051017188800592011-06-30T09:00:00.006-05:002011-07-27T10:36:55.932-05:00

The Best of MacNeil / Lehrer: Shakespeare on the News Hour. DVD. MacNeil / Lehrer Productions, 2007.The connections between Shakespeare and The MacNeil / Lehrer News Hour are not limited to Robert MacNeil's terrific appearance in the Almereyda Hamlet (for which, q.v.). A DVD containing six stories The News Hour did on Shakespeare-related subjects was released in 2007:"The Heart of My Mystery"

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-26006516095798444422011-06-28T09:00:00.005-05:002011-06-28T09:00:01.710-05:00

Acting Shakespeare. Dir. Kirk Browning. Perf. Ian McKellen. 1982. DVD. E1 Entertainment, 2010.Some years after Playing Shakespeare started, Ian McKellen (Sir Ian to us now) put on a one-man show in which he delivers the greatest hits of Shakespeare along with anecdotes and commentary.The show is intriguing, more as an avenue of insight into attitudes on Shakespeare in the 1980s than anything

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-58552975535802309042011-06-24T06:23:00.005-05:002011-06-24T06:52:44.730-05:00

Henry IV, Part 1. Dir. Paul Barnes. Perf.Tarah Flanagan, Jonathan Gillard Daly, Doug Scholz-Carlson, Chris Mixon, Corey Allen, Kate Fonville, Michael Fitzpatrick, and Christopher Gerson. Great River Shakespeare Festival. Winona, Minnesota. 22 June 22 to 31 July 2011.A Midsummer Night's Dream. Dir. Alec Wild. Perf. Tarah Flanagan, Jonathan Gillard Daly, Doug Scholz-Carlson, Chris Mixon,

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-45797181310235126632011-06-23T09:00:00.006-05:002011-06-23T09:00:02.406-05:00

Playing Shakespeare. Dir. John Carlaw and Peter Walker. Perf. Trevor Nunn, John Barton, David Suchet, Alan Howard, Michael Pennington, Patrick Stewart, Lisa Harrow, Jane Lapotaire, Ian McKellen, and Ben Kingsley. 1979-1984. DVD. Athena, 2009.Fry and Laurie's amazing parody may have its origin in something else amazing: Playing Shakespeare. The four-disc set contains some of the most

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-79878022580636984352011-06-21T09:00:00.005-05:002011-06-21T09:00:08.068-05:00

The Cambridge University Footlights Revue. Dir. John Kilby. Perf. Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and Emma Thompson. 1982. A Bit of Fry and Laurie: Season Two. Special Feature. DVD. BBC Warner, 2007.This intriguing, early, and Shakespeare-related clip from the masterful comedy duo Fry and Laurie has been around for a long time, but it took me nearly all of that time to track down its origins (to

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-15693612512104867782011-06-16T09:00:00.001-05:002011-06-25T06:45:43.379-05:00

"One, Two, Buckle my Shoe." By Clive Exton. Perf. David Suchet and Philip Jackson. Dir. Ross Devenish. Agatha Christie's Poirot. Season 4, episode 3. ITV. 19 January 1992. DVD. Acorn Media, 2001.Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot, and India meet in this made-for-television adaptation of Christie's One, Two, Buckle my Shoe.It's hard to write about mysteries because it's too easy to

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-44773904154063882722011-06-14T09:00:00.001-05:002011-06-14T09:00:03.325-05:00

Hamlet. Dir. Gregory Doran. Perf. David Tennant, Patrick Stewart, Penny Downie, Oliver Ford Davies, and Mariah Gale. 2009. DVD. BBC Warner 2010.Although I hope to post a longer, more-detailed essay on the David Tennant / Patrick Stewart Hamlet at some point, I don't anticipate being able to do so any time soon. I used it with my last Shakespeare and Film class, and it worked quite well,

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-631013192115722932011-06-11T09:00:00.002-05:002011-06-12T07:37:22.255-05:00

“Shakespeare: From the Globe to the Global.” National Endowment for the Humanities. Folger Shakespeare Library. Folger Summer Institute, 2011. Photo Credit: Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library.As you know all, I'll be attending this year’s Folger Summer Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The amount of work that we'll all be doing is only eclipsed by the amount of fun all that work

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-65626789278602489752011-06-10T09:00:00.005-05:002011-06-10T09:00:05.464-05:00

Still Dreaming. Dir. Hank Rogerson and Jilann Spitzmiller. Perf. Demos Condos, Harold Cherry, Doris Belack, and Barbara Moore. 2011.The producers and directors of Shakespeare Behind Bars, a fascinating documentary about inmates at Luther Luckett Correctional Complex who put on productions of Shakespeare plays, are in the midst of producing a new documentary. In Still Dreaming, they hope to

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-56634098595551429042011-06-08T09:00:00.008-05:002011-06-08T09:00:01.414-05:00

"Episode 6." By Alan Whiting. Perf. Stephen Fry, Karl Davies, Celia Imrie, Tony Slattery, and Phyllida Law. Dir. Edward Hall. Kingdom. Season 2, episode 6. ITV. 17 February 2008. DVD. BFS Entertainment, 2009.Another British Comic Drama has even more Shakespeare embedded in it. In addition to a few passing references throughout the series, the last episode of season two of Kingdom (staring

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-38505519246332827592011-06-06T09:00:00.000-05:002011-06-06T09:00:11.040-05:00

"Happily Ever After" [a.k.a. "In Sickness and in Health"]. By Jack Lothian and Dominic Minghella. Perf. Martin Clunes, Caroline Catz, and David Ryall. Dir. Ben Bolt. Doc Martin. Season 3, episode 7. ITV. 5 November 2007. DVD. Acorn Media, 2011.Shakespeare is, in one sense at least, like dessert: there's always room for a little Shakespeare.Although it took until almost the last moment in

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-84866817921504777752011-06-03T09:00:00.005-05:002011-06-03T09:00:04.747-05:00

Greet, Ben. "Benedick's Idea of a Wife." [Much Ado About Nothing, II.iii.7-35.] Victor 17115. Matrix/Take: B-11989 / 1. 3 May 1912. Some kind soul recently told me about The National Jukebox at the Library of Congress. The collection is fabulous and fascinating, and the first thing I did was search for "Shakespeare" in it. The results were surprising.There were a number of recordings of "

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-15108649155703909342011-06-01T09:00:00.003-05:002011-06-01T10:12:25.401-05:00

"The Show Must Go Off." By David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee, and Mark Reisman. Perf. Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, and Derek Jacobi. Dir. Robert H. Egan. Frasier. Season 8, episode 12. NBC. 6 February 2001. DVD. Paramount , 2006.Frasier's use of Shakespeare isn't limited to the titularly parasitical (for which, q.v.).In an episode that goes by the title "The Show Must Go Off,"

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-38519668357514906162011-05-30T09:00:00.005-05:002011-05-30T09:00:04.535-05:00

"Midsummer Night's Dream." Perf. Kikuko Inoue, Masami Kikuchi, Yumi Tôma, Aya Hisakawa, and Yuriko Fuchizaki. Dir. Hiroaki Gôda. Oh, my Goddess [Aa! Megamisama!]. Episode 2. Anime International Company. 21 May 1993. DVD. AnimEigo, 2001. In one of the more bizarre bits of serindipity, I chanced across this while searching my local library for a video of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-60932828974558014912011-05-27T09:00:00.009-05:002011-05-27T09:19:26.413-05:00

"Subtext." By Nicole Dubuc and Stan Lee. Perf. Josh Keaton, Daran Norris, James Arnold Taylor, Ben Diskin, Jeff Bennett, Lacey Chabert, and Grey DeLisle. Dir. Victor Cook. The Spectacular Spider-Man. Season 2, episode 11. Kids' WB! 16 March 2009. DVD. Sony Pictures, 2010.The same "Shakespeare's Continuing Relevance" theme mentioned in the last post continues in a later episode of The

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-91211581493879774682011-05-25T09:00:00.007-05:002011-05-25T09:27:09.661-05:00

"Growing Pains." By Nicole Dubuc and Stan Lee. Perf. Josh Keaton, Daran Norris, James Arnold Taylor, Ben Diskin, Jeff Bennett, Lacey Chabert, and Grey DeLisle. Dir. Michael Goguen. The Spectacular Spider-Man. Season 2, episode 6. Kids' WB! 22 February 2009. DVD. Sony Pictures, 2010.On 18 June 2010, an alert reader wrote to tell me about another source for Shakespeare in popular culture:

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-22356406580833230292011-05-23T09:00:00.008-05:002011-05-23T09:00:01.283-05:00

"Out, Darn Spotlight." By Keith Alcorn and John A. Davis. Perf. Debi Derryberry, Jeffrey Garcia, Rob Paulsen, Mark DeCarlo, Carolyn Lawrence, Frank Welker, Andrea Martin, Kath Soucie, and Phil LaMarr. Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius. Season 2, episode 12. Nickelodeon. 11 March 2004. While the combination of Macbeth and animation is fresh in our minds, a segue to Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius seems

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-66595926664201202162011-05-20T09:00:00.008-05:002011-05-20T09:07:29.671-05:00

“The Mirror.” By Lydia Marano. Perf. Keith David, Jonathan Frakes, Edward Asner, and John Rhys-Davies. Dir. Frank Paur. Gargoyles. Season 2, episode 18. Syndicated television. 11 September 1995. DVD. Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 2004. A very long time ago, I wrote about a student who had (a long time before that) recommended the animated television series Gargoyles as a source for

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-25364666533467935432011-05-19T10:26:00.003-05:002011-05-19T10:35:29.910-05:00

The Taming of the Shrew. Dir. Sean Graney. Perf. Paul Hurley, Steve Isom, Megan M. Storti, and Annie Worden. Shakespeare Glen. Forest Park. St. Louis, Missouri. 26 May to 19 June 2011. Poster designed by Rich Nelson of Kiku Obata and Company.In the midst of all the Macbeth material, I wanted to let you know about all the Shakespeare that will be happening in St. Louis soon.First, the

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-67078874286196237872011-05-18T09:00:00.004-05:002011-05-18T10:33:41.009-05:00

Never Say Macbeth. Dir. Christopher J. Prouty. Perf. Tammy Caplan, John Combs, and Scott Conte. 2007. DVD. Gold Cap Films, 2007.And then there's Never Say Macbeth. Never Say Macbeth is well-conceived and well-written, and the animated opening sequence looks very professional, but the production values of the rest seem a bit amateurish. It's comparable to a self-published book. The film has

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-38844515701724558432011-05-17T11:09:00.003-05:002011-06-14T06:58:21.766-05:00

As You Like It. Act IV, scene i, lines 69-116. Perf. Christina Slyter and Andrew Leith. Shakespeare on the Rail. New Mexico Rail Runner. June-August 2010.I need to interrupt this series of posts on Macbeth to mention something intriguing that I just heard about. It fits the theme of "Shakespeare Performed in Transit" that began when Shakespeare was first performed on board The Dragon in 1607

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-61627622358099154702011-05-16T09:00:00.008-05:002011-05-16T09:08:35.362-05:00

Macbeth. Dir. Aaron Posner and Teller. Perf. Ian Merrill Peakes. 2009. DVD. Folger Shakespeare Library, 2009. Having started a Macbeth trend on Bardfilm, I find it difficult to stop, particularly as I have a backlog of Macbeth material almost as large as Birnam Forest.The dagger speech proves particularly interesting in each new production of Macbeth I encounter. It can be the key to so

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-30417386173796074052011-05-13T10:00:00.002-05:002011-05-13T20:54:09.937-05:00

Scotland, PA. Dir. Billy Morrissette. Perf. James LeGros, Maura Tierney, and Christopher Walken. 2001. DVD. Sundance, 2005. While we're on the subject of Macbeth (or, at least, while I'm on the subject), I'd like to return to the darkly-comic derivative version entitled Scotland, PA. That version sets the plot in the world of the early days of fast-food restaurants.For some reason, the

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-39624495795626722602011-05-11T10:00:00.006-05:002011-05-11T10:11:58.204-05:00

Joe Macbeth. Dir. Ken Hughes. Perf. Paul Douglas and Ruth Roman. 1955. DVD. Lear Media, n.d.For some time, I've wanted to return to Joe Macbeth, the 1955 derivative of Shakespeare's Scottish play. I've written and lectured on its version of the dagger scene (for which, q.v.), but I haven't mentioned the film's use of the three witches.In Joe Macbeth, the three weïrd sisters are boiled down

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-3410091889739809582011-05-09T10:00:00.001-05:002011-05-09T10:00:11.798-05:00

"Roz's Krantz and Gouldenstein are Dead." By David Angell and Peter Casey. Perf. Kelsey Grammer, Jane Leeves , David Hyde Pierc, Peri Gilpin, John Mahoney, and James Earl Jones. Dir. Jeffrey Melman. Frasier. Season 4, episode 15. NBC. 11 March 1997. DVD. Paramount, 2007.I would expect a show like Frasier, with all its references to haute-couture (an example would be that the show would use a

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-83107675026016137752011-05-06T10:00:00.001-05:002011-05-06T10:00:02.657-05:00

Viëtor, Wilhelm. Shakespeare's pronunciation: A Shakespeare Reader in the Old Spelling and with a Phonetic Transcription. New York: Lemcke & Buechner, 1906.Some study characterization. Some are interested in how the plays reveal the history of which they are part.Others enjoy the plots. Still others study scansion and poetry.And there are those who spend time thinking about what happens when

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-10500833251311792262011-05-05T10:00:00.004-05:002011-05-19T11:12:28.952-05:00

Le duel d'Hamlet. Dir. Clément Maurice. Perf. Sarah Bernhardt, Pierre Magnier, and Suzanne Seylor. 1899. Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre. The Divine Sarah's enormous popularity cannot easily be overstated. She wowed the world with her performances for decades.She's also known for playing Hamlet—and for playing the role with remarkable energy and verve.I don't know how this clip made its way onto

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-84039923165643226022011-05-04T09:23:00.010-05:002011-05-04T11:17:39.349-05:00

Shakespeare, William. "Sigh No More, Ladies." Much Ado About Nothing. The Riverside Shakespeare. 2nd ed. Gen. ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. 376-77. Tune: Stözel, Johann Georg. 1744. Oxford American Hymnal. Comp. Carl F. Pfatteicher. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1930. 92.A year ago, I was called upon to direct a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream for

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-77621102978974436672011-05-03T12:27:00.008-05:002011-05-03T13:12:53.174-05:00

Kositsky, Lynne. A Question of Will. Montréal: Roussan, 2000.I've run across another young adult novel that heavily and propagandistically perpetuates the myth that Edward de Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, wrote the plays attributed to William Shakespeare.Unlike Blue Avenger Cracks the Code (for which, q.v.) or Shakespeare's Secret (for which, q.v.), A Question of Will isn't even a very

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-47609659090140385222011-05-03T05:00:00.001-05:002011-05-03T09:25:32.691-05:00

The Puzzle Society. Pocket Posh William Shakespeare: 100 Puzzles and Quizzes. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel, 2011.The good people of Andrews McMeel Publishing sent me a copy of Pocket Posh William Shakespeare: 100 Puzzles and Quizzes to review. It's a fun book, perfect in size and just right for spending time waiting in airports, dentists' offices, grocery stores, or movie theatres. It's

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-2166756521987903242011-05-02T12:32:00.000-05:002011-05-02T12:32:12.238-05:00

Anonymous. Dir. Edward D. Wood, Jr. Perf. David Hasselhoff, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mark Wahlberg, Lindsay Lohan, and Willem Dafoe. Columbia Pictures. 30 September 2011.I was a bit worried when the film Anonymous was released. I feared it might be so slick and well-presented as to lead the unwary into unwarranted conclusions.I don't think I should have been concerned.From the trailer, it looks

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-42285548303457333442011-04-27T14:42:00.004-05:002011-04-27T14:49:53.050-05:00

Schmidt, Gary D. Okay for Now. New York: Clarion Books, 2011.I learned today that Gary Schmidt, author of the magnificent young adult novel The Wednesday Wars (for which, q.v.) recently published a companion novel to it.The Wednesday Wars has deep and abiding references to Shakespeare throughout. Okay for Now seems to deal more with Audubon's portraits of birds—though I'm hoping for at least a

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-80748708809959853342011-04-23T04:23:00.006-05:002011-04-29T12:05:45.464-05:00

"Let's do it (Let's Fall in Love . . . with Shakespeare)." Music by Cole Porter. Lyrics by Keith Jones. 23 April 2011.Cole Porter's connections to Shakespeare are many and various, but, if he has one fault, it is that he didn't write any Shakespearean lyrics to his great musical and lyrical tour de force "Let's do it (Let's Fall in Love)." For Shakespeare's birthday this year, I've rectified

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-29769143162299500212011-04-20T05:00:00.001-05:002011-04-20T05:00:00.283-05:00

Julius Caesar. Dir. Stuart Burge. Perf. Charlton Heston, Diana Rigg, Jason Robards, and John Gielgud. 1970. DVD. Republic Paramount, 2006.While Jason Robards' performance as Brutus leaves much to be desired, Charlton Heston's Mark Anthony is phenomenal. When it comes to the speech over Caesar's body, I've never seen anything to match this one. Heston's Mark Anthony knows the power he has

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-53489021828228282011-04-18T05:00:00.004-05:002011-04-18T05:00:10.680-05:00

Julius Caesar. Dir. Stuart Burge. Perf. Charlton Heston, Diana Rigg, Jason Robards, and John Gielgud. 1970. DVD. Republic Paramount, 2006.A huge backlog of material to cover lurks in the archives of Bardfilm, and if I don't set my mind in "micro" mode (no jokes, please), they'll never get posted.Here, for example, is a clip I've had around for a year or so. It's from the 1970 film version of

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-53801084297907412982011-04-14T10:30:00.009-05:002011-12-08T09:31:50.679-06:00

Prince of the Himalayas [Ban dao yin xiang; a.k.a. Ximalaya wangzi]. Dir. Sherwood Hu. Perf. Purba Rgyal, Dobrgyal, Zomskyid, Sonamdolgar, Lobden, and Lopsang. Hus Entertainment, Shanghai Film Studios. 20 October 2006. The Shakespeare Association of American was able, somehow, to get a copy of Prince of the Himalayas and to offer a screening of it at its convention this year. That alone is

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-62120157340491632072011-04-12T13:10:00.007-05:002011-05-20T17:31:42.266-05:00

Bond: A Taiwan BangZi Opera Adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. Dir. Po-Shen Lu. Perf. Hai-ling Wang, Mei-li Chu, Chien-hua Liu, and Ya-ling Hsiao. Adapted by Ching-Hsi Perng and Fang Chen. Shakespeare Association of America. Bellevue, Washintgon. 7 April 2011.Update: With significant amounts of computer jiggery-pokery, I was able to get the DVD of Bond that I bought to work. The DVD

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-2453103785206934562011-04-09T03:44:00.014-05:002011-04-16T10:16:36.822-05:00

Bond: A Taiwan BangZi Opera Adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. Dir. Po-Shen Lu. Perf. Hai-ling Wang, Mei-li Chu, Chien-hua Liu, and Ya-ling Hsiao. Adapted by Ching-Hsi Perng and Fang Chen. Shakespeare Association of America. Bellevue, Washintgon. 7 April 2011.Because of the incredibly-helpful, beyond-the-call-of-duty work of a Southwest Airlines employee named Craig, I was able, despite

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-55973113176811028942011-04-07T13:30:00.006-05:002011-06-12T07:56:02.119-05:00

“Shakespeare: From the Globe to the Global.” National Endowment for the Humanities. Folger Shakespeare Library. Folger Summer Institute, 2011. Photo Credit: Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library.I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve been accepted to this year’s Folger Summer Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Twenty scholars from around the world will spend five weeks meeting with some

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-73860910871256022642011-04-02T06:58:00.009-05:002011-12-08T09:32:06.686-06:00

Prince of the Himalayas [Ban dao yin xiang; a.k.a. Ximalaya wangzi]. Dir. Sherwood Hu. Perf. Purba Rgyal, Dobrgyal, Zomskyid, Sonamdolgar, Lobden, and Lopsang. Hus Entertainment, Shanghai Film Studios. 20 October 2006. Thanks to a generous grant from Northwestern College, I will be able to attend the Shakespeare Association of America's Annual Convention this year (in Bellevue, Washington).

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-63604950037567054382011-04-01T00:01:00.006-05:002012-01-26T12:12:16.001-06:00

“Loss of Good Name.” Previously attributed to Edward de Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford. Printed in Poems of Edward de Vere. Ed. J. Thomas Looney. London: C. Palmer, 1921. 22-23. Normally, an announcement of this kind takes place in scholarly journals. But I felt impelled to tell you about this today.The poem “Fram’d in the front of forlorn hope past all recovery” (a.k.a. “Loss of Good

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-2041781278829883942011-03-25T14:06:00.005-05:002011-03-25T14:23:03.181-05:00

Photo Credit: "View of the exterior of the Library Exhibition Hall." © The Huntington. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.Research in and around the environs of the Huntington Library is a delight to the scholar. Not only does the library have some of the most magnificent and rare books and manuscripts imaginable, but the grounds and the surrounding area—in both San Marino and

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-18377685058686116702011-03-23T14:13:00.002-05:002011-03-23T14:23:56.626-05:00

The Taming of the Shrew. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. 1967. DVD. Sony, 1999. Today, 23 March 2011, Elizabeth Taylor died. Her Katherine was magnificent, as was the Helen of Troy she played in the Doctor Faustus directed by Richard Burton.I'm out of town, so I can't cull a clip right now, but her version of Katherine's "I am ashamed that women are so

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-78218685114517679382011-03-18T14:03:00.007-05:002011-04-06T12:25:23.312-05:00

[Shakespeare, William.] The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. London: Printed by Valentine Sims, for Andrew Wise, dwelling in Paules Chuch-yard [sic], at the Signe of the Angell, 1597. Huntington Library Call Number 69350. Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Digital Image by Keith Jones. Original housed in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. No copies may be made. A

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-72690400606250569372011-03-01T09:33:00.011-06:002011-03-01T10:33:51.926-06:00

Gnomeo and Juliet. Dir. Kelly Asbury. Perf. Emily Blunt, James McAvoy, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Patrick Stewart, Stephen Merchant, Hulk Hogan, Ozzy Osbourne, and Elton John. Touchstone Pictures. 11 February 2011. I have an awful lot on my plate for the next few weeks, but I saw Gnomeo and Juliet this past weekend, and I wanted to get some ideas down before they fade. It's a fabulous,

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-21536837077918824502011-02-17T05:00:00.002-06:002011-06-25T07:00:34.808-05:00

Bevington, David M. This Wide and Universal Theater: Shakespeare in Performance, Then and Now. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.If you are drawn to the "Performance History" section of whatever play you're reading—and I know I am—then you'll thoroughly enjoy David Bevington's book. It is filled with marvelous anecdotes about the ways many of Shakespeare's plays have been staged.I

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-39546602274545101822011-02-14T05:00:00.003-06:002011-02-14T05:00:18.120-06:00

Schoenbaum, S. William Shakespeare: Records and Images. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.Last Valentine's Day, I wrote about Samuel Schoenbaum's Shakespeare’s Lives and the account of Willam-Henry Ireland's forgery of love poems from Will Shakespeare to Anne Shakespeare (for which, q.v.). At that time, I tried to find a facsimile (as opposed to a transcription) of the original

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-20021059359811020242011-02-13T05:00:00.001-06:002011-02-13T05:00:10.947-06:00

Stewart, Doug. The Boy who would be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly. Philadelphia: Da Capo Press, 2010.Samuel Schoenbaum's Shakespeare's Lives (for which, q.v.) writes in a very scholarly way about William-Henry Ireland, one of the great forgers of Shakespeareana the world has ever known. Doug Stewart tells the story in more detail and with a more popular audience in mind.The story

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-83169609547056215062011-02-11T05:00:00.002-06:002011-02-11T05:00:19.339-06:00

Wroblewski, David. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel. New York: Ecco, 2008. I don't always have time to sit down with a thick novel, no matter how good it is. Often, I listen to the audiobook version. One of the benefits of doing so is that I can listen to it while driving, shoveling snow, doing chores, shoveling snow, working out, or shoveling snow (I do live in Minnesota, after all).

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-82314506697812238982011-02-09T05:00:00.002-06:002011-02-09T05:58:03.272-06:00

“The Foretelling.” By Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson. Perf. Rowan Atkinson, Brian Blessed, and Peter Cook. The Black Adder. Season 1, episode 1. BBC. 15 June 1983. DVD. 2 Entertain Video, 2009.Burnett, Mark Thornton. “Parodying with Richard.” Shakespeare on Screen: Richard III. Ed. Sarah Hatchuel and Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin. Ruon: Publications de l’Université de Rouen, 2005. 91-

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-63306299470653252011-02-07T05:00:00.011-06:002011-02-17T12:46:54.933-06:00

kj. "Imagine Bob Dylan Singing the Plot of Measure for Measure." Bardfilm: The Shakespeare and Film Microblog. Web. 7 February 2011. I've used Bob Dylan's "Seven Curses" (for which, q.v.) as a way of talking about the folk narrative background to Shakespeare's problem play Measure for Measure (for which, q.v.). This is a little something that grew out of that endeavor.For my Shakespeare

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-16974598970238462212011-02-05T05:00:00.003-06:002011-02-08T09:47:31.805-06:00

Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Dir. Vindwyn. Perf. Vindwyn and Vindwyn's Husband. 2008. Web. 26 January 2010.While we're on the subject of Measure for Measure, I simply must call your attention to this truly remarkable derivative version created using action figures (a.k.a. Barbie™ and Ken™ figures).It's a derivative, according to Kenneth Rothwell's magnificent terminology (for which,

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-73758213043027171792011-02-03T10:09:00.017-06:002011-02-05T05:26:48.424-06:00

The Winter's Tale. Dir. Jonathan Munby. Perf. Ansa Akyea, Christina Baldwin, Raye Birk, Helen Carey, John Catron, Bob Davis, Sean Michael Dooley, Tyson Forbes, Emily Gunyou Halaas, Michael Hayden, Michael Thomas Holmes, Juan Rivera Lebron, Bill McCallum, Michelle O'Neill, Suzanne Warmanen, Christine Weber, Stephen Yoakam, Noah Coon,and Devon Solwold. Guthrie Theatre Company. Minneapolis. 29

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-48540618546990010772011-02-03T05:00:00.000-06:002011-02-03T05:00:10.870-06:00

Conjuring Shakespeare. Perf. David Tennant. 10 September 1997.Once again, we have a fragment where we'd like to have a complete record.David Tennant played Measure for Measure's Angelo in at least one scene for a 1997 documentary entitled Conjuring Shakespeare. There's very little I can find out about that documentary, but a clip of one scene has been making its way around the internet. The

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-29112387920772875822011-02-01T05:00:00.001-06:002011-02-01T07:26:21.936-06:00

Freeman, Don. Will's Quill. New York: Viking, 1975.Don Freeman, the author of Corduroy, Dandelion, Norman the Doorman, and other favorites, also wrote and illustrated a children's book set in Shakespeare's London.It's good—despite the faux-Elizabethan dialogue that is a bit strained: "Forsooth, it does seem life is full of woe, e'en for a lowly goose," as you can see in the image above (to

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-54329079224906594262011-01-29T05:00:00.003-06:002011-01-29T06:14:56.496-06:00

kj. Bardfilm: The Shakespeare and Film Microblog. Web. 1 January 2011.I've been thinking through Bardfilm's structure, and it occurred to me that it might be wise to state Bardfilm's policy regarding video use and to explain why Bardfilm's use falls under the "fair use" doctrine of United States law as articulated in, for example, Golan v. Gonzales, 501 F.3d 1170 (2007). That ruling provides,

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-59483446252949751232011-01-28T05:00:00.004-06:002011-01-28T09:21:49.000-06:00

“The World of Jazz.” By Leonard Bernstein. Perf. Alistair Cooke and Leonard Bernstein. Dir. Elliot Silverstein. Omnibus. Season 4, episode 2. CBS. 16 October 1955. DVD. Leonard Bernstein: Omnibus: The Historic TV Broadcasts. E1 Entertainment, 2010. I saw this clip quite some time ago, but it's taken a while to confirm the details and to gather the necessary links—always both mandatory

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-19678475641271518802011-01-27T07:55:00.013-06:002011-01-31T08:49:10.283-06:00

The Winter's Tale. Dir. Jonathan Munby. Perf. Ansa Akyea, Christina Baldwin, Raye Birk, Helen Carey, John Catron, Bob Davis, Sean Michael Dooley, Tyson Forbes, Emily Gunyou Halaas, Michael Hayden, Michael Thomas Holmes, Juan Rivera Lebron, Bill McCallum, Michelle O'Neill, Suzanne Warmanen, Christine Weber, Stephen Yoakam, Noah Coon,and Devon Solwold. Guthrie Theatre Company. Minneapolis. 29

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-15170602452094498572011-01-26T09:14:00.005-06:002011-02-04T11:19:33.950-06:00

The 2012 Season. Shakespeare's Globe. Artistic dir. Dominic Dromgoole. Web. 26 January 2011.Starting on 23 April 2012, Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London will present all thirty-eight plays in the Shakespeare canon—each in a different language, each by a different company. The season is inspired by the 2012 Summer Olympic Games (parenthetically, they are also to be held in London that year).

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7581099872724683650.post-2800963730596922142011-01-24T07:00:00.004-06:002011-01-24T07:40:27.567-06:00

The Maltese Falcon. Dir. John Huston. Perf. Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Peter Lorre. 1941. DVD. Turner Home, 2009.The last line of The Maltese Falcon is frequently cited as a misquotation of a line from Shakespeare. Sam Spade, the Humphrey Bogart character, says, "The . . . uh . . . stuff that dreams are made of."The actual quote, spoken by Prospero in The Tempest, alters in only two

kjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14863005904313974654noreply@blogger.com2