June 16 - June 22, 2024
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy
Image of the week
Sometimes people put prints of Shakespeare on clothes and charge $900.
Jonathan Bailey to Play Richard II
Richard II is charismatic, eloquent and loved by his friends. And a disastrous King – dishonest, capricious and politically incompetent. Echoing down the centuries is the perennial problem: how to deal with a ruler who has a rock solid right to rule but is set on wrecking the country he leads.
This production will replace the long-running Guys and Dolls.
Folger Shakespeare Library Reopens
The NY Times feature linked directly to the Good Tickle Brain Hamlet website.
The galleries, which showcase items from across the collection, are ringed with testimonials by a diverse array of scholars and artists who have drawn inspiration from Shakespeare and the Folger’s collections, including Mya Gosling, described as the creator of “the world’s foremost (and perhaps only) stick-figure Shakespeare webcomic.”
Sir Ian McKellen falls off stage during performance
Sir Ian - who plays John Falstaff - was circling a battle scene involving the Prince of Wales and Henry Percy, when he fell off the front of the stage. As the house lights came up, the actor cried out and staff rushed to help.
Sir Ian’s understudy will go on for the remaining performances.
How a blood-red version of Shakespeare’s toughest tragedy unites these Ukrainians who fled war
War may be universal, but the play’s opening moments carried unmistakable allusions to the conflict in Ukraine. The sound of a piping flute — a familiar hallmark of Shakespeare productions — gave way to the shriek of train whistles, the thud of pistons, and Ukrainian-language announcements of trains arriving from battered cities across the country.
The cast made its first appearance in close-fitting long johns, solemnly retrieving outer costumes from big silver trunks — a gesture that recalled the hurried flight of so many war-displaced with little more than the clothes on their backs.
Got Romeo and Juliet Questions?
AI Laura Kipnis will answer them for you!
According to Ms. Kipnis, “my ‘expertise’ on romantic tragedy consists of having once written a somewhat controversial anti-marriage polemic titled Against Love…The content was entirely up to me: My job wasn’t to be a Shakespeare expert, it was to be interesting.”
Not being a Shakespearean, I’d obviously been worried about my qualifications for the task, though I did some years ago briefly date a Shakespearean who used to say that Shakespeareans weren’t that smart. He considered them the bottom rungs of academic intelligence. Nevertheless, I’d been putting myself through reams of criticism and scholarly lit about the play. Most of it reassured me by being—sure enough—not all that interesting. (Light/dark symbolism: got it!)
The Long Shadow of the Jolly Bachelors
Charlotte Cushman in Jstor Daily.
Cushman traveled among the cultural and political elite. She was a regular guest in the home of Secretary of State William Seward and met with Abraham Lincoln (who said he wished to see her play Lady Macbeth; he eventually did).
Rod Blagojevich Read Shakespeare in Prison
Rather than watch TV or movies, Blago recommends books…He also read Shakespeare. “ ‘Henry V’ a few times. ‘Henry IV,’ Parts 1 and 2. ‘Richard II.’ ‘Richard III.’ ‘Hamlet,’ of course. ‘King Lear.’ ‘Henry VI.’ ” He cleared his throat and recited, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”
Ah yes, quoting Jack Cade, the anarchist who believes in mob rule. How refreshing.