JESSICA SIMPSON – SIMPSON SETS SIGHT ON SHAKESPEARE

Not really sure what joke to make here. I find it none too surprising that such an announcement from Jessica Simpson comes hot on the heels of revelation that Marilyn Monroe had wanted to get into more Shakespeare as well. Once again the standard question, what role would she play? What evidence has there been in anything that she’s ever done to give a hint that she can play something with depth?

The Hurricane Name Game

Friend Rob pointed out to me this morning that if we get up to hurricane O, then Shakespeare geeks can geekout over hurricane Ophelia. 🙂 Personally I’m thinking that hurricane Miranda, to get in the Tempest reference, would be that much cooler. But I’ll take what I can get.

That is all.

The RSS Debate What’s in a name

Not the most Shakespearey article I’ve ever posted, this one deals more with the whole “RSS” thing I’ve been talking about lately and gives a little history, particularly about people’s desire to change the name.

Playbill News: Today in Theatre History: AUGUST 23: 1937 Eva Le Galliene is Hamlet in a new production of Shakespeare’s tragedy, opening tonight at the Cape Playhouse in Massachusetts. Le Galliene, while an obviously odd choice to play the Danish prince, is not the first female to take on the role. Sarah Bernhardt had done it as well. Also in the cast is future stage legend Uta Hagen, making her professional debut as Ophelia.

When I saw this article about HBO’s new series “ROME” in my Shakespeare news alerts I thought for sure the connection must be to Julius Caesar. Perhaps mentioning that the whole “Et tu, Brute?” thing was concocted by Will, and not factually accurate.

Wrong. “[Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo] are the only two ordinary soldiers mentioned by Caesar in his book, so the idea was to do a sort of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern take,” says Bruno Heller, the series’ co-creator, executive producer and writer. He refers, of course, to the two minor characters in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” who became the title characters of a widely acclaimed Tom Stoppard play.

Something of a pleasant surprise. I rarely find people referencing R&G are Dead at all, much less trying to do their own version of the idea.