Many of the geeks out there have heard the old story about Richard Burbage (playing Richard III at the time) arranging a late night encounter with a female fan, only to have Shakespeare get there first and deliver the famous line, “William the Conqueror came before Richard III!”
Really? Things like this don’t just pop up, so naturally I figured that this is a known document. I wasn’t too pleased with this “on display to the public for the first time ever” stuff.
The Diary of John Manningham Page 39. You’re welcome. I still figure it’s an urban legend, but at least now I know that it comes from a source at the time and wasn’t created a few hundred years after both men were dead. Today I learned!
I first heard the term “virtual reality” 30 years ago and oh mama look how far it’s come. I’ve got not one but two sweet looks into the future of Shakespeare performance for you, my geeks.
First is the Google Cultural Institute, who in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company brings you a 360degree Henry V experience. You’re placed right there on stage and you get to look around in all dimensions, just by dragging around the screen. Don’t miss the numbered buttons at the bottom that will switch your camera view!
That’s neat and all, but I’m wondering if any of you are lucky enough to have gotten your hands on Google Cardboard? A couple of years ago everybody was coming out with these thousand dollar virtual reality headsets and Google being Google said, “You know what? There’s enough power in your phone to do simple VR, all we need to do is give you a way to put a screen in front of each eye.”
Thus Cardboard was born. You put your phone in it, get a Cardboard-ready app, and you’re in virtual reality baby. It’s really hard to explain until you try it. You look left, the screen follows you. Look right, it follows. Look up, look down. There’s something there, in every direction. You keep thinking “I will reach the end of the screen” but you never do. It really takes awhile to get used to.
Still, though, my kids and I played with the obvious roller coasters and things and got bored with it after awhile, and it sat in my gadget corner collecting dust.
Then I met Vrideo. Much like the Google experiment above they are offering 360degree videos. Only these are immersive.
I fired up Macbeth and there I am on stage at the beginning of Act I Scene 7 (Macbeth is talking himself into killing Duncan in the “If it were done when tis done then twere well it were done quickly” speech).
It’s neat, but neat in the same way Henry V is neat, above. I’m watching. I mean, I’m there on stage, but still. It’s not like he’s looking right at me.
Then I hear, “He hath almost supp’d, why have you not left the chamber?” come from behind me. I whip my head around to find that Lady Macbeth has entered, and I am standing right between them as they argue. Ok, now I’m scared.
I love this stuff. I want more! I’m not really sure that it’s likely we’ll ever see a full production like this, though. In both examples it’s clear that these versions were not made during an actual production, but were specially created just for this purpose. I wonder, then, how much effort it would take to show a real scene that goes beyond just one or two characters speaking? Could we see a VR scene from the inside of a battle scene? Could we see the same scene available from the point of view of one of the characters? What if, instead of watching Macbeth deliver the speech, my view was Macbeth’s point of view? The sound could still come through as if I’m doing the speaking, but now it would be up to the “user” to keep your eyes on the other characters while you’re interacting. Although, I suppose, there wouldn’t really be much of a penalty for not paying attention. I’m still working on it.
Definitely check these out, if you can. The Vrideo films are available in traditional format even if yu don’t have Google Cardboard.
This is the kind of stuff I was thinking of when I named this site Shakespeare Geek!
Sir Ian McKellen doesn’t think you should read Shakespeare.
Sir Anthony Hopkins does.
How great is it that we can actually have a conversation that starts this way? Both actors are starring in The Dresser, and there’s plenty of articles coming out where both are interviewed.
McKellen: “I don’t think people should bother to read Shakespeare. They should see him in the theatre! Reading just reduces him to an examination subject.”
In the joint interview, Sir Anthony urged actors to read “anything you can get your hands on” and took a less rose-tinted view of acting in the theatre.
Now, let’s be clear. This is not a black and white topic. I think that if someone has the option, then of course you need to go see live theatre every chance you get. I’ve always taken issue with the idea that it has to be one or the other, as if there’s teachers out there saying, “Well we have a chance to go see the Royal Shakespeare Company person Othello, but we’re just going to read it instead.” If you find those people, then absolutely, gouge out their eyes and read King Lear to them.
But if you see it, and you love it, and you say “I want to do everything I can to get closer to the material”, then isn’t reading it (and everything about it) the logical option? In fact, say that the thing you want most is to perform Shakespeare. They’re doing Macbeth next. So what do you do, exactly? Do you run and watch every version of it you can find? Or do you, I dunno…..read it?
If you *want* to read Shakespeare, read Shakespeare. Anyone who tries to talk you out of it has missed the point. Period.
My oldest has been distraught lately over her first C on a significant exam, and we’ve been discussing daily whether getting all A’s is the most important thing in the world. She seems to think I enjoy watching her get bad grades because it shows that she’s finally working hard enough, but she feels that if those bad grades cause her to not get into college then what’s the point.
“If I FAIL….” she starts.
“We fail?” I interjected, predictably. “Screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll…not….fail!”
Blank stare. Open mouthed, speechless daughter.
“Lady Macbeth,” I explain.
“That’s not what I thought you were going to say,” she countered.
Ok, this might be the geekiest thing you read all day.
You’ve probably heard of the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”, where you name an actor and then have to link him back to Kevin Bacon in less than six movies. It’s based on the “six degrees of separation” theory.
Well, I’m honestly surprised that it’s taken this long for someone to think of Six Degrees of Francis Bacon. What exactly was the original Bacon’s social network, and were people like William Shakespeare on it?
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to have an easy “List two names and we’ll tell you the connection” mode. You enter a name and then get a very geeky map of nodes, and you have to explore it to find the connections you want.
My plan is to enter Edward de Vere and see if he shows up. But company just came over and I must come back to it later!
