I see a headline like, “‘We Were Liars‘ is modern-day ‘King Lear'” and you know I’m clicking it. I remember reading We Were Liars. I didn’t immediately remember it being a King Lear story. I recall a flashback story about teenagers spending their summers on the beach at Cape Cod, and a house burning down. *shrug* *click*
Disclaimer: I’d forgotten that they’re making a tv series, which apparently launches this week. The only knowledge I have of the project is the book, so who knows how they may have changed it.
“He can feel it coming and there’s a kind of a clock ticking for him,” the actor said. “There’s things that he wants to get done before he’s really gone and it makes him very vulnerable and touching to me and unexpected in a character like this. So, in that way, I suppose it’s like King Lear.“
Ok, fair enough. Out of curiosity I tried to remind myself of my thoughts on the book at the time, and was actually surprised by what I’d written on Goodreads:
It occurred to me late in the story that this book is a bit of a young adult version of King Lear. There’s definitely King Lear references. The theme of “Once upon a time there was a king that had three daughters” comes up frequently.
I still don’t remember much about it, I clearly wasn’t paying close attention. But now that I mention it, I do remember that the “king who had three daughters” is literally in the story several times, like it’s part of the narration. Maybe now that I’m getting hit over the head with it I should read it again?
Or at least watch it, I guess.
P.S. – I also had no idea it’s a book series? Apparently there’s three of them. Anybody read them all? Should I follow up?
I may have mentioned that I have a lot of Shakespeare stuff. T-shirts, jigsaw puzzles, keychains, laptop skins … got it all. So much, in fact, that my family’s taken to creating wholly original items! I was definitely not expecting this for Father’s Day 2025:
I love it! A few months back, my oldest had found a service that would do this for your pet using a number of standard templates – king, queen, princess. Without telling me they scoured the site looking for a Shakespeare template, but alas it didn’t exist.
So my son actually made this! I think it came out really good, I love it. Her face is huge, you really get that feeling that you’re being stared at.
Unfortunately (there’s never a good way to drop this into the conversation!), our dog passed away between the time they made these presents, and Father’s Day. Awkward? Not as bad as you’d think. I think we were all happy for the remembrance. We’ve all been looking through our hundreds of pictures anyway, so it was nice to see a creative surprise.
But I am going to attach something to this post to mark the occasion. In times of grief, I’ve always gone back to Constance’s speech in King John, and I wondered if it could be made relevant here. With a little help from AI, I think the answer is yes, it certainly can. Thank you, Shakespeare. Flights of angels, Belle. See you again someday.
Grief fills up the room of my sweet girl: Lies in her bed, walks up and down with me, Carries her leash, drops her worn-out toy, Noses the door, waits where she used to wait— She haunts the silence. I am not myself; I am the echo of a happy life That padded soft behind me on four paws.
O, that my arms were long enough to reach Into the quiet place where good dogs go— I’d pull her back by her velvet-soft ears And feel her heartbeat warm against my chest. You tell me time will soften what I feel, But time is cruel—it will not lick my tears, Nor lay her head across my feet at night.
Grief is not madness, though you call it so. I am not raving—I am only empty. She was my shadow, soul, my loyal girl. Don’t bid me be at peace. She was my dog.
May 20, the anniversary of the first publication of Shakespeare’s Sonnets by Thomas Thorpe in 1609. Over four centuries later, these 154 little poems still manage to capture the full range of human emotion—love, jealousy, beauty, time, mortality—and yet somehow, I nearly let the day slip by without notice.
We Should Celebrate Sonnet Day More
It’s easy to celebrate Sonnet Day — just recite a sonnet. Over the years I’ve seen a number of projects (including Sir Patrick Stewart, during the pandemic) recite all the sonnets. I’m way too much the introvert to ever pull off something like that.
The closest I ever came was at my wedding, where I “recited” Sonnet 17:
Who will believe my verse in time to come If it were filled with your most high deserts? Though yet, heaven knows, it is but as a tomb 4Which hides your life and shows not half your parts. If I could write the beauty of your eyes And in fresh numbers number all your graces, The age to come would say “This poet lies; 8Such heavenly touches ne’er touched earthly faces.” So should my papers, yellowed with their age, Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue, And your true rights be termed a poet’s rage 12And stretchèd meter of an antique song. But were some child of yours alive that time, You should live twice—in it and in my rhyme.
And by “recite” in this case I don’t mean “Stood up with a microphone in front of everybody,” I mean, “Whispered it in her ear during our first dance.” See earlier note about life as an introvert.
It’s funny, though — that was 25 years ago. Now, in the context of just talking about Shakespeare, I’ll knock out a sonnet at the drop of a hat. I don’t have that many of them memorized that I can do the whole thing, but I’m usually good for at least an 18 or a 29. I think that raising my kids on Shakespeare, literally singing Sonnet 18 to them for years, probably had something to do with that.
Singing it? Oh my, yes. David Gilmour’s rendition used to be my ringtone.
Truthfully, I hadn’t listened to that version in years. I’m glad I took the time to write this post and find it, I’ve got it playing in the background now and it’s quite the trip down memory lane.
Everybody knows 18, though, so when it comes time to get down and discuss favorites I head for 29. I do love a good sonnet set to music, so for something really different from the above enjoy Rufus Wainwright’s version:
Love love love it.
To wrap this post up, however, I think we’ll leave the last word to the living legend herself, Dame Judi Dench. On a recent episode of the Graham Norton Show, she pulled off an impromptu Sonnet 29 that still stops me in my tracks when I hear it. Seriously, you could dissect it in a classroom. The pause on “thee”. The way she says “lark”. Seriously, chills. Every time.
Happy Sonnet Day, everybody. Shakespeare makes life better.
Is it that time again already? I think I’ve been celebrating Shakespeare’s Birthday almost as long as I’ve been celebrating my own children’s birthdays. Luckily, I don’t spend as much on gifts for him 🙂
It’s going to be a quiet year for us. In past years, I’ve had days dedicated to Shakespeare, where I’ve done marathon posting or spent the day on social media. But, as long-time readers know, I’ve been out of work for 8 months and only recently started a new job! So, naturally, my focus is now (and has been, for the last few weeks) on that. I hope I’ll be forgiven.
That doesn’t mean I’ll let the day go unmarked, though. I’ve got a few ideas for posts. I’ll keep an eye on social media and stay as active as I can.
What’s everybody else doing? Who’s got big plans??
I only just recently heard about this new Romeo and Juliet musical, which already seems weird for a couple of reasons. First, it’s being marketed around Rebel Wilson, who plays Lady Capulet. Fine, I guess, if she’s your biggest name. But Lady Capulet’s not exactly a major character in the original. I guess they’re going to change that. Second is that the tagline is, “Based on the real story that inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet” I’m sure that sounds good to the marketing people, but really … does a modern audience have any idea what it means? Are the characters going to be named Montechi and Cappelletti? Of course not.
But enough about that – the trailer is here! Let’s watch and discuss.
For reference, here’s the IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26597666/
Ok, First Thoughts
It’s obviously not doing original text, so right off the bat we have to go down the “modern adaptation” branch. I’m ok with that, as long as we get it out of the way. Other films have tried some weird “It’ll mostly be original text but we’ll just drop it and write our own when we want.” Don’t do that. Pick one.
It’s also a musical. Again, fine, I can work with that as long as it doesn’t have Baz Luhrman’s name attached. I appreciate the man’s work, but he already did Romeo + Juliet, and once you’ve seen a Luhrman musical you’ve kind of seen them all.
How’s The Shakespeare?
They seem to hit many of the plot points correctly — there’s a Paris character she doesn’t want to marry, some clear examples that the ancient grudge is still in full force, a speech by Lady Capulet about doing what the family needs her to do. There’s a masquerade ball, like productions like to do so much despite the fact that IT’S NOT A MASQUERADE BALL. Only Romeo and his friends wore masks. People seem to forget that.
I do see a Rosaline in the cast list, so they’re definitely going to take some liberties. Even though we see her name on the party guest list, it’s not like she has an appearance in the original. But she’s definitely got a reasonable speaking part to get a front page credit on IMDB. Similarly there are a whole host of new characters introduced — Vesante, Tommasso, Allegra. So there’s room for variety and new subplots.
Look At This Cast
As mentioned, Rebel Wilson is getting all the press as Lady Capulet so we know we’ll see a lot of her. But the rest of the cast has got some Shakespeare credit to their names:
Jason Isaacs – Hot off White Lotus Season 3 but better known as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, Isaacs has certainly shown that he can hold his own in dark, intense roles. He’ll be our Lord Montague, and though in the original he doesn’t have much to work with (sometimes cut entirely), he’ll no doubt be counterpart to Lord Capulet this time.
Rupert Everett – Speaking of Lord Capulet, Everett has some more Shakespeare credit to his name. First in an uncredited role as Christopher Marlowe in Shakespeare in Love, Everett took on Oberon in Kevin Kline’s 1999 production of Midsummer. He also played the king in Stage Beauty, which is not a Shakespeare role specifically, but that’s very much a Shakespeare movie and highly recommended 🙂
Derek Jacobi – What can I say? Sir Derek has a dozen Shakespearean credits listed on IMDB alone, three of which are Romeo and Juleit. This time he’ll be playing the Friar. Say what you want about Jacobi’s feelings on the Oxfordian issue, the man’s got the Shakespeare cred and brings it to any production he’s in. I’m glad to see him here.
Definitely Going to See It
My expectations are set. I’m expecting more “Lion King” than “Hamlet”, but that’s ok, Lion King is still a classic movie all on its own. Let’s hope this one gets a whole new audience to appreciate the story of Romeo and Juliet, and maybe then we bring them back around to the original text.
