Guest Post: Shakespeare’s Skull and the Usual Suspects

March 29, 2016March 12, 2017 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Now that we know that Shakespeare’s skull is no longer in his grave with the rest of his mortal coil, Bardfilm and I know that the time has come to round up the usual suspects. Without much ado, here are the people we’d call in for interrogation:

Amateur dramatic company of Stratford who borrowed it for a production of Hamlet and, because of poor reviews, decided not to return it.

Enraged Macbeth descendants who thought “a head for a head” was a pretty good policy (they’re also responsible for moving Stratford forest closer to the birthplace).

Phrenologists from the 1700s wanting to discover the “literary genius bump schematic.”

Literary critics from the future determined to paint it an inch thick to see what favor it would come to.

Prank by George W. Bush for the Skull and Bones society gone horribly awry.

Someone playing Jaques who had a really weird interpretation of the seven ages of man “sans everything” line he wanted to try.

Some well wisher who no doubt thought that Shakespeare could not be sent to his account with all his imperfections on his head if he had no head.

Somewhere, somebody obsessed with Ophelia has got his head in her lap.

The people in charge of the Richard III archeological dig getting a bit carried away.

Marketing department of Skullcandy™ thought they had a brilliant new campaign. Abandoned because of a surprising outbreak of good taste and tact.

“Shakespeare Geek took it—it’s just the sort of silly trick he’s been playing since he walked along the railroad tracks of Boston as a kid.” —Bardfilm

“Bardfilm is the one who took it. That guy has no shame when it comes to shameless self-promotion.” —Shakespeare Geek

Bearded old woman (can’t call them witches anymore, sargent, that’s not “politically correct.” And they’re not too keen on “wyrd,” either) caught wandering down by the river chanting “Fillet of a fenny snake, / Cranium of Willy Shake.”

Treasure hunters found with a copy of Richard III in which the “wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, inestimable stones, unvalued jewels” laying in dead men’s skulls passage was underlined.

Caliban, who we expect may have battered it with a log. He’s also suspect in what happened to all the books.

Pistol, who was unable to satisfactorily explain why he was carrying a leek without a permit

Guildenstern, for completely misunderstanding a recent “throwing about of brains.”

Did anyone bother to scan his heels? Lear’s Fool suggested that we might find it down there.

Our thanks for the idea for this guest post to kj, the author of Bardfilm. Bardfilm is a blog that comments on films, plays, and other matters related to Shakespeare.

Review : The Fosters – Romeo and Juliet

March 22, 2016March 9, 2017 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

I think I would have liked this show 20 or 30 years ago. When I was closer to high school. This just made me feel old.

Look, every sitcom in history that’s had anything to do with a high school or high school aged students, from Head of the Class to The Brady Bunch, has at one point or another done a Romeo and Juliet episode. But not too many attempt to pull off a rock musical version. Not only that, they had alumni from High School Musical and Glee helping out (including Corbin Bleu as Mercutio). So I wanted to have high hopes.

As always, and I think seriously this has become my trademark, my review is this: “Needs more Shakespeare.”

I don’t know the show, or the characters, or their arcs. So I’m sure that I missed the lion’s share of the significance of what else was going on, who kissed who, who used to be a couple but broke up and are now on stage together. But you know what? This is where I feel old. Because I didn’t care. I just wanted to hear the text.

It started out well, singing the prologue to piano accompaniment. The song itself wasn’t that good, but I applaud the effort. But just about all the other songs had little to no text in them, and instead were focused on this theme of being “unbreakable” and/or “unstoppable”, whatever significance that is supposed to have, and also how “love will light the way.” There’s a token reference to jesting at scars that never felt a wound, which is a repeated lyric in one of the songs, but out of context it’s just kind of hanging there.

Meanwhile there’s a whole other story arc going on that just reminded me that these people are closer to my kids’ age than my own. Example? Ok, picture this. Set against the backdrop of SHAKESPEARE, here’s some actual dialogue:

“I’m still in love with you!”
“Then why didn’t you answer my note?”
“What note?”
“I left a note in your backpack.”
“I never got it. What did it say?”
“That I’m in love with you too.”

Whoa. I’ve got to sit down for a minute. For a brief minute there I got a kick out of the parallel of an important letter gone unread, but I couldn’t get over the overly dramatic dialogue over something so childish. But then I suppose if I’d let my kids watch this show they would have thought it’s the greatest thing in the world.

Oh, well. I’ll still probably try to download some of the songs again to see if full versions are available, and if they do more justice to the text than I first noticed. But I’m pretty sure it’s not going to knock off Hamilton anytime soon.

Whoa. Wait. What?

March 18, 2016March 9, 2017 ~ duane ~ 1 Comment

Tell me if something in this headline catches your eye like it did mine:

Christie’s to Sell Previously Unknown Copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio

What the heck is a “previously unknown” folio? You don’t just drop something like that into a headline and walk away. Everybody knows that all the “known” Folios (233) are accounted for and micro-catalogued, and if Christie’s had one in its collection, surely it would not be a secret, would it? Surely this is some fancy word wrangling for publicity, like everybody calling Sir Thomas More “Shakespeare’s Last Play” and “The Only Play Written in Shakespeare’s Handwriting.”

“…and the volume for sale at Christie’s is a new addition to that list.”

Interesting! Tell me more. How can this be?

Christie’s estimates the previously unrecorded copy currently for sale will fetch £800,000–1.2 million (about $1.16 million–1.74 million). It has not been seen by the public in over two centuries, and last changed hands in 1800, when it was purchased by book collector George Augustus Shuckburgh-Evelyn (1751–1804).

I’m having trouble getting my head around this. You mean to tell me that the people who run this sort of thing have had one of the most rare and valuable books in the world in its collection, potentially for centuries, and not only did they not let anybody see it, THEY DIDN’T EVEN TELL ANYBODY IT EXISTED??

What’s next up for auction, all of Shakespeare’s personal library, Amelia Earhart’s skeleton and the Holy Grail?

Please Do Not Celebrate The Anniversary of Shakespeare’s Death

March 18, 2016December 11, 2023 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

Bardfilm pointed this out to me a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been paying careful attention to headlines ever since.

“Celebrate The 400th Anniversary Of Shakespeare’s Death In Style,” says the Huffington Post this week.

Please don’t do this.

We celebrate his birth, or his existence, or his accomplishments. We do not celebrate when people die. Can you imagine? “Phew, thank god that son of a gun is finally dead, huh? If he’d stuck around a few more years imagine how many he might have written!”

Commemorate his death if you like. Mark the occasion with much festivity. But celebrate his life, not his death. The world was made a better place because of the former, not the latter.

This has been a public service announcement.

Whoa, Is a Romeo and Juliet Rock Musical About To Sneak Past Us?

March 18, 2016March 9, 2017 ~ duane ~ Leave a comment

All I know about “The Fosters” is that the commercials keep coming up while my pre-teen children try to watch their shows, and those commercials typically want to talk about very not pre-teen things. So it’s not a show I hold in high regard. I knew I was on the right track when this story appeared last month about a high school banning Romeo and Juliet because it glorifies teen suicide. They have the obligatory student debate about it … and “ban it” apparently won.

So last night I’m in the kitchen making dinner and I know the kids have got the ABC Family Channel (now “Freeform”) on, like they do. So when I hear a random “Juliet” come out of the tv my head naturally whips around to see what’s up. My first thought is, “This must be something having to do with last month’s episode,” while still thinking, “Why would they still be talking about last month’s episode?”

And they’re singing. They are in masquerade attire, and they are singing. What dark magic is this?

Apparently, in the spirit of Glee, it’s a Romeo and Juliet Rock Musical.

Does anybody follow the plot line of this show and know what’s going on? This could be awesome. Every television show about high school kids has, at one point or another, done a Shakespeare episode. And it’s almost always about the balcony scene. But I don’t recall anyone attempting to do an entire retelling of the play – as a musical, no less! I’m kind of excited about this.