Most of the posts in this category are simply leftovers from a previous era before the site had categories. Over time I plan to reduce that number to zero and remove this category. Until then, here they are. I had to put something in the box.
Baseball season has started, and my son is still young enough to be in that “kind of competitive, but we all still just want the kids to have a good time” age group. What this means is that no matter what happens during the game, for every play, whether your team is up or not, there is always a chorus of:
“Good hit, Brendan!”
“Great play, Michael!”
“Excellent running, Jay!”
“Way to field the cut off throw, Henry!”
And every time I desperately want to yell, “Well roared, lion! Well shone, moon!”
This is a surprise! “Opening Night”, which looks to be opening in early May (opposite Captain America? It’s doomed…) tells a story we’ve heard before : drama teacher with a heart of gold has to deal with teachers who don’t understand him and administration who keeps cutting his budget, and the only way to save everybody’s eternal souls is to put on a killer Shakespeare production. Or some variation thereof. Check it out:
For a change of pace, this one apparently also includes Shakespeare. That’s different.
I don’t recognize any of the cast, except for Anthony “RENT” Rapp. I wonder if he’ll sing?
I can’t tell from the trailer if this is going to be Get Over It or Noises Off or Hamlet 2, but regardless I’ll almost certainly end up figuring out a way to see it. I don’t expect it to get a wide cinema release, but maybe it’ll be streaming?
Happened to hear something on NPR last night that is probably one of those, “Oh sure, everybody knows that” things, but I’m pretty sure we’ve never actually discussed it here on the blog.
Desdemona, early in the play, talking about a daughter’s obligation to her father:
DESDEMONA
My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty: To you I am bound for life and education; My life and education both do learn me How to respect you; you are the lord of duty; I am hitherto your daughter: but here’s my husband, And so much duty as my mother show’d To you, preferring you before her father, So much I challenge that I may profess Due to the Moor my lord.
You know what I’m going to put it up against, right? Cordelia, early in the play, talking about a daughter’s obligation to her father:
CORDELIA
Good my lord, You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I Return those duties back as are right fit, Obey you, love you, and most honour you. Why have my sisters husbands, if they say They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed, That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry Half my love with him, half my care and duty: Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters, To love my father all.
I’d never noticed how nearly identical those two speeches are. (As the NPR host noted, Othello productions are often so focused on the Iago/Othello relationship that Desdemona comes across as a “nothing” character, and I think I’ve typically felt the same way. And only now that I write it do I realize the irony in putting a “nothing” character up against Cordelia :))
I actually think that Desdemona scores a stronger point with “I’m only doing the exact same thing that Mom did when she married you.”
Maggie Smith as Desdemona to Sir Laurence Olivier’s Othello
Have there been other echoes of this passage in his other, even earlier works? There’s nobody really to give that speech in Macbeth or Hamlet, and I think it speaks volumes that Juliet is not in a position to deliver such a speech in her play. What about the comedies? Neither Beatrice, Rosalind or Viola have a father figure to rebel against. I suppose Hermia might have had a shot at it, but she has to deal directly with Theseus, which isn’t really a fair comparison.
It’s rare that we see a list of “Shakespeare Stuff You Didn’t Know” and we don’t already actually know most of it. So I was pleasantly surprised to find this list of Shakespeare Adaptations You Haven’t Seen and, honestly, I haven’t seen any of them. I’ve *heard* of several of them – Ran being the most obvious example – but I can’t say I’ve ever watched that one through from start to finish, only seen clips.
But then again I’m not the one who runs a “Shakespeare and film microblog”. Luckily, I know who does.
Putting you on the spot here Bardfilm! How many have you seen?
Can I just say how excited I am at how many people have finally started calling it Shakespeare Day, rather than having to split between Shakespeare’s Birthday and The Anniversary of Shakespeare’s Death? I’ve been saying that for years. Nice that it’s finally starting to catch on!
