Bardfilm, without coercion, has developed this list to convince the reluctant to purchase the “Shakespeare is Universal” T-shirt designed by Shakespeare Geek.

10. Unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor bare, forked animal as Edgar (disguised as Poor Tom) is in King Lear. This T-shirt will enable you to rise above such unaccommodation.

9. Only one week remains to sign up for this shirt—and I have inside knowledge that the opportunity will not repeat itself if this fails.

8. The night is cold, and you are sick at heart. Purchasing this T-shirt will remedy both difficulties simultaneously!

7. A shirt of such quality is rarely seen—far less is it seen for the low price of a mere fifteen dollars. It’s practically custom-designed for the Shakespeare afficianado in each of us. Given that our Geek has taken suggestions from followers and Facebook fans and updated the design, it actually is custom-designed, now that I think about it.

6. Falstaff, according to the Hostess, “could never abide carnation; ’twas a colour he never liked.” This shirt is not offered in carnation—though you can get it in black, blue, red, or grey.

5. You love to talk about Shakespeare—you know you do. Wear this T-shirt, and conversations will automatically turn in a direction you know and love!

4. Shakespeare Geek has been a constant Shakespeare promoter to all and sundry since 2005. This is but one very small way to congratulate him on his efforts and to encourage him to continue in them.

3. Lear tells us that “Through tatter’d clothes small vices do appear.” Hide your small vices by buying this untatter’d t-shirt!

2. Imagine the prestige of being one of only a hundred people in the world to own this t-shirt. Pretend you’ve joined an ultra-secret society of Shakespeare promoters. When you spot another person wearing this shirt, nod gravely. That would be so cool!

1. The whips and scorns of time will have little to no effect on you when you wear a shirt covered with “To be or not to be” in thirty-six languages.  That, my friends, is the same number as the number of plays included in the First Folio of Shakespeare’s works.

Finally, if you don’t buy this shirt, Bardfilm (and ninety-nine other people) won’t ever get the opportunity to have one. And “Keep Bardfilm happy” is such a common expression that it’s virtually become a cliché.  And you know what they say—it wouldn’t be a cliché if it weren’t true!

Our thanks 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.

“Everything I do is in some way linked back to Shakespeare,” says Ben Kingsley, he of the Royal Shakespeare Company who also happens to be the most recent Iron Man villain, Mandarin.

I love his loyalty.  If you think he’s kidding, check out this 2010 interview when he played the villain in the videogame movie “Prince of Persia”:

I serve Nizam as if Nizam was written by Shakespeare and he was called Richard III. “Why waste my time trivializing a character or a film?” he continued, now fully engaged, his voice smooth and mellifluous. “If I trivialize it, it’s going to spoil three, four, five months of my life. Instead, I consciously think to myself, ‘Aim high, aim very high with Nizam. If the kids are going to come and watch it, let them see Richard IIIfrom Shakespeare. That will make them go, ‘Wow.’ Don’t give them a Punch and Judy show villain.

I don’t know what Mr. Kingsley’s final resting plans may be but I think that he should seriously consider having, “If the kids are going to come and watch it, let them see Shakespeare.  That will make them go, ‘Wow’” inscribed on his tombstone. While it might be true that the man seems to take any job where the check clears, we can look at it more positively when we think that he’s bringing Shakespeare into everything he does.

The Shakespeare Geek blog has been around since 2005, making it the oldest continually active Shakespeare blog in existence. Shakespeare is Universal represents our biggest fund-raising effort to date. For almost eight years and almost three thousand posts I’ve tried my best to make a place where everyone can talk about everything related to the subject of Shakespeare. If you’ve found my sites and products useful and interesting, I would greatly appreciate your support so that I can continue to do even more. Thank you.

I didn’t expect much out of “How To Write Like Shakespeare” that I hadn’t seen before and the first few paragraphs confirmed my prediction — when he was born, what he was known for, and so on.

Then it got interesting.

Under “Favourite Trick” the author lists the “180-degree turnaround” where a character changes the mind of another purely through persuasive rhetorical argument.  Examples include Richard III wooing Lady Anne, Antony at Caesar’s funeral and, of course, Coriolanus and his mom.

I guess I’d never really noticed the pattern before, at least enough to think of it as a tool in Shakespeare’s toolbox.

What do you think?  What other “go to” moves do you think that Shakespeare had in his bag of tricks, pulling out again and again when he knew they’d work?

Let the debate begin!  An educator puts forth the idea that Shakespeare would appeal more to kids if it were presented “like a modern film trailer”, focusing on the most exciting bits and skipping out on the boring part…such as the opening.

I’m not quite sure what she’s suggesting with the comparison.  After all, a film trailer is not a final product.  It’s supposed to convince you to go see the full movie, no? So if she’s suggesting that you introduce Shakespeare to kids with the trailer approach so that they can see the interesting bits, and then they go back and read/see the whole thing? I don’t have a problem with that.

I’ve never been a bardolater who wants to claim that every word is an essential part of a masterpiece.  There are plays I like and plays I don’t love.  There are scenes I find less interesting than others.  I’m not against editing.  I’m not against adapting.  But if this lady is suggesting that you reduce Shakespeare down to the “interesting” parts and then never come back around to the whole thing? I think she’s nuts.

The Shakespeare Geek blog has been around since 2005, making it the oldest continually active Shakespeare blog in existence.  Shakespeare is Universal represents our biggest fund-raising effort to date. For almost eight years and almost three thousand posts I’ve tried my best to make a place where everyone can talk about everything related to the subject of Shakespeare. If you’ve found my sites and products useful and interesting, I would greatly appreciate your support so that I can continue to do even more. Thank you.

OMG this needs to be a thing, immediately.  Like, for all the Complete Works, the Sonnets, and the long poems.

A virtual Sir Ian McKellen explains Shakespeare to you.

If you don’t click that link you don’t understand what I’m telling you.  The link came to me with a simple “Ian McKellen explains Richard III” title and I thought oh all right I’ll take a look.

A virtual Sir Ian greets you and walks you through the play, as you direct him.  Which line gives you trouble?  Would you like to see a few different versions of the scene?  You pick what you want him to talk about and Sir Ian talks.  So if you want to see the Olivier version Sir Ian actually introduces it and talks about the clip.

How much do I love this?  I don’t know what’s on Sir Ian’s schedule for the next couple of years, but seriously, I would mortgage my house for a complete collection of him doing this for the complete works.  What an absolutely genius idea.

O!  O!  And then a virtual Sir Patrick Stewart joins in and they banter back and forth about interpretation of Macbeth!  I’d die.

If you’ve not yet seen our Shakespeare is Universal campaign, please consider joining us.  This one-of-a-kind t-shirt will only be available for a few more days and by signing up you’ll be part of a very select club, just 100 people in the entire world who’ve chosen to express their love for Shakespeare in this unique way.  Thank you for your support!