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Comment on When Is Shakespeare’s Birthday? by Happy Birthday! « Shakescene

Happy Birthday! « Shakescene — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:44:59 +0000

[...] we don’t know the exact date of Shakespeare’s birthday (see an excellent “Mad Shakespeare” post for further details on this), today, April 23rd, has long been the day of choice. This is perfectly fine with me, since it [...]

Comment on Reading Shakespeare in one year #HBWS by Happy 448th, Will! #HBWS | shakesyear

Happy 448th, Will! #HBWS | shakesyear — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 05:49:57 +0000

[...] What changed that? Shame. Years later, living in New York City, I thought I had recovered from my school experiences. I went to museums, theater, and concerts. I listened to National Public Radio. I’d seen my share of Shakespeare productions, including some breathtaking, celebrated ones: Kevin Kline as Falstaff at Lincoln Center, the all-male Antony and Cleopatra at Shakespeare’s Globe. I thought I was a pretty cultured guy. But then I read about P.G. Wodehouse who, it is said, read the complete works every year or two. Every year? How did he find time to read anything while writing ninety-six books? I’d only read about half the plays, and I had not written even one book. I thought I was literate; in truth I was a poseur. The only solution was to do what Wodehouse had done—read all the plays in a year. (I’m hardly the only one to have done that, I know; not even the only #HBWS blogger.) [...]

Comment on Ask Mad Shakespeare: The Sanders Portrait by Charlotte Medcalf

Charlotte Medcalf — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:23:16 +0000

These comments are so old, I don’t know if anyone will read this. But you touch on something that has interested me. I live in south-east London near where Edward Alleyn lived, and my husband is from Stratford-upon-Avon, he went to Shakespeare’s school, and his parents were literary critics, his father wrote many books about Shakespeare. So we are interested, although not experts ourselves! I have always thought this portrait sounded genuine and wondered if it is labelled Shakespeare, but doesn’t refer to William. Edmund Shakespeare, his youngest brother, came to London to be an actor, and was around the age of the person in the portrait at that time. He died whilst in London, as I remember, a few years later. There seems such a lot of provenance for this picture, and to me (again no art expert) it captures someone very real as if done from life, not another picture: the overbite, the slightly frizzy auburn hair, the weak eyes, the rosy cheeks – not at all like the portrait of William Shakespeare as a resemblance, but very much like an actor – didn’t someone say the hair was dressed a little like a fool? And a receding hairline is a strong genetic marker that doesn’t wait for old age. My grandfather was virtually bald in his early twenties! Well Edmund was an actor, and in his twenties. We will probably never know, but I wish someone else would pick up on this idea – I haven’t seen anyone else suggest it!

Comment on Sunday Funnies: Verbing Weirds Language by Man up Dude | guyospeaks

Man up Dude | guyospeaks — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:18:34 +0000

[...] Verbing weirds language. This, brilliant comment from the equally brilliant comic strip Calvin and Hobbes is a reference to the current proverbial bug in my ass, which has to do with the devolution of the language we call English. [...]

Comment on Review: Hamlet the Video Game by World’s Strangest | 7 Video Games Based on Works of Art (or a John Hodgman Podcast)

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:41:16 +0000

[...] can read a review here and there is a free “Lite” version available for iPhone and [...]

Comment on YouTube Pick: Edwin Booth Performs Othello by Frank

Frank — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 05:00:23 +0000

An eyeopening Shakepearean read by Edwin Booth. No wonder why he thrilled audiences around the world with his acting and elecution skills, learned from his father, Junius Brutus Booth, who himself was recognized as the greatest Shakespearean actor in HIS day. Edwin spent 6 years traveling with his father from one city to another, performing, and mastered the craft while observing his father’s acting technique during each performance. To get the full story of the Booth family dynamic, read historian, Nora Titone’s: “My Thoughts Be Bloody”, which was published in October, 2010.

Comment on Ask Mad Shakespeare: The Sanders Portrait by Grant Campbell

Grant Campbell — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:51:23 +0000

There are a few items that bear witness to it being genuine. The label was dated to the period of the early 17th century; before Shakespeare’s birth dates were well known. Lloyd Sullivan’s geneaology has been traced back to the same area as Shakespeare and is related to families that were related to Shakespeare’s. There was a study done that the portrait was 1603 and the style of dress was from that period and that someone of gentleman rank was entitled to wear that specific doublet. In May 1603 Shakespeare was raised to the status of gentleman and so could well have commemorated the event with a portrait. These dress rules were repealed in 1604.

I think the opinion of whether someone looks 39 or not is subjective. he clearly doesn’t look 20 or 24 – look at the bags under the eyes. he doesn’t look 50 either.

Comment on Shakespeare and the invention of…the teenager? #HBWS by Sandra Lawson

Sandra Lawson — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:25:38 +0000

Hi Colin!

Trust you to get back to Henry IV Part I again. I agree with your analysis of the young Prince Hal, but what about those rebellious adolescent teenagers, Romeo and Juliet? Perhaps it’s a gender thing, but I can see so many young girls reflected in the Capulet girl, especially when she provokes her father’s retort of ‘Thank me no thankings, nor, proud me no prouds’. In the recent RSC production I thought Juliet’s father was about to give her a good slap and as the onetime mother of teenage daughters, I know exactly how far he was provoked.

Comment on When Is Shakespeare’s Birthday? by Celebrating the Immortal Truth of Shakespeare — LIA KEYES

Celebrating the Immortal Truth of Shakespeare — LIA KEYES — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:59:50 +0000

[...] is Shakespeare’s birthday and deathday, yet in the alternative reality of story which permeates our world he has never been more [...]

Comment on When Is Shakespeare’s Birthday? by Immortal Shakespeare | Steampunk Shakespeare

Immortal Shakespeare | Steampunk Shakespeare — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 19:27:13 +0000

[...] is the day celebrated as both Shakespeare’s birthday and deathday, yet in the alternative reality of story he has never been more [...]