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I'm nearing the end of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, and have found it extremely interesting. I've reached the part about Hamlet. I hadn't realised that parts of its plot have been in place since the 12th century (the legendary Danish revenger Amleth).
It's been an interesting read in the context of our new theme, because so many of the plays at this time seem to be rewrites or adaptations of existing or earlier plays. It's hard to imagine a time when you could just take an existing play and its story, and do a bit of change to it, and then perform it as a new production, by a new author.
Gill wrote: "I'm nearing the end of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, and have found it extremely interesting. I've reached the part about Hamlet. I hadn't realised th..."
I'm finding that Shakespeare is the master of taking previous plays or stories and rewriting them as his own. I might have to pick up that book to read more about him, but I'm awaiting a more basic DK Shakespeare book at the moment. I really enjoyed Bill Bryson's book too, that I read in preparation for seeing Hamlet. Now I've read Hamlet as well, I absolutely love it...but still can't see any connection to Ulysses at the moment.
Gill wrote: "I'm nearing the end of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, and have found it extremely interesting. I've reached the part about Hamlet. I hadn't realised th..."
I stopped that one half way through due to other commitments but I must finish it. IT was so interesting.
Did anyone see the BBC A Midsummer Night's Dream on Monday? I thought it was a wonderful production - funny, threatening, heart-warming, just brilliant. I must have seen at least half a dozen different performances of this play over the years and this had the most joyful ending. If you can access BBC iplayer you can still watch it.
Joy wrote: "Did anyone see the BBC A Midsummer Night's Dream on Monday? I thought it was a wonderful production - funny, threatening, heart-warming, just brilliant. I must have seen at least half a dozen diffe..."Oh I wish I had! I can't imagine a better Bottom than Matt Lucas! I'm also absolutely desperate to know when we're going to get the second series of "The Hollow Crown" in the US...
Joy wrote: "Did anyone see the BBC A Midsummer Night's Dream on Monday? I thought it was a wonderful production - funny, threatening, heart-warming, just brilliant. I must have seen at least half a dozen diffe..."I wonder if it is available to me here in the U.S.... off to see!
:( BBC iPlayer only works if you are in the U.K. I guess that I will have to wait until it is picked up by a network here (hopefully PBS!)
Please post when it is, Leslie. Midsummer's is one of my faves
We are seeing two versions of "The Taming of the Shrew" this month. On June 10 are seeing the all male cast led by Maulik Pancholy of "30 Rock" fame as Kate and on June 23 we are seeing the all female cast led by Cush Jumbo of "The Good Wife" as Kate.This is a good month.
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Have fun Portia! :)
Sara wrote: "Joy wrote: "Did anyone see the BBC A Midsummer Night's Dream on Monday? I thought it was a wonderful production - funny, threatening, heart-warming, just brilliant. I must have seen at least half a..."The second series of The Hollow Crown is definitely worth watching when you can - much better than the first series.
The BBC ought to put its iplayer content on subscription for those not in the UK.
We haven't gotten around to watching "Henry IV I and II" but I gotta say I loved Edward II. Ben Wishaw was unreal. That's a play I was never gone sit down and read and I thought it was remarkable. Rory Kinnear was terrific too.I question casting Tom Hiddleston as Henry V a bit though. Was he not so good?
PS. Got to see Ben in The Crucible a month or so back...it was like a privilege to see that man on stage. Sophie Okonedo and Ciaran Hinds weren't exactly terrible either. LOL
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That sounds amazing Sara. I would've loved seeing The Crucible with that cast!!
I'm reading The Ubu Plays: Ubu Rex / Ubu Cuckolded / Ubu Enchained and am not enjoying it one bit. Why would it be groundbreaking? What does it have that makes it so popular? Has anyone read it and maybe liked it? If so, could you explain to me why you did like it? I'm really curious to know, as I think I'm not grasping its meaning here.
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I had the same reaction Marina - it feels very silly and juvenile to me. So much of why it was groundbreaking though was the context. There's an interesting book The Banquet Years: The Origins of the Avant-Garde in France, 1885 to World War I that talks about avant garde developments at the time in drama (Jarry), painting (Henri Rousseau), music (Erik Satie), and poetry (Guillaume Apollinaire). It gave me a little idea of why, but honestly I really don't enjoy reading Jarry at all, though I do like Satie, Rousseau, and Appolinaire.
Thanks, Greg. I guess I might begin to understand its being groundbreaking if I did a little research, but as you say, I don't enjoy it at all. I agree with you, I too like Satie and Apollinaire, though unfortunately I am very ignorant about Henri Rousseau. I'll have to do an online search to see how his paintings look like.
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The description of the four men's lives and works is fairly fascinating in the book Marina.
As far as Rousseau, this is my favorite (probably his most famous too - "Sleeping Gypsy"):
I like this one too - I have a postcard of it up on my cubicle at work:
Thanks for the pictures, Greg. I have to admit my utter ignorance when it comes to this painter.
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It was probably that book that first introduced me to him Marina - I don't think I'd heard of him before that. But then after I knew who he was, I started noticing his paintings in museums. Weird how that happens. :)
Wasn't Henri Rousseau a Customs Officer or something similar? It's whatever Le Douanier (may be spelt wrong) means in French; this was his nickname. There's a very popular picture of his with a tiger in it.
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Yes Gill, that's right! :) It was a humorous nickname about his occupation as a toll collector.
Last evening, I went to see the live streaming of the Royal Shakespeare Company performance of Hamlet.Here's a review of the performance:https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201...
I'd read it a few months ago in connection with the group read of Ulysses, and it was great to see it performed. There were a lot of West African influences on the production of the play, which certainly contributed to how real the Ghost seemed.
And Paapa Essiedu was excellent as Hamlet, and he's only 25!
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Here's a review of the performance:https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201......"
Sounds amazing Gill!!
I have never seen a live performance of Hamlet - sounds great Gill!I have seen several different movie versions - I think that I like the Kenneth Branagh one best, though the Laurence Olivier one was also excellent.
That sounds great Gill, just the sort of performance I'd enjoy. I actually watched the Olivier version of Hamlet last night, but I found it hard to get into. I've seen the Branagh version years ago, but I thought it was a bit too Hollywood for my tastes.
What a coincidence Pink! Have you ever seen the Mel Gibson one? Talk about too Hollywood!
Or is it coincidence related to Ulysses, Pink?! I was watching the play thinking about Stephen Daedalus near the beginning, but I rather drifted away from those thoughts!
Leslie, no I haven't watched the Mel Gibson version for exactly that reason! I've heard the Russian film version is one of the best, but I'm unsure about hearing it in another language. Gill, not so much related to Ulysses for me, I've just been watching a lot of Shakespeare related programmes on television and plumped for Hamlet last night as I've already seen and read that one. I can't say that Stephen came into my thoughts though! I still don't really get the connection, unless I go looking for it.
I'll also mention here that I've been reading The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka today. I know he's not our play focus until next month, but the book arrived at the library early so I made a head start. I'm absolutely loving it so far and hope that the ending doesn't let me down. It's only 60 pages and quick to get through. Has anyone read this before or anything else by him? I'm not sure what to try next, as I know he's written all manner of things, plays, poetry, novels....I guess I should see what else my library has really, but I'd appreciate any recommendations as well.
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I strongly recommend Death and the King's Horseman: A Play Pink - it's fascinating and heartbreaking, also so different in language and style than what I'm used to in plays. I bought a copy of The Lion and the Jewel and will certainly join in with Soyinka next month.
Thanks for the tip Greg, I think my library has that one :)
We were incredibly lucky to see a performance of "Hamlet" by the touring company of Shakespeare's Globe. The company chose to perform in the style of the old medieval touring companies, using a clothesline and a sheet for the curtain and going on from there. What was most striking about the performance was that the actors doubled up in the roles, so that The Player King and Queen also played Claudius and Gertrude. That choice gave the audience a real frisson when the "curtain" parted. Fortunately, the stage is small because the actors had to rush from behind the curtain to in front of it pretty quickly. Just wonderful.
Greg wrote: "Pink wrote: "I'll also mention here that I've been reading The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka today. I know he's not our play focus until next month, but the book arrived at the library early s..."Soyinka is a Nobel laureate who won a Nobel peace prize for Literature, and he is from Nigeria. A great writer any time. His best play to me is death and the King's horsemen
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That's the only one of his plays I've read so far but I loved it. So beautifully complex and different than any other plays I've read. I'm eager to read The Lion and the Jewel though! I ordered a cheap used copy already so I'll have it in hand by July.
Valentine wrote: "Greg wrote: "Pink wrote: "I'll also mention here that I've been reading The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka today. I know he's not our play focus until next month, but the book arrived at the li..."He is the author of our summer seasonal play so please drop by and comment on either that thread or our theme thread:
Summer focus play: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Summer drama theme (Nobel Laureates): https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
The Oedipus Plays - an Audible original drama, is currently free on Audible, both in the UK and the US. It doesn't say how long for.
Gill wrote: "The Oedipus Plays - an Audible original drama, is currently free on Audible, both in the UK and the US. It doesn't say how long for."It didn't show up as free for me, Gill, though it was not too expensive. :(
Sara wrote: "We haven't gotten around to watching "Henry IV I and II" but I gotta say I loved Edward II. Ben Wishaw was unreal. That's a play I was never gone sit down and read and I thought it was remarkable. ..."Yes i agree Tom Hiddleston wasn't great as Henry V, whereas Benedict Cumberbatch was superb as Richard 111.
I've started reading 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear, which I'm expecting to be very good. I read 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare recently. It definitely enhanced my understanding of Shakespeare and his plays, and made me feel much more positive of reading and seeing performed the ones I don't know very well.
I really liked the latest play I read for our spring drama theme - a modern adaptation of Moliere: Tartuffe: Born Again. Thomas has made Tartuffe a TV evangelist in Louisiana, which is the perfect modernization. Other than changing the setting, there were remarkably few changes from the original.
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Thomas has made Tartuffe a TV evangelist in Louisiana, whic..."
Sounds fun Leslie! I definitely get a kick out of the original Tartuffe - such a funny play!
Greg wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I really liked the latest play I read for our spring drama theme - a modern adaptation of Moliere: Tartuffe: Born Again. Thomas has made Tartuffe a TV evangelist in ..."
I would love to see a performance! But reading it was still a lot of fun.
Hi!I'd have to do a paper on pre-Elizabethan British drama for my next semester. Can anyone suggest books on the critical history of the theatre in England of the said period?
Akanksha wrote: "Hi!I'd have to do a paper on pre-Elizabethan British drama for my next semester. Can anyone suggest books on the critical history of the theatre in England of the said period?"
I don't really read any literary criticism so I can't help you with that. Being American, I am not good with the timeline of the English monarchy but I assume that this means pre-Shakespeare. So who would be covered in this - morality plays & such?
You might find something helpful here: http://www.theatrehistory.com/
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I'd have to do a paper on pre-Elizabethan British drama for my next semester. Can anyone suggest books on the critical history of the theatre in England of the said period?"
My knowledge of pre-Elizabethan drama is pretty sketchy Akanksha - the only thing I can recall off the top of my head is Everyman. I did like that one when I read it years ago.
Be careful about what edition you get because the language is quite archaic, and it helps to read a copy that has good footnotes/endnotes. Since you're approaching this for study, you probably want a footnoted copy of the original language rather than one translated into modern English. There's similar issues with all the versions of The Canterbury Tales available. I'm sure in class you'll study works in the original language.
One thing you might want to consider is buying a Norton Anthology of English literature of the period. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. A: Middle Ages is excellent - good footnotes and lots of useful background information on the era. There's "important" drama included in it as well as essays, and poetry.
Best of luck with your studies!
Not sure of the level of your studies - sorry if this advice is too basic! :)
Leslie wrote: "Akanksha wrote: "Hi!I'd have to do a paper on pre-Elizabethan British drama for my next semester. Can anyone suggest books on the critical history of the theatre in England of the said period?"
I..."
Thank you! Looks like I might run into some seriously helpful bits of information there :)
Greg wrote: "Akanksha wrote: "Hi!I'd have to do a paper on pre-Elizabethan British drama for my next semester. Can anyone suggest books on the critical history of the theatre in England of the said period?"
M..."
Thanks a lot to you too. Yeah, the Norton Anthology always comes in handy.
You're right that I'd need access to annotated texts. But what I'm looking for right now is a critical overview. A Critical History of English Literature, Volume 1: From the Beginnings to Milton was what I had been referring to till now, but a more in depth study is what I need now.
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https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201......"
That does look good Gill!
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