Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Notebooks

BBC Books recently published Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Notebooks. Newly discovered entries and drawings in William Shakespeare’s journals reveal for the first time the astounding relationship between the Bard of Avon and the Doctor! BBC Books has rediscovered notebooks, long thought lost, compiled by the Bard in which he divulges the influential role the DoctorContinue reading “Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Notebooks”

On Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous

Who wrote the plays of Shakespeare? To most people the answer is obvious — Shakespeare wrote the plays of Shakespeare. A little-hearlded young man went to London, became an actor and the playwright of the age, then returned to Stratford Upon Avon, having conquered all the literary worlds there were to conquer, and took upContinue reading “On Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous”

On an Oxfordian Movie

So! The Shakespeare Authorship Question is the subject of a new film from Independence Day director Roland Emmerich, Anonymous, out this autumn. According to a write-up in Entertainment Weekly, it focuses on Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, who is considered by some (like the Shakespeare-Oxford Society) to be the true author of Shakespeare’sContinue reading “On an Oxfordian Movie”

On Stratfordians, Oxfordians, and “The Brain of Morbius”

A few months ago, I picked up off a clearance table at a bookstore Manga Shakespeare: The Tempest. It’s exactly what it sounds like, a manga-styled adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s plays, the comedy “The Tempest.” It’s a late play, written somewhere around 1608 or 1610 if memory serves, based in part on a real-lifeContinue reading “On Stratfordians, Oxfordians, and “The Brain of Morbius””

On the President’s Shakespearean Tendencies

Will wonders never cease! While other American presidents have quoted from Shakespeare, it appears that George W. Bush is the only president to emulate Shakespeare. So argues Slate. My first reaction? It can’t be. He doesn’t have the cadences. He talks like a gibbering moron when he’s off script, when he’s not being actively petulant.Continue reading “On the President’s Shakespearean Tendencies”

On Shakespearean Dreams

My dream began in a school auditorium. Seats were the hard wooden pull-down type. Nothing special. The auditorium was packed. My former boss was there. So, too, was Arrested Development star Jason Bateman. The speaker took the stage. The audience stood. We began to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. “I pledge allegiance to the flag…”Continue reading “On Shakespearean Dreams”

On Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing

Steve Mollmann wrote in the comments, ” I figured out who Robert Sean Leonard [was]. He’s the guy who ruined Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing. OK, so it was Keanu Reeves who ruined it. But Leonard didn’t exactly help.” Ah, Branagh’s Much Ado. Visit Target and you’ll probably see the DVD cheap. Five orContinue reading “On Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing”

A Most Disturbing Dream

A few days ago I picked up Kenneth Branagh’s version of Much Ado About Nothing on DVD at Target for under ten dollars. I haven’t watched it–been too busy to do so–so I’ve added it to my “to be watched” pile. Before I went to bed, I took the Klingon Language Institute‘s translation of theContinue reading “A Most Disturbing Dream”