I have always had a soft spot for the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon. I have seen many of his plays performed across a variety of stages. (Including King Lear in a theater built to recreate the experience of the theaters of the time.) My favorite of all the tragedies is the Scottish Play. Perhaps the curse is part of it. I love a good superstition.
Anyway, the late, great Sir Richard Burton ...
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Shakespeare produced an amazing amount of work in his lifetime. At least, we think he wrote it all. There is some debate. It seems like a new wave of authorship theories rises every so often. Everyone loves a mystery and the dearth of details makes this life more enthralling than most. What can I say, we love to “know” our artists. Always have. Always will.
I love all of the Shakespeare that I have seen or read. “My kingdom for a horse!”, “Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him Horatio.”,”We few, we lucky few, we band of brothers.” all inspire me in my more poetic moments. The fact that someone so long ago wrote these lines that seem to speak to the true nature of humankind amazes and astounds me.
A man who built the foundation, Laurence Olivier ...
My favorite Shakespeare, though, is the “Trilogy of Man”: Hamlet, MacBeth, and King Lear. Being a man, things that address the growth of a man appeal to me. The theory holds that Hamlet is the son, MacBeth is the man, and King Lear is the father. The analogy may be a bit facile but the truth remains that these three plays tell the story of a man at three different stages in life.
I especially like film adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays. There is something affirming in taking on old material in new media. Since Olivier, actors and filmmakers have used the work of Shakespeare to project our modern sensibilities onto ageless plays.
Sir Ian McKellen has taken several cinematic turns as one of the Bard’s characters ...
Cinema is the language of the modern age. Perhaps one day the title will be taken but for now, everything from SnapChat to Instagram relies on the foundations of cinema. A work is often not seen as “accessible” until it has received the film treatment.
Honorable Mention film adaptations
Orson Welles made a couple of Shakespeare films, the weirdest being Othello ...
Julie Taymoor brought us Titus, a gloriously muddy and bloody film ...
Michael Keaton in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing ...
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from your humble diarist:
ChiTownKev is holding it down in his most excellent rant.
BobTheHappyDinosaur explains the meaning of it all in Trump fanatic publicly encourages lynch-style arrest of Obama—with 'pitchforks and torches' by Leslie Salzillo.
SamanthaB gets it right on the money here, here, and here BUT saves her best to dissect the patriarchy concisely in Trump Somehow Manages To Insult Women While Unveiling A Plane. by Dartagnan.
from blueoregon:
quaoar delivers a message every citizen needs to hear right now in Victor Klemperer Respawned’s I've been angry. I've been sad. I've been disappointed. But I've never been ashamed, until now.
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annnnnnd, Julius Caesar explained …