‘Such groans of
roaring wind and rain’ – it’s been a turbulent month, both the weather and life
but now April has arrived, and one hopes that it will put a spirit of youth in
all of us.
This will be a short
report, and first, as always, I appeal to visitors of this blog to note that Shakespeare
Calling – the book is available for purchase. Please help promote the book by buying it, of
course, and telling your friends about it, by liking and sharing it on
Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Bokus…. And please encourage your local book shops and
libraries to buy it. Thank
you! Your support is needed to keep this project alive.
Available for those of you in Great
Britain and Europe on this site:
Also
available on http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Calling-book-Ruby-Jand/dp/9163782626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436073737&sr=1-1&keywords=Ruby+Jand+shakespeare+calling
Or
in Sweden
or
Adlibris. Or contact the publisher info@vulkan.se
Shakespeare sightings:
- Existence by David Brin has quotes from the ‘To
be or not to be’ monolog as an introduction to each part. Very appropriate in a
novel about humans’ first encounter with space aliens.
- The Human Stain by Philip Roth is full of Shakespeare
references. The father of the main character Coleman Silk taught his children
that no one could take the language of Shakespeare away from them and quoted
frequently from the plays.
Further since last time:
- On a very serious note I feel obligated to comment on the developments at the Royal Dramatic Theatre of Sweden. In the aftermath of the #metoo movement it has been revealed that the atmosphere of the workplace has been bad for a long time, with abuse, offensive behaviour, even violence, especially from one of the actors who has been kept on because he is regarded by some as an acting genius. This man was sentenced lightly some years ago for the physical abuse of his then girlfriend, who has since died. It must be emphasised that abusers are often charming and likeable publicly, but in this case, when the identity of the actor was revealed, my first thought was, ‘I knew it.’ Of this actor, who played Prospero in a production we saw some years ago, I wrote in Shakespeare calling, that he ‘was dreadful’ (page 654 in Shakespeare calling – the book.) In all the plays I’ve seen this actor I have found him arrogant, offensively macho and as far from an acting genius as can be. It is very possible that actors I admire and like are also guilty of abuse and if such is revealed my reaction must be the same: Prospero, The Tempest, Shakespeare, theatre in general, the world deserves so much more. Violence, and most certainly the violence of men against women, is just not acceptable. We must stop accepting it.
Posted this month
- This report
Shakespeare Calling – the book is promoted by
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