December 2020

 

December 2020

 

We could say that now starts our winter of discontent, if we think about Covid 19. Or we could say that in this impending winter we will with warm tears melt the snow if these tears are of relief over the imminent ousting of Trump from the White House and the optimistic reports that vaccines are on the way. In any case, let December end this turbulent year, and let us say that true hope is swift and flies with swallow’s wings. Happy holidays! Stay safe, stay well and stay hopeful.

 

And now, a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. Thank you.

The book is available for those of you in Great Britain and parts of Europe on this site:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/9163782626/ref=tmm_hrd_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1514378301&sr=8-1

 

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

http://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163782626/shakespeare-calling-the-book/

or Adlibris. Or contact the publisher info@vulkan.se

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• Dagens Nyheter writes that if Trump is a Shakespeare character, he is a stupid version of Richard III. To compare Trump to Lear is an insult to Shakespeare.
• In Arthur C Clarke’s classic A Fall of Moondust the passengers trapped in their tourist vessel under the dust of the moon consider their reading material, a ‘Western’ classic that is considered by some as irrelevant because it’s about an historical time, upon which a professor says that this reasoning ‘is as illogical as dismissing Hamlet on the grounds that events restricted to a small and draughty Danish castle could not possibly be of universal significance.’

 Films with a Shakespeare connection seen this month - see reviews on https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/ 

• The Leisure Seeker – I’ve seen Mirren in Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, and The Tempest.
• Split – McAvoy plays Macbeth in the Re-Told version.
• On the Basis of Sex - Jones is in The Tempest.
• Defiance – Schreiber is in Almereyda’s Hamlet.
• Glass - McAvoy plays Macbeth in the Re-Told version.  Spencer Treat Clark is in Cymbeline and Much Ado About Nothing. 

Further since last time:

• Finished reading (to myself, alas, Hal is no longer up to listening to Shakespeare): The Merchant of Venice.
• Wrote: about Antonio or Portia and Trump’s supporters in ‘The Good People of Venice’ in The Merchant of Venice. 

Posted this month

• ‘The Good People of Venice’ in The Merchant of Venice. https://rubyjandshakespearecalling.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-good-people-of-venice-in-merchant.html
• This report

 

 

Shakespeare Calling – the book is promoted by

http://shakespearesallskapet.se/

 

Read more about my alter ego’s books, in one of which Shakespeare appears live and in person, on:

·       https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/shakespeare-calling-the-book/

·       https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/spoiler-merlin-and-shakespeare/

 

https://rubyjandshakespearecalling.blogspot.com/2020/11/november-2020.html

The Good People of Venice in The Merchant of Venice

The good people of Venice

in

The Merchant of Venice

 

     Antonio is a good and generous person. When Bassanio needs money Antonio says, ‘My purse, my person, my extremest means/ Lie all unlocked to your occasions’ (1.1). Bassanio later describes him as ‘the kindest man’ (3.2).

     Portia is a good and clever person. Virtuous, of course: ‘… of wonderous virtues’ (1.1). She shines as a lawyer and reminds us a bit of amiable Columbo when after a long list of reasons why Shylock should win his case, she says, ‘Tarry a little. There is something else’ (4.1).

     So. Good, generous, clever, amiable. But Antonio has repeatedly insulted and abused Shylock. Portia deliberately and coolly ruins his life. Because he is a Jew. Antonio and Portia hate Jews.

     But it was an anti-Semitic society, filled with hatred and fear, you may argue, and you would be right. But you may continue, that’s all in the past. You would be wrong.

     Four years ago, a racist and otherwise thoroughly contemptible man was elected (though he got fewer votes than his opponent) President of the United States. A few weeks ago, a majority of voters voted him out and the civilised world heaved a cautious sigh of relief.

     The problem is, millions voted for Trump. Let me tell you about three of them.

     The first one I’ll call Chichi. Like her name (even her real name)) she is a sweet, whimsical, harp-playing angelic poet who loves her little daughter very much. She posted her support of Trump on Facebook and when I expressed my dismay, she wrote that she too had once seen Trump as racist, misogynist, environmentally dangerous, etc but she had now realised that he was misunderstood and falsely maligned. She supports him because of all the good he has done.

     The second one is my cousin, let’s say she’s called Trish. We have very little contact and haven’t since we were children. Her support, also on FB, has been discreet but very clear. We haven’t discussed it at all. What puzzles me is that she is a very devout Christian. I’m naïve enough to think that religious people should promote love, not hate and contempt.

     My third example, another cousin, Laura. As far as we remember, we’ve only met once, when we were kids, but in recent years we have had a very friendly and mutually supportive relationship on FB. She has even bought and promoted my books. As far as I can tell, she loves her adopted kids. Then suddenly this summer she started posting pro-Trump memes and texts on FB. When I tried to discuss this with her, she first admitted to being confused about the situation in the US, but she hated Obama and Biden. When it became clear that Trump had lost the election, she - and especially her husband - began ranting and raving about fraud and stolen votes, spewing out hatred of Biden and Harris, and nastily abusing me with hateful insults.

     So.

     My question, simplified and perhaps unreasonable, but nevertheless, is this: Are these three people good but delusional? Good parents but bad people who understand exactly what Trump is and approves, agrees? Or are they basically bad, with streaks of goodness in them but only towards their own kind? Like Antonio and Portia?

     We know what the Christian society of Antonio and Portia led to throughout the centuries. Let’s just hope that the current 306 electoral votes will be the start of a democratic, equal and inclusive society where these kinds of questions are unnecessary.

     Maybe understanding, or at least pondering, Shakespeare will help.

    

    

Shakespeare calling – the book available here and other sites:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shakespeare-Calling-book-Ruby-Jand/dp/9163782626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543817692&sr=1-1&keywords=Ruby+Jand

 

November 2020

 

 

‘True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings.’ Despite the dark and heavy clouds I have hope. So, stay safe, dear friends, and those of you who can vote in the US – please vote out the madman who currently occupies the White House.

 

And now, a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. Thank you.

The book is available for those of you in Great Britain and parts of Europe on this site:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/9163782626/ref=tmm_hrd_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1514378301&sr=8-1

 

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

http://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163782626/shakespeare-calling-the-book/

or Adlibris. Or contact the publisher info@vulkan.se

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• In Unbecoming by Jenny Downham Mary longs to be an actor and imagines herself on stage with her daughter in the role of Perdita but then remembers that Perdita is brought up by a shepherd and thinks maybe that’s not such a good idea after all. Later Mary tells her granddaughter Katie, ‘To thine own self be true.’ Later, as the rain pours down, Katie thinks of the mad king wandering in the storm after being betrayed by his daughters and seems to remember that Lear died in the end.
• Dagens Nyheter reports that the Swedish actor Josephine Bornebusch says that Shakespeare is one of her romantic roll models. ‘He must be on the list, it’s where everything started it, isn’t it?’
• In Fredrik Backman’s Folk med ångest (Anxious People) the actor who’s at the showing of the flat with a rabbit’s head on his head to drive away buyers…. Never mind, it’s a very complicated story but very good like all of Backman’s books… anyway he tells the interrogating cop that he has played in The Merchant from Venice and the cop corrects him, ‘Of.’ ‘Eh?’ ‘The Merchant of Venice.’

Films with a Shakespeare connection seen this month - see reviews on https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/ 

• Clash of the Titans – a brilliant cast including Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith and Claire Bloom in an absolutely dreadful film that we didn’t even finish. I think these three are too embarrassed for me to list their Shakespeare roles.
• Keeping Mum – Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas are in Richard III.
• Babel – Harriet Walter is in Hollow Crown. Michael Maloney is in Hamlet, Othello, In the Bleak Midwinter, Hamlet, Henry V
• The Favourite – Olivia Colman is in Much Ado about Nothing Re-Told
• Pulp Fiction - Tim Roth is in Guildenstern and Rosencrantz Are Dead.  
• Mrs Henderson Presents - Judi Dench – countless. I’ve seen her in The Hollow Crown, Shakespeare in Love, Hamlet, Henry V, Macbeth. Bob Hoskins – Othello.
• The Great Debaters – Denzel Washington is in Much Ado About Nothing.
• Practical Magic – Aiden Quinn is in Pacino’s documentary Looking for Richard

 Further since last time:

• Continued reading (to myself, alas, Hal is no longer up to listening to Shakespeare): The Merchant of Venice.
• Started wondering: Antonio or Portia? Which one will I write about?
• Received from the Globe Shop – the DVDs The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar. M of V and JC we saw at the Globe. It will be fun to see them again in this form.

 Posted this month

• This report

  

Shakespeare Calling – the book is promoted by

• http://shakespearesallskapet.se/

 

Read more about my alter ego’s books, in one of which Shakespeare appears live and in person, on:

• https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/shakespeare-calling-the-book/
• https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/spoiler-merlin-and-shakespeare/

 

 

October 2020

 'Tis the time's plague when madmen lead the blind.

Consider these words of Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt: “In ordinary times, when a public figure is caught in a lie or simply reveals blatant ignorance of the truth, his standing is diminished. But these are not ordinary times. If a dispassionate bystander were to point out all of Cade’s grotesque distortions, mistakes, and downright lies, the crowd’s anger would light on the skeptic and not on Cade.” (Cade is the leader of a rebellion against Henry VI, a vicious, violent man, a buffoon not unlike Trump.)
― Stephen Greenblatt, Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics

 

But don’t lose hope. It’s possible to oust Trump.

Consider further these words: “Shakespeare believed that . . . tyrants and their minions would ultimately fail, brought down by their own viciousness and by a popular spirit of humanity that could be suppressed but never completely extinguished. The best chance for the recovery of collective decency lay, he thought, in the political action of ordinary citizens. He never lost sight of . . . the hungry citizen who demanded economic justice. 'What is the city but the people?”
― Stephen Greenblatt, Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics

 

Stay safe, dear friends, and those of you who can vote in the US – please vote out the madman who currently occupies the White House.

 

And now, a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. Thank you.

The book is available for those of you in Great Britain and parts of Europe on this site:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/9163782626/ref=tmm_hrd_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1514378301&sr=8-1

 

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

http://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163782626/shakespeare-calling-the-book/

or Adlibris. Or contact the publisher info@vulkan.se

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• In The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne young Cyril’s adoptive father becomes so angry about being threatened with imprisonment and bankruptcy that he rages like King Lear in the storm.
• In the wonderful novel Rules for Visiting by Jessica Frances Kane the narrator May reveals on nearly the last page that her mother’s name was Miranda, ‘invented by Shakespeare, derived from the Latin mirandus, meaning “worthy of admiration wonderful”.’
• In the introduction to Aphra Behn’s The Rover her plays are (of course) compared to Shakespeare.

 Films with a Shakespeare connection seen this month - see reviews on https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/

• Get on Up - Octavia Spencer is in Being John Malkovich which has a Richard III theme.
• Sleuth 1972 Mankiewicz directed Julius Caesar. Olivier, too many to count. We’ve seen him in King Lear, Richard III, Hamlet, Henry V, As You Like It.
• Sleuth 2007 - Branagh – director and/or actor - As You Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Hamlet, In the Bleak Midwinter, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V.
• Gosford Park - Maggie Smith plays the mother of Ian McKellen’s Richard III. Michael Gambon is in The Hollow Crown. Kristin Scott Thomas is in IMcKs Richard III. Stephen Fry is in Twelfth Night. Helen Mirren is in The Tempest, The Prince of Jutland, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet. Eileen Atkins is in Titus Andronicus. Alan Bates is in Hamlet. Derek Jacobi is in Hamlet, Henry V, Hamlet, Richard II. Richard E Grant is in Twelfth Night, Withnail and I
• Django Unchained – Leonardo Di Caprio is in Baz Luhrman’s Romeo and Juliet.
• Inglourious Basterds: Michael Fassbender is in Macbeth.
• Fences: Denzel Washington is in Much Ado about Nothing.  

Further since last time:

• Started reading (to myself, alas, Hal is no longer up to listening to Shakespeare): The Merchant of Venice.
• Started watching with Hal: the comedy series Upstart Crow.
• Stopped watching after the first episode: the comedy series Upstart Crow. Just too shallow and inane.

 Posted this month

• This report

 Shakespeare Calling – the book is promoted by

• http://shakespearesallskapet.se/

 Read more about my alter ego’s books, in one of which Shakespeare appears live and in person, on:

• https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/shakespeare-calling-the-book/
• https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/spoiler-merlin-and-shakespeare/

 

September 2020

 

‘…to yellow autumn turn'd…’ As we slide into early autumn we look back upon a summer of despair and hope in the name of Covid 19. Hal and I remain healthy, in isolation, but now there is hope that the pandemic, at least in Sweden, is waning. I hope it is where you live too. Stay safe, stay well.

 

As always, I start with a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. Thank you.

The book is available for those of you in Great Britain and parts of Europe on this site:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/9163782626/ref=tmm_hrd_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1514378301&sr=8-1

 

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

http://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163782626/shakespeare-calling-the-book/

or Adlibris. Or contact the publisher info@vulkan.se

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• In Five Feet Apart by Rachel Lippincott, young Stella, suffering a chronic illness with little chance of survival, puts reading Shakespeare’s plays on her bucket list.
• In Believe Me by J P Delaney Claire is an aspiring actor who had a disastrous affair with a man who could quote Shakespeare’s love poems as though they were written for him, and she’s painfully envious of her friend who has a part in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• In Furious Thing by Jenny Downham the main character Lexi auditions for the part of Miranda but when the director asks her to read Caliban, she’s very upset. She does and does it so brilliantly that he wants to cast her, but she refuses to play a monster. Poor Lexi, she has problems.
• In The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet Desiree stars in the school production of Romeo and Juliet but loses out on the part of Viola to the mayor’s daughter. Do schools really do Shakespeare as much as novels indicate? Or do I just read the kind of novels where they do?
• In the film Look Both Ways the disgruntled journalist Andy is forced to attend a production of Macbeth but he storms out in disgust during the ‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow’ monologue.
• In the novel The River Home by Hannah Richell Margot auditions for and get the part of Juliet in the school play, with disastrous consequences. 

Films with a Shakespeare connection seen this month - see reviews on https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/

• Love and Pain and the Whole Damned Thing: Maggie Smith plays the mother of Ian McKellen’s Richard III.
• Batman Begins: Christian Bale is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Prince of Jutland, Henry V. Gary Oldman is either Guildenstern or Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Tom Wilkinson is in Shakespeare in Love.
• The Full Monty: Tom Wilkinson is in Shakespeare in Love.
• The Dark Knight: Christian Bale is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Prince of Jutland, Henry V. Gary Oldman is either Guildenstern or Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Ledger is in 10 Things I Hate about You, teen spin-off of The Taming of the Shrew.
• Get on Up: Octavia Spencer is in Being John Malkovich which has a Richard III theme.
• Enough Said: Catherine Keener is in Being John Malkovich which has a Richard III theme.

 

Further since last time:

• Ordered from the newly re-opened Globe Shop in London: two hoodies, five T-shirts and three DVDs.
• Received from the Globe Shop: two hoodies and five T-shirts but no DVDs.

 

Posted this month

• This report

 

 

Shakespeare Calling – the book is promoted by

http://shakespearesallskapet.se/

 

Read more about my alter ego’s books, in one of which Shakespeare appears live and in person, on:

• https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/shakespeare-calling-the-book/
• https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/spoiler-merlin-and-shakespeare/

 

August 2020

August 2020

‘A plague of sighing and grief’. Shakespeare describes it in Henry IV Part One. Fortunately, on a personal level, Hal and I are still only sighing in this the sixth month of Corona, but the pandemic has brought much grief to the world. Stay safe, friends, stay well.

As always, I start with a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. Thank you.

The book is available for those of you in Great Britain and parts of Europe on this site:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/9163782626/ref=tmm_hrd_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1514378301&sr=8-1

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

http://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163782626/shakespeare-calling-the-book/

or Adlibris. Or contact the publisher info@vulkan.se

Shakespeare sightings:

• In Six Wicked Reasons by Jo Spain, Ryan tells his sister Clio, ‘There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so,’ and their brother, the TV producer James, retorts, ‘You’re Shakespeare now, are you?’
• In the brilliant The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams found those monkeys that typed Hamlet, beating that old classic improbability factor.

Films with a Shakespeare connection seen this month (see reviews on https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/)

• Muriel’s Wedding David Lapaine was in the production of The Merchant of Venice at the Globe, later released on DVD. We have seen both.
• Unlocked: If I remember correctly there was a production of Richard III going on in Being John Malkovich.
• Bright Young Things: This is so filled with Shakespeare connections it’s almost like watching a Shakespeare play. The ones I’ve seen in something Shakespeare are: Emily Mortimer, James McAvoy, David Tenant, Jim Broadbent, Simon Callow, Imelda Staunton, Harriet Walter.
• Stockholm: Ethan Hawke played excellently in Cymbeline and Hamlet.
• Event Horizon: Fishburne was an excellent Othello.
• Daredevil: Affleck played Ned Alleyn in Shakespeare in Love.
• The Children Act: Emma Thompson is classic in Much Ado About Nothing and Henry V. Tucci was very enjoyable in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Watkins was in The Hollow Crown which was directed by Eyre.
• The Mountain Between Us: Kate Winslet is Ophelia in Branagh’s Hamlet

Further since last time:

• Started reading: Miranda Beverly-Whittemore’s Set Me Free about a boarding school on a reservation in Oregon putting on a production of The Tempest. I read it twelve years ago but borrowed it from the library by mistake. It’s worth reading again.

Posted this month

• This report

Shakespeare Calling – the book is promoted by

http://shakespearesallskapet.se/

Read more about my alter ego’s books, in one of which Shakespeare appears live and in person, on:

• https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/shakespeare-calling-the-book/
• https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/spoiler-merlin-and-shakespeare/