November 2022

 Hover through the fog... November is upon us and today it’s foggy in Stockholm. Fog can be beautiful, or gloomy. There is much to be gloomy about in the world today, but I wish you a cosy fog wherever you are, with a nice cup of tea, or whatever you prefer, and a Shakespeare play in your hands, or on your TV, to give you inspiration.

In the meantime, I repeat what I have repeated for far too long:

 ‘O war! thou son of hell’ O Putin! Thou son of hell! Our thoughts and support are still needed to the people of Ukraine, and the people of Russian who hate this war. Protest in any way you can! And don’t give up hope. ‘True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings.’

In this time of turmoil and hope I give you this familiar promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself always need support, even now when book signings and lectures can again be scheduled. Only on the Internet can I reach people like you, who are interested in Shakespeare would like to support the Shakespeare Calling project. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. Any sales I make of this book will go directly to Doctors without Borders for their work in Ukraine as long as the war lasts. Just let me know and I’ll send the money forthwith. You can also order directly from me. Just write me an email. Thank you.

Anyone from Ukraine – send me an email and I will send you the book free of charge.

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

 

I would be thrilled to get an email from you if you bought the book. rubyjandshakespearecalling@gmail.com 

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• Howard Zinn, in his play Marx in Soho refers repeatedly to Shakespeare, as Marx was an avid admirer of the Bard.
• In the film Saints and Soldiers the British soldier Oberon informs hi comrades that he was named after the one in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• Marge Piercy, in her novel Small Changes, while preparing for her wedding Beth remembered wanting to a lawyer like Portia. Later, in Boston, she attends open lectures about Shakespeare.

 

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

• X-Men films collectively - Richard E Grant is in Twelfth Night. James McAvoy is in Macbeth Re-Told. Michael Fassbender is in Macbeth. Liev Schreiber is in Hamlet. Lynn Collins is in The Merchant of Venice. Jessica Castain is in Coriolanus. Patrick Stewart is in The Hollow Crown Richard II, Hamlet x 2. Ian McKellen is in Macbeth, Richard III.
• 6 Souls/Shelter - Jonathan Rhys Meyers is in Titus.
• The Power of Few - Christian Slater is in Star Trek the Undiscovered Country, in which among other things, the Klingons claim Shakespeare as their own.
• Under the Cherry Moon - Kristin Scott Thomas is in Richard III. Victor Spinetti is in The Taming of the Shrew.
• Fierce People - Diane Lane is in The Glass House, a spin-off of Hamlet. Anton Yelchin is in Cymbeline.
• Chicago - Dominic West is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard III.
• How to Lose Friends and Alienate People - Bill Patterson is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream Re-Told and Richard III.
• Red Riding 1980 - Shakespeare connection: Paddy Considine is in Macbeth, Maxine Peake is in A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream and The Hollow Crown. Ron Cook is in The Merchant of Venice, Richard III, Henry VI Parts 1,2,3, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Shaun Harris is in Macbeth
• Red Riding 1983 - David Morrisey is in The Hollow Crown, Shakespeare in Love, Richard III, Michelle Dockery is in The Hollow Crown. Shaun Harris is in Macbeth
• Catch that Kid - John Carroll Lynch is in A Thousand Acres, a spin-off of King Lear.
• Hidalgo - Zuleikha Robinson is in The Merchant of Venice.
• In Secret - Jessica Lange is in Titus, and A Thousand Acres. Shirley Henderson is The Taming of the Shrew Re-Told. Mackenzie Crook is in The Merchant of Venice
• Needful Things - Ed Harris is in Cymbeline
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - Shakespeare connection: Steven Mackintosh is in Twelfth Night.
• Superman - Marlon Brando is in Julius Caesar
• Big Business - It’s sort of a spin-off of The Comedy of Errors, whether they’re aware of it or not.
• Amistad - Djimon Hounsou is in The Tempest. Nigel Hawthorne is in Twelfth Night, Richard III, The Madness of King George, The Tempest. Pete Postlethwaite is in Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet. Stellan Skarsgård is in Hamlet.

Further since last time: not much

 

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 2022

 

The skies look grimly and threaten present blusters. It is October and though it is a lovely month in the Northern Hemisphere with glowing leaves and bright blue skies on some days, cosy rains and fogs on others, it finds us this year under grim threats. You know which threats face you and I can only wish us all the forbearance to carry on and shape a better future, defeating the oppressors and warmongers.

I repeat what I wrote last time, and several times before:

 ‘O war! thou son of hell’ O Putin! Thou son of hell! Our thoughts and support are still needed to the people of Ukraine, and the people of Russian who hate this war. Protest in any way you can! And don’t give up hope. ‘True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings.’

In this time of turmoil and hope I give you this familiar promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself always need support, even now when book signings and lectures can again be scheduled. Only on the Internet can I reach people like you, who are interested in Shakespeare would like to support the Shakespeare Calling project. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. Any sales I make of this book will go directly to Doctors without Borders for their work in Ukraine as long as the war lasts. Just let me know and I’ll send the money forthwith. You can also order directly from me. Just write me an email. Thank you.

Anyone from Ukraine – send me an email and I will send you the book free of charge.

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

 

I would be thrilled to get an email from you if you bought the book. rubyjandshakespearecalling@gmail.com 

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• My friend Jenny Bristle reviewed a production of Macbeth which made me want to see it.
• In the latest issue of the humanist journal Sans there is a fascinating article about anthropologist Laura Bohannan who was doing her field research in Nigeria in the 60s when she talked to the elders in a village about Hamlet. As she told the story, the elders had views on how everything was wrong. It was completely right that Claudius married Gertrude, Hamlet could have given Polonius many gifts so that he could marry Ophelia, Hamlet was possessed by witches, it was grievously wrong for Hamlet to kill Claudius. But they liked the story very much. And we believed Shakespeare was universal! 

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

• Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot – Gus Van Sant directed My Own Private Idaho, a spin-off of Henry IV Part II.  Udo Kier is in it too.
• Save the Last Dance - Julia Stiles is in O, a spin-off of Othello, Hamlet and 10 Things I Hate About You a spin-off of The Taming of the Shrew. 
• Jurassic Park - Richard Attenborough is in Hamlet. Bob Peck is in Macbeth.
• Layer Cake - Michael Gambon and Sally Hawkins are in The Hollow Crown Ben Whishaw is in Richard II and The Tempest.
• Mary Shelley - Stephen Dillane is in Hamlet. Derek Riddell is in Much Ado about Nothing Re-Told.
• Margot at the Wedding - Jennifer Jason Leigh is in A Thousand Acres, a spin-off of King Lear.
• Johnny English Strikes Again - Emma Thompson is in Much Ado about Nothing and Henry V. Adam James is in a different Much Ado about Nothing.
• Two Hands - Heath Ledger is in 10 Things I Hate about You, a spin-off of The Taming of the Shrew.  
• Cleaner - Ed Harris is in Cymbeline.
• The Conspirator - James McAvoy is in Macbeth Re-Told. Tom Wilkinson is in Shakespeare in Love and Prince of Jutland, a spin-off prequel to Hamlet. Kevin Kline is in As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet. John Wilkes Booth was a renowned Shakespearean actor.
• Certain Women - Michelle Williams is in the spin-off of Lear, A Thousand Acres
• Citizen Kane - Orson Welles directed and was in Chimes at Midnight. He has been in several other Shakespeare films, but I haven’t seen them.
• The Secret Life of Bees - Sophie Okonedo is in The Hollow Crown
• Quartet - Maggie Smith is in Richard III. Trevor Peacock is in Hamlet, Titus Andronicus, Pericles, Henry VI Part Two, Henry VI Part One, Twelfth Night

Further since last time:

• I wrote: ‘Why Not Shakespeare?’ 

Posted this month:

• ‘Why Not Shakespeare?’
• 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/

 

 

 

Why Not Shakespeare?

 

 

   

Why Not Shakespeare?

 

It’s been two years since I analysed a Shakespeare play. I’ve re-read Hamlet since then but didn’t re-analyse it. My hand has hovered over several of the plays I’ve yet to re-analyse but so far I’ve chosen something non-Shakespeare to read.

Why? Have I gone off him? Definitely not. Is there nothing left to analyse? Stupid question. Will I ever finish the folder ‘Play analyses 2’? I don’t know. I certainly hope so.  But why, seemingly, no longer Shakespeare?

There are no doubt several reasons, one being that even the most passionate obsessions cool down with time. Some even disappear, although never completely. But my Shakespeare obsession, I’m sure, is still firmly in place, but resting.

Yes, resting. It takes a lot of energy to obsess, and I have had so little energy these past years. What I have, has mostly been spent on Hal.

A big part of the obsession was shared with Hal, reading the plays aloud together, watching films together, his comments on my analyses, going to the Globe together in London, reading the same books about Shakespeare. But as Hal’s illness has progressed these things have fallen away. When he could no longer read aloud because his vision worsened and his voice weakened, I read to him but after reading Hamlet most recently he said he could no longer follow along. His concentration was gone, his confusion increasing.

I was still eager to continue on my own, but more and more time and energy were needed to take care of Hal. Then came Covid and like many others I found myself on hold. Couldn’t concentrate on anything. Couldn’t take in deeper books or films.

In March Hal moved to a care home nearby. The physical burden of caring for him has been lifted from me but much of the practical and all the emotional ties are still there. I cherish living alone but I have not yet regained my energy and concentration. At the moment, I even have Covid and though it is not a serious case, it is slow to let me go.

When it does…

When it does and I learn to use my time and energy more wisely, Shakespeare, I will be back.

I miss you.