May 2023

 

 

On this 1 May, International Workers’ Day, let us remember that solidarity takes many forms.

Here expressed in Shakespeare’s appeal spoken by Sir Thomas Moore:

 

Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all the majesty of England;
Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silenced by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I’ll tell you: you had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reason, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Feed on one another.…

You’ll put down strangers,
Kill them, cut their throats, possess their houses,
And lead the majesty of law in lyam
To slip him like a hound. Alas, alas, say now the King,
As he is clement if th’offender mourn,
Should so much come too short of your great trespass
As but to banish you: whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? Go you to France or Flanders,
To any German province, to Spain or Portugal,
Nay, anywhere that not adheres to England,
Why, you must needs be strangers. Would you be pleas’d
To find a nation of such barbarous temper
That breaking out in hideous violence
Would not afford you an abode on earth.
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owned not nor made not you, nor that the elements
Were not all appropriate to your comforts,
But charter’d unto them? What would you think
To be thus used? This is the strangers’ case
And this your mountainish inhumanity.

And, 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 me 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:

• In the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter there is a long report on the director Staffan Valdemar Holm who explains in detail how Shakespeare’s plays can be improved by cutting all the dead weight. He is currently directing The Tempest in the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm.
• In The Lincoln Highway, a novel by Amor Towles, one of the characters quotes from Macbeth then goes on to explain the play to an eight-year-old boy and tell about his actor father. He goes on the refer to Shakespeare throughout the book, but that doesn’t help. It’s still boring and I only skimmed the last half.
• There’s a lukewarm review of an opera version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the newspaper today.

 

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

 

• Source Code - Jeffrey Wright is in Hamlet.
• Promising Young Woman - David Strathairn is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• Elvis - Baz Luhrman directed Romeo & Julia.
• The Chronicles of Riddick - Judi Dench is in The Hollow Crown, Shakespeare in Love, Hamlet, Henry V, Macbeth
• Upside Down – Timothy Spall is in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Hamlet.

 

Further since last time: quiet Shakespeare month

           

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/

 

 

 

April 2023

In memory of Harold Leighton Berglund 18 October 1945 – 26 February 2023

 

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

       For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

       That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Sonnet 29

 

And, 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 me 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:

• In the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter there is a long report on the director Staffan Valdemar Holm who explains in detail how Shakespeare’s plays can be improved by cutting all the dead weight. He is currently directing The Tempest in the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm.
• In The Lincoln Highway, a novel by Amor Towles, one of the characters quotes from Macbeth then goes on to explain the play to an eight-year-old boy and tell about his actor father. He goes on the refer to Shakespeare throughout the book, but that doesn’t help. It’s still boring and I only skimmed the last half.

 

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

 

• Case 39 - Adrian Lester is in As You Like It, Hamlet, and Love’s Labour’s Lost
• Broken Flowers - Bill Murray and Jeffrey Wright are in the same Hamlet. Jessica Lange is in Titus and A Thousand Acres.
• Tower Block - Ralph Brown is in Withnail and I. Jill Baker is in Shakespeare in Love and Macbeth
• Paddington - Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters and Geoffrey Palmer are all in The How Crown. Jim Broadbent is in Richard III.
• Paddington 2 - Sally Hawkins and Julie Walters are in The How Crown. Jim Broadbent is in Richard III.

 

 

Further since last time: quiet Shakespeare month

           

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/ 

 

 

  

March 2023

 

In memory of Harold Leighton Berglund 18 October 1945 – 26 February 2023

 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand'ring bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me prov'd,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

Sonnet 116

 

And again, a year after Russia invaded the Ukraine, 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 me 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:

• In the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter there is a long report on the director Staffan Valdemar Holm who explains in detail how Shakespeare’s plays can be improved by cutting all the dead weight. He is currently directing The Tempest in the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm.
• In The Lincoln Highway, a novel by Amor Towles, one of the characters quotes from Macbeth then goes on to explain the play to an eight-year-old boy and tell about his actor father. He goes on the refer to Shakespeare throughout the book, but that doesn’t help. It’s still boring and I only skimmed the last half.

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

 

• Reservoir Dogs - Tim Roth is in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
• Darkest Hour - Shakespeare connection: Gary Oldman is in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Kristin Scott Thomas is in Richard III. Stephen Dillane is in Hamlet. Joe Armstrong is in The Hollow Crown.
• The Lincoln Lawyer - John Leguizamo is in Cymbeline and Romeo & Julia
• Belfast - Branagh (many), Dench (several), Colin Morgan is in The Tempest, which we saw at the Globe in London 2013.

 

 

Further since last time: quiet Shakespeare month

           

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/

 

 

 

February 2023

 

‘Blow, blow, thou winter wind.’ I love winter, but it’s a hard time for those who lack homes and shelter. Therefore, 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:

• In the film The Elephant Man John Merrick (John Hurt) and Mrs Kendal (Anne Bancroft) do Romeo and Juliet together.
• In the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter an editorial compare Trump to King Lear. They both believe they are ‘more sinned against than sinning’.
• Much of the novel The Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey revolves around a high school production of Much Ado about Nothing.

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

 

• The Elephant Man - Anthony Hopkins is in Titus and Othello, John Hurt is in The Hollow Crown. John Gielgud is in Hamlet and Julius Caesar, Wendy Hiller is in The Comedy of Errors, Elphick is in Richard III and Withnail and I.
• What Happened to Monday - Glenn Close is in Hamlet, Tomiwa Edun is in Romeo and Juliet.
• Euphoria - Adrian Lester is in: As You Like It, Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost
• West Side Story (Spielberg) - Shakespeare connection – the obvious one.
• Good Will Hunting - Gus Van Sant directed My Own Private Idaho, a spin-off of Henry IV, Robin Williams is in Hamlet. Stellan Skarsgård is in Hamlet. Ben Affleck is in Shakespeare in Love. Casey Affleck is in another Hamlet.
• Last Night in Soho - Diana Rigg is in King Lear
• It’s All About Love - Claire Danes is in Romeo & Julia. Alun Armstrong is in The Hollow Crown.
• Fracture - Anthony Hopkins is in Titus and Othello. David Straithern is in The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

 

Further since last time: I read The Shakespeare Notebooks by various Doctor who nerds. See review.

           

Posted this month:

• Review of: The Shakespeare Notebooks by various Doctor who nerds.
• 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/

 

 

 

 

 

The Shakespeare Notebooks

 

The Shakespeare Notebooks

by James Goss, Jonathan Morris, Julian Richards, Justin Richards, Matthew Sweet, Doctor Who nerds each and every one.

Imagine my glee when I found a book combining two of my idols, Shakespeare and the Doctor.

The Notebooks are newly discovered journals and manuscripts written by Shakespeare in which the various Doctors have advised him, written and edited his plays and generally been important to our Will.

Brilliant idea. Sadly, the idea is ever so much better than the journals themselves. I must confess that I skimmed much of the book. It was mildly humorous from time to time but so much more could have been done with it. Maybe add Donna Noble to the mix?

My advice: Read Shakespeare, see Doctor Who but read this book only if you must.

January 2023

  ‘Joy, gentle friends! Joy and fresh days of love accompany your hearts.’ 2023 has begun. Let us hope and work for a better world this coming year. Let us now be ‘noble of reason’. Let us ‘be just, and fear not.’ ‘True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings,’ so let us hope for peace, and equality, and a viable environment. Happy New Year, friends.

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:

• In the film Clueless Cher is writing on a card ‘The merry buds of May’ and tells her friend it’s a famous quote from Cliff Notes. Later when Josh’s girlfriend declares, ‘”To thine own self be true”. Hamlet said that’, Cher responds: ‘Hamlet didn’t say that. I remember my Mel Gibson. It was that Polonius guy.’
• In the novel The History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund Linda’s mother tells her, ‘I put on a Macbeth with twenty in the cast. It was a funny version.’
• In Stephen King’s Fairy Tale we are reminded that Jack, of beanstalk fame, whose giant says ‘Fee, fie, fo fum’ etc stole the line from King Lear.
• In the film Nomadland Frances McDormand’s character Fern is told by an old student that she remembers the ‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow’ quote. Later in the film Fern tells a young man that she had used a poem in her wedding vows then quotes the entire Sonnet 18 to him.
• In Twin Peaks Audrey’s creepy dad when visiting a bordello quotes Sonnet 18 to the Madam. (You notice how differently Shakespeare quotes are used).

 

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

• Ant-Man - Paul Ruud is in Baz Luhrman’s Romeo & Juliet.
• Snowden - Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in 10 Things I Hate About You. Tom Wilkinson is in Shakespeare in Love and Prince of Jutland.
• Clueless - Alicia Silverstone is in Love’s Labour’s Lost. Paul Ruud is in Romeo & Juliet.
• Constantine - Keanu Reeves is in Much Ado about Nothing and My Own Private Idaho.  Djimon Hounsou is in The Tempest.
• The High Note - Dakota Johnson and Bill Pullman are in Cymbeline.
• Little Women - Chris Cooper is in The Tempest.
• Ned Kelly - Heath Ledger is in 10 Things I Hate about You
• Take Shelter - Jessica Chastain is in Coriolanus.
• Across the Universe - Julie Taymor directed The Tempest and Titus.
• Nomadland - David Strathairn is in The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

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/