August 2021

 ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’ This quote has nothing special to do with August, but we have been watching film versions of Hamlet and it is one of my favourite Shakespeare quotes, so there it is. Happy August, everyone. Stay safe, don’t stop being careful.

As always, this 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

 

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

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• As we know Buffy’s friends are well educated and on one occasion as Buffy half-heartedly assembles the troop to go after some demons, Giles reflects, ‘Not exactly a St Crispin’s speech. We few, we happy few…’ To which Spike mutters, ‘We band of buggers.’
• In Magnus Västerbro’s bok Svälten: Hungeråren som formade Sverige (Famine: the years that formed Sweden) he mentions the malignant rumour that Shakespeare bought up grain and hoarded it, refusing to sell or donate it to starving neighbours. Västerbro takes the stand that Shakespeare wasn’t hoarding, he was merely putting aside enough to keep his own family fed, as any father would do. Thank you, Magnus. I think you’re right.

 

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

 

• Atomic Blonde – James McAvoy is in Macbeth Re-Told
• Kong Skull Island - Tom Hiddleston is in The Hollow Crown as Hal then Henry V. Brilliant.
• House of D: Anton Telchin is in Cymbeline and Robin Williams is in Dead Poets Society, which has a lot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in it, and in Hamlet.
• Tenet: Clémence Poésy is in The Hollow Crown. Kenneth Branagh has been known to have Shakespeare connections once or twice.

 

Further since last time:

• Watched: Three versions of Hamlet, by Brook (Adrian Lester), Doran (David Tennant) and Branagh (Branaugh.
• Wrote: my text on Hamlet, the character of Ophelia and how she is portrayed.

 

Posted this month:

• This report
• Ophelia text https://rubyjandshakespearecalling.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-many-several-ophelias-in-hamlet.html

 

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 Many Several Ophelias in Hamlet

 

The many several Ophelias

in

Hamlet

 

     Consider Ophelia. In her few scenes she is told sternly by her brother and father to stay away from Hamlet, she is upset and scared by Hamlet’s odd behaviour, confused and heart-broken over Hamlet’s declaration that he loved her once but never loved her, uncomfortable with Hamlet’s raunchy cheerfulness at the play, driven mad by her father’s death (or perhaps the loss of and betrayal by Hamlet) and finally, offstage her death, possibly suicide. Does this progression make her a whinging wimp? A deeply sensitive person? A rebellious young woman, beaten down by repression and betrayal? A strong young woman clever enough to escape an unbearable life?

     In this essay I will not answer these questions, but I will study the portrayals of Ophelia in four different film versions, played by four different actors.

 

1990

Director: Kevin Kline

Hamlet: Kevin Kline

Ophelia: Diane Venora

    

     In Ophelia’s first appearance Venora plays her as just a bit resentful towards her brother’s advice. She talks back but affectionately. She speaks of Hamlet happily to Laertes, then firmly and earnestly to her father. She only agrees doubtfully to obey her father’s orders to avoid Hamlet.

     In Ophelia’s next scene, Venora describes Hamlet’s odd behaviour emotionally and convincingly, but afterward she exits flittingly and girlishly which sadly gives a shallow impression of the character she had been developing.

     She makes up for it in the confrontation with Hamlet. It’s very strongly done, and Verona already reveals Ophelia’s approaching madness. The scene with Hamlet at the theatre is unremarkable but her final scenes are superb. Verona plays mad Ophelia with heartrending passion, grief, confusion – is she grieving the loss of her father only, or of Hamlet as well? Her performance brought tears to my eyes.

 

2001

Director: Peter Brook

Hamlet: Adrian Lester

Ophelia: Shantala Shivaligappa

 

     This version of Hamlet is truly excellent, and Adrian Lester is one of the top three Hamlets I’ve seen. Sadly, Shivaligappa is not given the same chance to shine. Her whole first scene with Laertes and Polonius is cut, thereby eliminating an opportunity to develop Ophelia’s character.  The monolog about Hamlet’s upsetting behaviour is well done by Shivaligappa but the nunnery dialog with Hamlet is low-key and Ophelia’s ensuing monolog is shortened, once again robbing Shivaligappa of a chance to fill out her role. In the madness scenes she is very subdued and hardly seems mad at all.

     And maybe that’s the whole point. Now that I think about it, that could be exactly what Brook was aiming for. In that case, Shivaligappa does an admirable job and I think I just decided that she is one of the best Ophelias.

 

2009

Director: Gregor Doran

Hamlet: David Tennant

Ophelia: Mariah Gale

 

Almost a perfect film production of Hamlet; there is only one slight jarring aspect. I just can’t quite accept Mariah Gale as Ophelia. Why? I don’t know. I like her teen-age clothing in her first scene with Laertes and Polonius. She doesn’t take her brother so seriously and answers him like a teasing little sister. Towards her father she’s quiet and faintly resentful. Good. Well done. But when she reports about Hamlet’s strange behaviour, she becomes weepy and breathless. In the ‘Get thee to a nunnery’ scene she is not only weepy but casts her eyes to the heavens. The theatre scene is hard to do, and I have no objection to Gale’s interpretation. She does the madness scenes well, although again she’s weepy. I feel very petty in objecting to Gale here, she’s a good actor. But sadly, for me she gives the weakest performance of these four.

 

1996

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Hamlet: Kenneth Branagh

Ophelia: Kate Winslet

 

     After seeing Kate Winslet in Titanic, I was almost allergic to her, and I was not happy when I learnt that Branagh had chosen her to play Ophelia. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my prejudice was unfair and have since come to admire her acting greatly. However, I still can’t quite see her as Ophelia.

     The extra scenes Branagh has added, about which Shakespeare has other characters describe or vaguely refer to, do not help Winslet portray Ophelia credibly. Yes, they convince us that she and Hamlet did have loving sex, but Shakespeare lets us assume that. Indeed, Branagh steers Winslet’s performance throughout by presenting her in her madness in a straightjacket and helmet in a padded cell and has her revert to childhood by singing in a a little girl voice. While watching, it is very strong, and Winslet does indeed perform convincingly. However, like other actors in the role she is weepy when she could have been angry.

     This version of the play has affected me so strongly every time I’ve seen it that I’m scarcely capable of analysing Winslet or anything else. As a whole it’s just too good and its strengths are so enormous that I feel mean even pointing out what I see as weaknesses.

 

     Ophelia. From lovesick teen-ager, lovingly (perhaps) oppressed by brother and father, to observer of Hamlet’s madness, to madness herself. Shakespeare offers strong material to interpret with plenty of room for interpretation.  As yet, I have not seen a flawless interpretation but these four, despite my pernickety approach, have done a splendid job.

 

    

    

    

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

 

July 2021

 

’Fear no more the heat o' the sun…’ Although, sadly, we do, as climate change becomes more and more evident. As the Covid 19 pandemic retreats slowly (don’t stop being careful, people!) the raging heat in various parts of the world are urgent reminders that we must all act now. If climate change causes civilisation to collapse, Shakespeare too is in danger of being lost.

Still, I allow myself to include this 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

 

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

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• In the rather daft book The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, the club enjoys Titus Andronicus for its gruesome violence.
• In Kim Stanley Robinson’s excellent novel, The Ministry for the Future in which the world finally unites to solve the climate and poverty crisis, Mary, while watching over a dying friend, reflects on Shakespeare’s ability to describe sleep as well as friendship. She remembers a production at the Abbey Theatre in which Falstaff and Hal spent a whole hour in a battle of wits in which their deep friendship was at stake. Mary wonders if she and her dying friend should have battled more to deepen their friendship.
• As we know Buffy has many talents aside from her vampire-slaying skills. In one episode she was cursed with being able to read people’s minds and in the beginning, before it drove her mad, she was able to read the teacher’s mind when the class was discussing Othello. The teacher was amazed at Buffy’s analysis, so like her own!

 

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

 

• Moby Dick – Orson Welles made and was in Chimes at Midnight and many other Shakespeare films which, however, I haven’t seen.
• Logan - Patrick Stewart is in The Hollow Crown Richard II, Hamlet x 2. Richard E Grant is in Twelfth Night.
• The Snowman - Shakespeare connections: Michael Fassbender is in Macbeth. We’ve seen Jonas Karlsson on stage as Caliban and Richard III (brilliant in both!) Adrian Dunbar is in The Hollow Crown and Richard III.
• The Trouble with Harry - The doctor was quoting a Shakespeare sonnet as he stumbled around the corpse.
• The Peanut Butter Falcon - Dakota Johnson is in Cymbeline. Bruce Darn is in The Glass House, a spin-off of Hamlet
• Hamlet (Kevin Kline update) - Further Shakespeare connections: Kevin Kline is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It. Diane Venora is in Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet (Almereyda).

 

Further since last time:

• Finished reading aloud to Hal: Hamnet
• Read aloud to Hal: Hamlet for the 5^th or 6^th time
• Watched: Kevin Kline’s filmed version of same
• Considered: the subject for my text on Hamlet, the character of Ophelia and how she is portrayed, hopefully to be posted next time.

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/

June 2021

 ‘The summer's flow'r is to the summer sweet’, and here in Sweden the summer is at its sweetest.  As more people are vaccinated and the number of new cases decreases daily, there is hope in the air.

I hope you are all safe and well and still being careful. And still loving Shakespeare.

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 Michelle Obama’s wonderful book Becoming, she attends a performance of Shakespeare in a girls’ school in London.
• In the brilliant film Educating Rita working class Rita is ecstatic over her introduction to Shakespeare through a theatre production of Macbeth.
• In Claire North’s The Sudden Appearance of Hope the title character pretends she works for the British council and promotes Britishness, including Shakespeare. Later, on a cruise she watches a performance of Richard III, and another time a bloody Coriolanus. At another point she meets a prostitute called Portia and she wonders, ‘Like…Porthos?’ To which the woman replies haughtily, ‘Like Shakespeare, idiot.’
• Paul Kalanithi, in his memoirs When breath becomes air, felt that his life, as he was dying of cancer, was more like a Greek tragedy than Shakespeare, where focus was on the individual.
• In Nick Hornby’s Just Like You, the young lover Joseph gets tickets to a Shakespeare play for his twenty-year-older lover Lucy because a colleague told him to. Joseph knows nothing and cares less about Shakespeare.
• Buffy, the famed Vampire Slayer, is in English class when the Afro-American teacher quotes the ‘if you prick us do we not bleed’ monolog and asks for comments. Cordelia says, ‘Whine, whine, whine…people who think their problems are so huge…!’ Cordelia is a real sweetheart.
• Seen on Facebook: a photo of the hand sanitiser at the National Theatre in London, called ‘Lady Macbeth’.
• In Stieg Larsson’s book Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in English) the Vanger family’s dramas and conflicts are compared to Shakepeare by the family patriarch. 

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

• Lost in Space – Oldman is in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
• The Gentlemen - Michelle Dockery is in The Hollow Crown.
• The Wolf of Wall Street - Leonardo DiCaprio is in Romeo & Juliet.’
• Red Joan - Trevor Nunn directed King Lear, Twelfth Night, Macbeth. Judi Dench is in The Hollow Crown, Shakespeare in Love, Hamlet, Henry V, Macbeth. Nina Sosanya is in Much Ado about Nothing Re-Told. Tom Hughes and Ben Miles are in The Hollow Crown.
• Dreamgirls - John Lithgow is a brilliant Malvolio in Twelfth Night. 

Further since last time:

• Started reading aloud to Hal: Hamnet

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/

May 2021

‘As full of spirit as the month of May’ – as spring edges towards summer and more people (though not nearly enough) are being vaccinated against Covid 19, let us look forward with hope to brighter times. It’s up to us.

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 Michelle Obama’s wonderful book Becoming, she attends a performance of Shakespeare in a girls’ school in London.
• In the brilliant film Educating Rita working class Rita is ecstatic over her introduction to Shakespeare through a theatre production of Macbeth. 

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

• The Namesake – Zuleikha Robinson is in The Merchant of Venice
• 12 Years a Slave - Benedict Cumberbatch is in Richard III and The Hollow Crown. Michael Fassbender is in Macbeth.
• God’s Pocket - Peter Gerety is in Cymbeline.
• The Abyss - Ed Harris is in Cymbeline.
• X-Men Dark Phoenix - James McAvoy is in Macbeth Re-Told. Michael Fassbender is in Macbeth. Jessica Castain is in Coriolanus.
• Armageddon – Ben Affleck is in Shakespeare in Love.
• Cadillac Records - Gabrielle Union is in the spin-off of The Taming of the Shrew – 10 Things I Hate about You.
• After Earth - Sophie Okonedo is in The Hollow Crown.
• Hereditary - Gabriel Byrne is in The Prince of Jutland.
• The Hours - Ed Harris is in Cymbeline. Allison Janney is in 10 Things I Hate about You. Dillane is in Hamlet. Danes is in Romeo & Juliet. Atkins is in Titus Andronicus.
• Educating Rita - Julia Walters is in The Hollow Crown. Michael Williams is in Henry V. Maureen Lippmann is in Love’s Labour’s Lost. 

Further since last time:

• Received: Of Human Kindness – What Shakespeare Teaches Us about Empathy by Paul Marantz Cohen. Thanks to Jan at the English book shop for his sharp eyes while unpacking new books and sending me a quick email. 

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 2021

 ‘April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.’ Happy birthday to the eternally youthful William Shakespeare!

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 Janet Skeslien Charles’s book The Paris Library, and in real life, Clara de Chambrun was a renowned Shakespearean scholar.
• In The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves, several of the characters are authors and killing each other and leaving clues, for example the handkerchief, referring to Othello.
• The Twilight Zone – remember that one? – has so far referred to Shakespeare the following times in the first season:
• a poor old guy is left alone in the world after a nuclear bomb is dropped but he finds happiness when he comes across a bombed-out library with all the classics, including Shakespeare.
• in a time-travel episode one of the characters quotes Hamlet’s ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio…’ and adds, ‘and space…’
• in a WWII episode the quote ‘the purple testament of bleeding war’ is incorrectly attributed to Richard III but it’s actually Richard II. Still impressive, don’t you think?
• In Saturday Night Fever the two main characters discuss Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet, then showing at the cinema.
• The director of Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses, Ari Kaurismäki, also directed Hamlet Goes Business (Liikemaailmassa).

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

• Repo Men – Live Schreiber is in Hamlet.
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit – Bob Hoskins is in Othello.
• Alien 3:
• Brian Glover is in Prince of Jutland
• Ralph Brown is in The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Danny Webb is in Henry V, Twelfth Night
• Pete Postlethwaite is in Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet
• Alien Resurrection:  Winona Ryder is in Looking for Richard
• Prometheus: Michael Fassbender is in Macbeth.
• Hidden Figures: Kevin Costner plays a wandering Shakespearean actor in the dystopian The Postman.
• Genova: Colin Firth is in Shakespeare in Love.
• Tomb Raider: Dominic West is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard III. Daniel Wu is in The Empress, a Japanese spin-off of Hamlet. Kristin Scott Thomas is in Richard III. Derek Jacobi is in Hamlet, Henry V, Hamlet, Richard II
• Rocketman: Bryce Dallas Howard is in As You Like It. Steven Mackintosh is in Twelfth Night.  Harriet Walter took part in Simon Schama’s Shakespeare.
• Mona Lisa: Shakespeare connection: Bob Hoskins is in Othello. Robbie Coltrane was just barely in Henry V.

Further since last time:

• Finished reading aloud to Hal: Shakespeare in a Divided America by James Shapiro. A real ‘wow’ book, shedding new light on Shakespeare and American history. Shapiro is always a winner.

 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/
•