September 12, 2011

• It's been a Richard III – intensive week. Having finished reading the play last week we got busy on the various versions, thus not having time for our current favorite evening activities: Wallander (Oh Kenneth, when are you going to come back to Shakespeare??), The Flight of the Conchords, The Big Bang Theory, the rest of the Blondie CD's. O! What sacrifices one makes for Shakespeare! Anyway, we've watched/listened to the following
  • the BBC production
  • “The Trial of Richard III” - an extra DVD with the Olivier edition.
  • Pacino's “Looking for Richard”
  • McKellan's RIII
  • CDs of the whole thing with Kenneth Branagh – see that's what you should be doing, Kenneth, not waltzing around southern Sweden play a burned out Swedish cop, even if you do a great job at it!
  • Olivier's RIII
• Shakespeare sightings – not much this week
  • In Sheila Kohler's novel Becoming Jane Eyre, it is written that brother Branwell read lots of classics, “even Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest and Twelfth Night.” Meaning the sisters didn't? I find that hard to believe.
  • In Suzette Haden Elgin's “feminist science fiction classic” (according to the cover) one of the main characters repaid [her boss's] years of kindness with murder most foul!” Served him right too....
  • “Romeo and Juliet, the Musical” still going strong in one of Stockholm's theaters. Could have reported it long ago but didn't think of it. Haven't seen it either, because the guy playing Romeo is such a pretty boy pop singer. Unfair I know... Should see it!
• Books ordered:
  • Materialist Shakespeare
  • Shakespeare's Words
  • The Daughter of Time (a detective book about RIII)
• Text written: about RIII, should be ready to post in a few weeks.
• Text posted: Well, Make Up Your Minds Already! Side-Switching in Henry VI Part Three also confusedly called The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York and the Good King Henry the Sixth (unfortunately I can't claim that the title is longer than the text. The text is embarassingly long and I promise to try to write shorter ones from now on.)