Monday August 26 2013

It is, I must admit, a relief to be done with Othello. Such a depressing play.  Great, but depressing. Being only a week since the last report, this one is much shorter but some interesting things have happened.  The most interesting is a comment from a young Joan of Arc fan on my text about Henry VI Part One, “She’s All That.”  See the comment and my answer found in the blog sidebar under Play Analyses.

From Davis and Frankforter’s The Shakespeare Name Dictionary.

• Canary is often mentioned in Shakespeare. It’s a wine similar to Madeira and comes from the Canary Islands, named for the wild dogs of the island.
• Canterbury, mentioned in several plays, was the capital of the early medieval kingdom of Kent and a papal base for the Christianization of Britain.

 Shakespeare sightings:

• In Dagens Nyheter on Augusrt 23^rd there was a notice that Marion Cotillard is going to play Lady Macbeth, replacing Natalie Portman. Michael Fassbender will be Macbeth. Should be interesting.
• In the book Shakespeare’s Local by Pete Brown, about the George Inn where the Swedish Shakespeare Society’s course was held this summer (see the report under “Ruby’s Reflections”) the author doesn’t go on and on about Shakespeare (although I think Chapter Five will be mostly about him) but does mention him now and then:
• Starting with a quote from Henry V: “Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would give all my fame for a pot of ale. And safety.”
• Its neighbor, the White Hart Inn, is also “immortalized by Shakespeare”.  Does anyone remember which play(s)?  I don’t.
• On the status of balconies Brown points out that Shakespeare’s most famous scene takes place on one.
• Well, here’s our answer.  Rebel Jack Cade has the White Hart Inn as his headquarters in Henry VI Part Two.  I should have remembered that.

 Further this week:

• Watched:
• The Globe version of Othello.
• The Swedish version of same from 2012 at the Roma Ruins Theater on Gotland.

Posted this week:

• “Emilia’s Tragic Truth” in Othello
• Answers to comments on Henry VI Part One “She’s All That” and "The Globe X 3"
• This Monday report