April 2022

 ‘April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.’ Well, actually, here in Stockholm it has put a shiver in everything. Cold, rainy, with snow predicted. But the day’s are longer at least.

‘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. 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 play The Red about Mark Rothko (Alfred Molina), the artist scolds his apprentice (Alfred Enoch) for not reading Shakespeare.
• A reviewer in Dagens Nyheter finds that the Shakespeare context in the TV series Station Eleven functions well.
• In Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me the highly advanced robot Adam discovers Shakespeare and becomes lyrical.
• In Harry Belafonte’s autobiography My Song he mentions Paul Robeson’s role in Macbeth. Later he writes that he had studies too much Shakespeare to be satisfied singing tepid pop love songs.

 

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

 

• Maleficent – Shakespeare connection: Imelda Staunton is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream Re-Told, Shakespeare in Love, Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing
• Dune 2021 - Stellan Skarsgård was in a filmed version of a staged Hamlet.
• Venom - Michelle Williams is in the spin-off of Lear, A Thousand Acres.
• The Secret Garden - Maggie Smith is in Richard III.
• Crisis - Gary Oldman is in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
• Akeelah and the Bee- Laurence Fishburne is in Othello.
• Georgia - Jennifer Jason Leigh is in the King Lear spin-off A Thousand Acres.  

Further since last time:

• Finished, finally: Women of Will by Tina Packer. See report under ‘Book reviews’.

Posted this month:

• This report
• Review on Women of Will. 

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/

 

Women of Will by Tina Packer

Women of Will – following the feminine in Shakespeare’s plays

By Tina Packer

What a book! I haven’t enjoyed a Shakespeare analysis this much since Jan Kott and Stephen Greenblatt’s various masterpieces.

In approximate chronological order of when the plays were written Packer shows how the women characters, though few, are pivotal in carrying the play, taking power, usurping power, revealing the inequality of society.

For example, Shakespeare attributed soul to Juliet and Beatrice in a time when the existence of women’s souls was still denied. In Troilus and Cressida he reveals that in this relationship Troilus has power, Cressida none, and the glories of war is hypocrisy and the gap between men’s ideals and their actions is vast.

Packer often touches upon the same analyses that I’ve done in mine. She too sees Katherina as a crushed victim of vicious sexism in The Taming of the Shrew. In the history plays she analyses the importance of Queen Margaret and ends thus: ‘Through writing Margaret, Shakespeare was living moment by moment with a woman, her natural abilities, her loves, her ferocity, her innocence.’ (p.32).

We don’t see eye to eye on his relationship with his wife Anne Hathaway. She neglects to comment on the fact that he returned to Stratford repeatedly throughout his London years and retired there even before his play writing was finished.

Nevertheless, this is a brilliant book and I recommend it warmly to all Shakespeareans.