July 2022

 These are flowers of Middle summer…

Here we are in the middle of summer but sadly, flowers are scarce in many part of Ukraine. I repeat what I wrote last time, and the time before:

 ‘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. 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 her book How to Be a Heroine, Samantha Ellis mentions
• Lavinia, who in Titus Andronicus communicates by writing in the sand with a stick, though her tongue and hands have been cut off,
• Kate, in The Taming of the Shrew, raging across the stage, like the author herself raged against her parents at sixteen,
• Kate, in ditto, choosing to be shrewish in a society that buys and sells women
• Cleopatra, who wants to sleep away the time that Antony is gone
• Dagens Nyheter tells us that Angela Merkel has been reading Shakespeare, especially Macbeth.
• Shakespeare’s tragedies as being for the young, his comedies as being for the mature,
• Shakespeare and Brook as being the subjects of constant discussion at Cambridge, where she studies theatre. 

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

• All That Jazz – Jessica Lange is in Titus, A Thousand Acres (Lear). Max Wright is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• Get Shorty - Delroy Lindo is in Cymbeline
• Hope and Glory - David Hayman is in Macbeth and The Hollow Crown.
• Impromptu - Emma Thompson is in Much Ado about Nothing and Henry V
• Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - Elizabeth Debicki is in Macbeth.  
• Clockers - Delroy Lindo is in Cymbeline. Mekhi Pfeifer is in O.
• What About Bob? - Bill Murray is in Hamlet. Richard Dreyfuss is in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and The Good-bye Girl, spin-offs of Hamlet and Richard III
• Hacksaw Ridge - Sam Worthington is in Macbeth
• Perrier’s Bounty - Jim Broadbent is in Richard III
• The Handmaiden’s Tale - Aiden Quinn is in Looking for Richard
• Star Trek First Contact - Patrick Stewart is in The Hollow Crown Richard II, Hamlet x 2.
• The Lookout - Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in Ten Things I Hate about You, a spin-off of The Taming of the Shrew 

Further since last time:

·       We in the Shakespeare world are saddened by the death of Peter Brook who has died at the age of 97. I have read his book The Quality of Mercy and seen his filmed productions of Hamlet (with Adrian Lester – brilliant!) and King Lear. He will be sadly missed.

·       I see in the statistics for the June that the blog has been visited 100 times by Russian visitors. I wonder what they think of my contributing the royalties of the sale of the book to Doctors without Borders for Ukraine. I would love to get some comments from them. And perhaps encourage them to protest the war? 

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/