On this 1 May, International Workers’ Day, let us remember that solidarity
takes many forms.
Here expressed in Shakespeare’s appeal spoken by Sir Thomas Moore:
Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all the majesty of England;
Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silenced by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I’ll tell you: you had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reason, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Feed on one another.…
You’ll put down strangers,
Kill them, cut their throats, possess their houses,
And lead the majesty of law in lyam
To slip him like a hound. Alas, alas, say now the King,
As he is clement if th’offender mourn,
Should so much come too short of your great trespass
As but to banish you: whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? Go you to France or Flanders,
To any German province, to Spain or Portugal,
Nay, anywhere that not adheres to England,
Why, you must needs be strangers. Would you be pleas’d
To find a nation of such barbarous temper
That breaking out in hideous violence
Would not afford you an abode on earth.
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owned not nor made not you, nor that the elements
Were not all appropriate to your comforts,
But charter’d unto them? What would you think
To be thus used? This is the strangers’ case
And this your mountainish inhumanity.
And, I repeat what I have repeated for far too long:
‘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 me 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. You can also order directly from me. Just write me an email. Thank
you.
Anyone from Ukraine – send me an email and I will send you
the book free of charge.
The book is
available for those of you in Great Britain and parts of Europe on this site:
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 Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter there is a long report on the director Staffan Valdemar Holm who explains in detail how Shakespeare’s plays can be improved by cutting all the dead weight. He is currently directing The Tempest in the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm.
- In The
Lincoln Highway, a novel by Amor Towles, one of the characters quotes from Macbeth
then goes on to explain the play to an eight-year-old boy and tell about his
actor father. He goes on the refer to Shakespeare throughout the book, but that
doesn’t help. It’s still boring and I only skimmed the last half.
- There’s a lukewarm review of an opera version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the newspaper today.
Films with a
Shakespeare connection seen this month - see reviews on https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/
- Source Code - Jeffrey Wright is
in Hamlet.
- Promising
Young Woman - David Strathairn is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
- Elvis - Baz Luhrman directed Romeo & Julia.
- The Chronicles of Riddick - Judi Dench is in The Hollow Crown, Shakespeare in Love, Hamlet, Henry V, Macbeth
- Upside
Down – Timothy Spall is in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Hamlet.
Further since last
time: quiet Shakespeare month
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/
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