Monday, December 4, 2023

December 2023

 

December 2023

 

… The icy fang and churlish chiding of the winter’s wind… That’s the way it has been in Sweden for a week or so. Winter is here!

 

It’s also here for the Ukrainians, and for Gaza. A different kind of winter. One day, I hope to be able to quote something about peace, but again, sadly, I repeat what I have repeated for far too long:

‘O war! thou son of hell’ O Putin! O Netanyahu! Thou sons of hell! Our thoughts and support are still needed to the people of Ukraine, and the people of Russian who hate this war, and now the people of Gaza, and the people of Israel who hate the 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 and Gaza 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. Anyone from Palestine – send me an email and I will send you the book free of charge. I am also sending contributions to Doctors without Borders and other organisations who are helping the Ukraine and Gaza.

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 novel Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, Marx was an avid Shakespearean actor while in college and that interest is mentioned several times throughout the novel. Not surprisingly, the title is from Macbeth and the reason becomes clear towards the end.

 

 

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

 

  • What’s Love Got to Do with It? – Lawrence Fishburne is in Othello.
  • Where the Crawdads Sing - David Strathairn is in The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
  • Waking the Dead - Janet McTeer is in As You Like It
  • Grand Avenue - Daniel Sackheim directed the Hamlet spin-off The Glass House.
  • Storm - Jonas Karlsson was in The Tempest on stage at Dramaten in Stockholm
  • The Caveman’s Valentine - Colm Feore is in Slings and Arrows, Titus.
  • 30 Days of Night - Josh Hartnett is in O.
  • Hairspray - Michelle Pfeiffer is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Allison Janney is in 10 Things I Hate about You.
  • The Impostor - Mekhi Phifer is in O.

 

 

Further since last time:

  • More meetings: with my Shakespeare theatre group doing A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
  • Seen at Stadsteatern in Stockholm: Absolute Shakespeare.
  • Seen at Stadsteatern in Stockholm: A Temporary Ensemble Put on King Lear)

 

 

Posted this month:

 

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:

 

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A Temporary Ensemble Puts on King Lear

 

En tillfällig ensemble sätter upp Kung Lear (A Temporary Ensemble Puts on King Lear)

Lilla scen, Stadsteatern, Stockholm

Seen with friends MR and AR 24 November 2023


A hapless director, Andreas (Meyer) is a heart-warming bumbler who agrees with everybody, whose wife is the star of another production, and whose kids he has to fetch from school, while trying to direct King Lear with three actors:

Ulf (Rabaeus) – a pro and he lets everyone know it. Essentially Rabaeus plays himself, he’s known as an arrogant, ego-tripping know-it-all and it reveals a healthy dose of humour and sardonic self-awareness to play this part.

Berit (Benson) – a has-been still living in her glorious past as an actor in the radical theatre of the 70s (which, in fact, Mia Benson was, but she’s far from a has-been). Here, she reads her lines like a robot and Ulf is quick to tell her the right way to do it.

Larissa (Lazcano, who also wrote and directed the play) – a young radical feminist ghetto poet who hates the whole idea of King Lear but gave up several big roles at the Royal Dramatic Theatre to be in this production. And she has a secret…

Then they get directives from the bosses of Stadsteatern – they are to shorten the play, accept commercial sponsors and see to it that they get huge audiences.

It’s laugh-out-loud funny, it’s satirical, it pokes wicked fun at the cold commercialised cultural climate in todays’ right-wing Sweden. The cast is brilliant and the Melody Festival ending is wonderfully glittery and foot-stomping.

There isn’t a whole lot of Lear, but, oh, it’s a lovely spin-off.

 


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Absolute Shakespeare

ABSOLUTE SHAKESPEARE

By and with: Malin Sternbrink & Niklas Atterhall

Soppteatern, Kulturhuset, Stockholm

Seen with friend LJ (thank you!) 11 November, 2023

 

A melancholy man in a black overcoat, alone on the stage playing 16th century music on a lute. A woman in red, high-heeled shoes, big 80's hair, enters the stage, singing 'What a Feeling.'

Man: 'To be or not to be...' Woman: 'I want to dance with somebody...'

Shakespeare meets the 1980s.

It starts light-heartedly with new love, quotes from Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream interwoven with 'Let's Dance,' 'A Lady in Red,' 'Kiss.' Then comes jealousy. 'Every breath you take.' 'The Green-Eyed Monster'. Love is not enough. Sadness, betrayal, anguish.

 

Many of my favorite quotes from Shakespeare are included, both in English and Swedish. 'I have of late and wherefore I know not lost all my mirth.' 'Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...', 'there was a star danced, under that was I born'. Jealousy and infidelity? Sternbrink and Atterhall use one of Shakespeare's best scenes: Otello, Emilia explains to Desdemona why it is just as right for women to be unfaithful as men.

 

Also ingenious is that it was Ophelia who quoted 'I have of late...' not Hamlet, and 'Take me to a nunnery,' instead of Hamlet's 'Get thee to a nunnery.' Hamlet says, 'She stared at me...' instead of Ophelia's, 'He stared at me.'

 

Sternbrink and Atterhall have put on a brilliant, funny, emotional and beautiful interpretation of Shakespeare that shows, as many have done, that Shakespeare is as relevant as ever.

 

If you live in Stockholm, see it.

Absolute Shakespeare (kulturhusetstadsteatern.se)

 

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