May 2021

‘As full of spirit as the month of May’ – as spring edges towards summer and more people (though not nearly enough) are being vaccinated against Covid 19, let us look forward with hope to brighter times. It’s up to us.

And now, a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. 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

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• In Michelle Obama’s wonderful book Becoming, she attends a performance of Shakespeare in a girls’ school in London.
• In the brilliant film Educating Rita working class Rita is ecstatic over her introduction to Shakespeare through a theatre production of Macbeth. 

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

• The Namesake – Zuleikha Robinson is in The Merchant of Venice
• 12 Years a Slave - Benedict Cumberbatch is in Richard III and The Hollow Crown. Michael Fassbender is in Macbeth.
• God’s Pocket - Peter Gerety is in Cymbeline.
• The Abyss - Ed Harris is in Cymbeline.
• X-Men Dark Phoenix - James McAvoy is in Macbeth Re-Told. Michael Fassbender is in Macbeth. Jessica Castain is in Coriolanus.
• Armageddon – Ben Affleck is in Shakespeare in Love.
• Cadillac Records - Gabrielle Union is in the spin-off of The Taming of the Shrew – 10 Things I Hate about You.
• After Earth - Sophie Okonedo is in The Hollow Crown.
• Hereditary - Gabriel Byrne is in The Prince of Jutland.
• The Hours - Ed Harris is in Cymbeline. Allison Janney is in 10 Things I Hate about You. Dillane is in Hamlet. Danes is in Romeo & Juliet. Atkins is in Titus Andronicus.
• Educating Rita - Julia Walters is in The Hollow Crown. Michael Williams is in Henry V. Maureen Lippmann is in Love’s Labour’s Lost. 

Further since last time:

• Received: Of Human Kindness – What Shakespeare Teaches Us about Empathy by Paul Marantz Cohen. Thanks to Jan at the English book shop for his sharp eyes while unpacking new books and sending me a quick email. 

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/

April 2021

 ‘April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.’ Happy birthday to the eternally youthful William Shakespeare!

And now, a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. 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

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• In Janet Skeslien Charles’s book The Paris Library, and in real life, Clara de Chambrun was a renowned Shakespearean scholar.
• In The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves, several of the characters are authors and killing each other and leaving clues, for example the handkerchief, referring to Othello.
• The Twilight Zone – remember that one? – has so far referred to Shakespeare the following times in the first season:
• a poor old guy is left alone in the world after a nuclear bomb is dropped but he finds happiness when he comes across a bombed-out library with all the classics, including Shakespeare.
• in a time-travel episode one of the characters quotes Hamlet’s ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio…’ and adds, ‘and space…’
• in a WWII episode the quote ‘the purple testament of bleeding war’ is incorrectly attributed to Richard III but it’s actually Richard II. Still impressive, don’t you think?
• In Saturday Night Fever the two main characters discuss Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet, then showing at the cinema.
• The director of Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses, Ari Kaurismäki, also directed Hamlet Goes Business (Liikemaailmassa).

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

• Repo Men – Live Schreiber is in Hamlet.
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit – Bob Hoskins is in Othello.
• Alien 3:
• Brian Glover is in Prince of Jutland
• Ralph Brown is in The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Danny Webb is in Henry V, Twelfth Night
• Pete Postlethwaite is in Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet
• Alien Resurrection:  Winona Ryder is in Looking for Richard
• Prometheus: Michael Fassbender is in Macbeth.
• Hidden Figures: Kevin Costner plays a wandering Shakespearean actor in the dystopian The Postman.
• Genova: Colin Firth is in Shakespeare in Love.
• Tomb Raider: Dominic West is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard III. Daniel Wu is in The Empress, a Japanese spin-off of Hamlet. Kristin Scott Thomas is in Richard III. Derek Jacobi is in Hamlet, Henry V, Hamlet, Richard II
• Rocketman: Bryce Dallas Howard is in As You Like It. Steven Mackintosh is in Twelfth Night.  Harriet Walter took part in Simon Schama’s Shakespeare.
• Mona Lisa: Shakespeare connection: Bob Hoskins is in Othello. Robbie Coltrane was just barely in Henry V.

Further since last time:

• Finished reading aloud to Hal: Shakespeare in a Divided America by James Shapiro. A real ‘wow’ book, shedding new light on Shakespeare and American history. Shapiro is always a winner.

 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/
•  

March 2021

 ‘Daffodils that bloom before the swallows dare return from the south, and that charm the winds of March with their beauty…’ I haven’t seen any daffodils yet, but the winds of March are already quite refreshing.

I hope you are well and safe. Hal and I get our first Covid-vaccination on Wednesday so we’re feeling hopeful!

And now, a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. 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

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• Michel Foucault’s book Madness & Civilization refers to the madness of King Lear and Lady Macbeth in his chapter about views on madness in the sixteenth century.

 

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

• The Sound of Music – Christopher Plumber is in the Hamlet inspired The Undiscovered Country.
• Zombieland – Bill Murray is in Hamlet.
• Alien 3:
• Brian Glover is in Prince of Jutland
• Ralph Brown is in The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Danny Webb is in Henry V, Twelfth Night
• Pete Postlethwaite is in Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet
• Alien Resurrection:  Winona Ryder is in Looking for Richard
• Prometheus: Michael Fassbender is in Macbeth.
• Hidden Figures: Kevin Costner plays a wandering Shakespearean actor in the dystopian The Postman.
• Genova: Colin Firth is in Shakespeare in Love. 

Further since last time:

• Started reading aloud to Hal: Shakespeare in a Divided America by James Shapiro. 

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/

 

February 2021

 ‘In winter's tedious nights sit by the fire/ With good old folks, and let them tell thee tales/ Of woeful ages, long ago betid…’

The nights are still long, friends, but they are getting shorter. Let this not be the winter of our discontent, but of hope and light!

And now, a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. 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

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• In the novel The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern Zachery is at a literary party and orders a drink called Drowning Ophelia. Later, another character, Simon, wanders through the mystical building and sees a group rehearsing King Lear.
• The Perfect Wife by J O Delaney quotes Sonnet 116, ‘Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds,’ as used in the main characters’ wedding vows. Later, in discussing AI Abbie’s humanness, quotes from The Merchant of Venice are used, for example, ‘When you prick us do we not bleed?’
• In the film Lady Bird the high school puts on a production of The Tempest.

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

• Fisherman’s Friends – James Purefoy is in The Hollow Crown. David Hayman is in it too as well as in Macbeth.
• Knives Out – Christopher Plummer is in Star Trek – the Undiscovered Country, which is riddled with Shakespeare.
• All Is True – All of it, naturally
• The Golden Compass - Jim Carter is in Richard III. Derek Jacobi is in Hamlet twice, Richard II and Henry V.
• Alien - Ian Holm is in Hamlet and Henry V. John Hurt is in The Hollow Crown and King Lear.

 

Further since last time:

• Nothing really.

 

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/

January 2021

 

What could be more appropriate for the end of the year 2020 than this quote: ‘Exit, pursued by a bear.’ Hurrah for the bear! And remember, in 2021: ‘It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.’ Hurrah for us! Happy New Year!

And now, a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. 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

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• In the novel Echo Boy by Matt Haig young Audrey and her boyfriend discuss whether or not a virtual reality visit with Shakespeare would entail a real conversation with him or not.
• In the novel Before I Die by Jenny Downham teen-aged Tessa is dying of cancer. One of the things she wants to do before she dies is become famous. Her dad asks her to define fame and she thinks of Shakespeare, still famous after 400 years. Her favourite play is Macbeth because when he kills a king nature goes wild. And one of her instructions for her funeral that Sonnet 12 will be read. In case you had to Google it I’ll tell you (I Googled it) it’s the one that starts, ‘When I do count the clock that tells the time…’ Good choice.
• Jack Robbins in Graham Swift’s Here We Are starts out as a vaudeville host and rises to Shakespeare roles.
• V.E. Schwab refers to Shakespeare several times in her novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue:
• During her long 300-year life Addie ‘has read the Bible, the Upanishads, the Quran, after a spiritual bender of sorts a century ago. She passes Shakespeare,  too, a religion all his own.’
• Henry’s friend Robbie performs in a play ‘loosely based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream….’
• One of Addie’s lovers, Remy, in the 18^th century, cannot image a world without Shakespeare.
• Just before the French Revolution, Addie’s nemesis Luc appears and quotes The Tempest: ‘Our revels now are ended…’
• In the novel The Nothing Man Catherine Ryan Howard twelve-year old Eve wants to experience the grand passionate love of Romeo and Juliet. I’ll never understand why so many people long for that. They both die in the end, for heaven’s sake!

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

 

• The Avengers – Whedon has directed Much Ado about Nothing. Downey is in Richard III. Hiddleston is Henry V. Gregg is in the aforementioned Much Ado. Skarsgård has been a Swedish Hamlet. Paltrow is in Shakespeare in Love.
• Love and Friendship - Beckinsale is in Much Ado about Nothing. Fry is in Twelfth Night. Edwards and Fleet are in The Hollow Crown.
• Doctor Zhivago - Christie does perhaps the best Gertrude ever in Branagh’s Hamlet. Chaplin is in The Hollow Crown. Richardson in in Olivier’s Richard III.
• Die Hard – Rickman is in Romeo and Juliet.
• Moulin Rouge - Luhrman directed Romeo & Juliet. Broadbent is in Richard III.    Leguizamo is in Cymbeline and Romeo & Juliet.
• The Party - Scott Thomas is in Richard III. Spall is in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Hamlet. Mortimer is in Love’s Labour’s Lost.
• Die Hard with a Vengeance – Jeremy Irons is in The Hollow Crown and The Merchant of Venice.
• The 33 – Gabriel Byrne is in The Prince of Jutland 

Further since last time:

• Nothing really.

 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/
• https://rubyjandshakespearecalling.blogspot.com/2020/12/december-2020.html

December 2020

 

December 2020

 

We could say that now starts our winter of discontent, if we think about Covid 19. Or we could say that in this impending winter we will with warm tears melt the snow if these tears are of relief over the imminent ousting of Trump from the White House and the optimistic reports that vaccines are on the way. In any case, let December end this turbulent year, and let us say that true hope is swift and flies with swallow’s wings. Happy holidays! Stay safe, stay well and stay hopeful.

 

And now, a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me by ordering the book online. 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

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• Dagens Nyheter writes that if Trump is a Shakespeare character, he is a stupid version of Richard III. To compare Trump to Lear is an insult to Shakespeare.
• In Arthur C Clarke’s classic A Fall of Moondust the passengers trapped in their tourist vessel under the dust of the moon consider their reading material, a ‘Western’ classic that is considered by some as irrelevant because it’s about an historical time, upon which a professor says that this reasoning ‘is as illogical as dismissing Hamlet on the grounds that events restricted to a small and draughty Danish castle could not possibly be of universal significance.’

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

• The Leisure Seeker – I’ve seen Mirren in Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, and The Tempest.
• Split – McAvoy plays Macbeth in the Re-Told version.
• On the Basis of Sex - Jones is in The Tempest.
• Defiance – Schreiber is in Almereyda’s Hamlet.
• Glass - McAvoy plays Macbeth in the Re-Told version.  Spencer Treat Clark is in Cymbeline and Much Ado About Nothing. 

Further since last time:

• Finished reading (to myself, alas, Hal is no longer up to listening to Shakespeare): The Merchant of Venice.
• Wrote: about Antonio or Portia and Trump’s supporters in ‘The Good People of Venice’ in The Merchant of Venice. 

Posted this month

• ‘The Good People of Venice’ in The Merchant of Venice. https://rubyjandshakespearecalling.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-good-people-of-venice-in-merchant.html
• 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/

 

https://rubyjandshakespearecalling.blogspot.com/2020/11/november-2020.html

The Good People of Venice in The Merchant of Venice

The good people of Venice

in

The Merchant of Venice

 

     Antonio is a good and generous person. When Bassanio needs money Antonio says, ‘My purse, my person, my extremest means/ Lie all unlocked to your occasions’ (1.1). Bassanio later describes him as ‘the kindest man’ (3.2).

     Portia is a good and clever person. Virtuous, of course: ‘… of wonderous virtues’ (1.1). She shines as a lawyer and reminds us a bit of amiable Columbo when after a long list of reasons why Shylock should win his case, she says, ‘Tarry a little. There is something else’ (4.1).

     So. Good, generous, clever, amiable. But Antonio has repeatedly insulted and abused Shylock. Portia deliberately and coolly ruins his life. Because he is a Jew. Antonio and Portia hate Jews.

     But it was an anti-Semitic society, filled with hatred and fear, you may argue, and you would be right. But you may continue, that’s all in the past. You would be wrong.

     Four years ago, a racist and otherwise thoroughly contemptible man was elected (though he got fewer votes than his opponent) President of the United States. A few weeks ago, a majority of voters voted him out and the civilised world heaved a cautious sigh of relief.

     The problem is, millions voted for Trump. Let me tell you about three of them.

     The first one I’ll call Chichi. Like her name (even her real name)) she is a sweet, whimsical, harp-playing angelic poet who loves her little daughter very much. She posted her support of Trump on Facebook and when I expressed my dismay, she wrote that she too had once seen Trump as racist, misogynist, environmentally dangerous, etc but she had now realised that he was misunderstood and falsely maligned. She supports him because of all the good he has done.

     The second one is my cousin, let’s say she’s called Trish. We have very little contact and haven’t since we were children. Her support, also on FB, has been discreet but very clear. We haven’t discussed it at all. What puzzles me is that she is a very devout Christian. I’m naïve enough to think that religious people should promote love, not hate and contempt.

     My third example, another cousin, Laura. As far as we remember, we’ve only met once, when we were kids, but in recent years we have had a very friendly and mutually supportive relationship on FB. She has even bought and promoted my books. As far as I can tell, she loves her adopted kids. Then suddenly this summer she started posting pro-Trump memes and texts on FB. When I tried to discuss this with her, she first admitted to being confused about the situation in the US, but she hated Obama and Biden. When it became clear that Trump had lost the election, she - and especially her husband - began ranting and raving about fraud and stolen votes, spewing out hatred of Biden and Harris, and nastily abusing me with hateful insults.

     So.

     My question, simplified and perhaps unreasonable, but nevertheless, is this: Are these three people good but delusional? Good parents but bad people who understand exactly what Trump is and approves, agrees? Or are they basically bad, with streaks of goodness in them but only towards their own kind? Like Antonio and Portia?

     We know what the Christian society of Antonio and Portia led to throughout the centuries. Let’s just hope that the current 306 electoral votes will be the start of a democratic, equal and inclusive society where these kinds of questions are unnecessary.

     Maybe understanding, or at least pondering, Shakespeare will help.

    

    

Shakespeare calling – the book available here and other sites:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shakespeare-Calling-book-Ruby-Jand/dp/9163782626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543817692&sr=1-1&keywords=Ruby+Jand