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.

March 2022

 ‘Daffodils that come before the swallow dares, and take the winds of March with beauty…’ I haven’t yet seen any daffodils, but the fresh winds of March give us hints of the coming spring.

‘O war! thou son of hell’ O Putin! Thou son of hell! Our thoughts and support 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 in the coming month will go directly to Doctors without Borders for their work in Ukraine. 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:

• The twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi, quotes Macbeth about sleep.
• Dagens Nyheter has a review of Macbeth now at Dramaten. Rabbits? The article doesn’t make sense.
• Kulturnytt on TV also has a review of the same Macbeth. She liked it a lot, especially Baby Macbeth and the good acting. I’m all for spinoffs of Shakespeare but I’m not sure about this one. Anyway, going to the theatre isn’t really an option for us these days.
• In Prep, but Curtis Sittenfeld, the class does Hamlet.
• In The Last Gift by Abdulrazak Gurnah Jamal’s neighbour Harun writes children’s version of Shakespeare to be distributed in South Asia and Africa.
• In Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy Inti quotes Caliban, ‘You taught me language, and my profit on’t is I know how to curse.’ Her twin sister Aggie has to explain to her what it meant. On the next page Aggie hit a bully in the face with The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Shakespeare is indispensable in so many ways!

 

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

• Road to Perdition – Jennifer Jason Leigh is in the Lear spin-off A Thousand Acres. Stanley Tucci is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• O Brother Where Art Thou - Tim Blake Nelson is in Hamlet. Stanley Tucci is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• Chain Reaction - Keanu Reeves is in Much Ado about Nothing, My Own Private Idaho
• Seabiscuit - Chris Cooper is in The Tempest
• Forget Me Not - Gemma Jones is in The Merchant of Venice

Further since last time:

• Still reading, slowly(!): Women of Will by Tina Packer. Nearing the end now but I want to savour it, so I only read a few pages a day. Maybe in the next report I’ll review it.

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 2022

 The only Shakespeare quote for February I could find is ‘You have such a February face, So full of frost, of storm, and cloudiness’ from Much Ado about Nothing, which I find amusing because on this February day as I write the sun is shining brightly. I’ve always loved February because after the long and often dreary January, February is short and leads towards spring. Besides, my birthday is in February.

We’ll celebrate that momentous event with 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. 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 J K Rowlings a biography by Connie Ann Kirk we’re told that seeing King Lear and The Winter’s Tale in Stratford inspired young Jo in her literature studies.
• The film Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool not only has Shakespeare connections through its actors but also mentions and quotes Shakespeare numerous times:
• Gloria (Bening) has an ambition to play Juliet though she is well into her 50s or so.
• Her mother (Redgrave) had played Ophelia.
• When Gloria was dying her young lover (Jamie Bell) brought her to an empty theatre to do the pilgrim’s kiss love scene with her, fulfilling her old dream to play Juliet. 

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

• Tamara Drewe – Roger Allam is in The Tempest, which we saw on stage at the Globe in London, and Henry IV.
• Garden State - Ian Holm is in Hamlet and Henry V.
• The Selfish Giant - Ralph Inneston is in Macbeth Re-Told.
• QEDA: Shakespeare connection: Stina Ekblad played Ariel in The Tempest which we saw at Dramaten in Stockholm.
• Cats - Shakespeare connections – Judie Dench is in All Is True, The Hollow Crown, Shakespeare in Love, Hamlet, Henry V, Macbeth. Ian McKellen is in All Is True, King Lear, Richard III, Macbeth
• Romper Stomper - Geoffrey Wright directed Macbeth, a modern drug lord version with Sam Worthington.
• The Secret Garden - Julie Walters is in The Hollow Crown.
• Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool - Shakespeare connection: Annette Bening is in Richard III. Julie Walters is in The Hollow Crown. Vanessa Redgrave is in Coriolanus. Frances Barber is in Twelfth Night. 

Further since last time:

• Almost done reading: Women of Will by Tina Packer. Now dealing with Measure for Measure giving new and exciting insights into the difficult play.

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 2022

Happy New Year, dear Shakespeare friends! I hope 2022 has started out well for you and that you are of good cheer. As for me, ‘I am fresh of spirit and resolved to meet all perils very constantly’. Well, that sounded noble, didn’t it? Nevertheless, I have hopes for the coming year. Fingers crossed.

We’ll start the new year with 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. 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:

• Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah mentions Shakespeare several times.
• A friend asks Salim to quote something from Shakespeare to prove he was studying literature at the university.
• Salim auditions for a part in The Winter’s Tale.
• Salim’s father bought a Complete Works of Shakespeare but found the plays too difficult to read.
• Salim explains the story in Measure for Measure to his father, showing the parallels to his mother’s experience.
• In Doctor Who Martha tells showgirl Tallulah that she has done a little Shakespeare. To which Tallulah replies, ‘How boring is that?’ 

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

 

• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – Casey Affleck and Sam Shepard are in Hamlet. Sam Rockwell is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• Light of My Life - Casey Affleck is in Hamlet. Elizabeth Moss is in A Thousand Acres, a spin-off of King Lear.
• Regeneration - We saw Jonathan Pryce in The Merchant of Venice at the Globe in London. David Hayman is in Macbeth and The Hollow Crown.
• Dark City - Rufus Sewell is in The Taming of the Shrew Re-Told and Hamlet.
• Notting Hill - James Dreyfuss and Tim McInnerney are in Richard III. John Shrapnel is in King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Timon of Athens.
• Last Christmas - Emma Thompson is in Much Ado about Nothing and Henry V.
• Wild Rose - Jessie Buckley is in The Tempest (which we saw on stage at the Globe in London). Julie Walters and Sophie Okonedo are in The Hollow Crown. 

Further since last time:

• Still reading: Women of Will by Tina Packer. It’s bringing new understanding for such difficult plays as Troilus and Cressida and Antony and Cleopatra. I might even like these plays the next time I read them!

 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/

 

 

December 2021

 ‘A lusty winter, Frosty, but kindly’. That’s how I’d like to describe the weather in Stockholm today. Sunny and cold. What is your favourite Shakespeare winter quote?

As always, this 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 have the blog in book form, as well as support the Shakespeare Calling project. 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

 

I would be thrilled to get an email from you if you bought the book. rubyjandshakespearecalling@gmail.com 

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• Kulturnytt on Swedish television reported on a one-woman performance of King Lear in the town Örebro.
• Twilight Zone had an episode called ‘The Bard’ in which Shakespeare returned to help a ham writer write brilliant texts.
• Dread Nation by Justina Ireland has its narrator Jane, a young black woman who expertly fights zombies after the American Civil War, quoting Shakespeare and ridiculing those who are surprised that she can.
• In the novel Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, Madeline’s boss at the local theatre insists on doing King Lear though nobody is interested. Later she quotes Lear after an argument with her daughter: ‘How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child, Abigail.’ 

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

 

• Silkwood – David Strathairn is in The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• Judy - Rupert Goold directed The Hollow Crown. Jessie Buckley was in the stage performance of The Tempest at the Globe in London, and we were there! Rufus Sewell is in The Taming of the Shrew Re-Told and Hamlet. Michael Gambon is in The Hollow Crown. John Dalgleish is in All Is True, about Shakespeare’s last month in Stratford and The Hollow Crown.
• Logan’s Run - Michael Yorke is in Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew. Jenny Agutter is in Love’s Labour’s Lost.
• The Cloverfield Paradox - David Oyelowa is in As You Like It. Elizabeth Debecki is in Macbeth.
• Spotswood - Anthony Hopkins is in Titus, Othello
• Effie Gray - Tom Sturridge and Julie Walters are in The Hollow Crown. Emma Thompson is in Much Ado about Nothing and Henry V.

Further since last time:

• Still reading: Women of Will by Tina Packer. It’s fascinating and I’m becoming inspired to write more on the subject. 

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/2021/09/september-2021.html

 

 

November 2021

 "Thou shalt be free as mountain winds…’ It’s very windy today in Stockholm on this, the first day of November. A beautiful autumn day. I hope the weather is favouring you wherever you are, and that the month ahead is good to you.

Now, as always, this 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 have the blog in book form, as well as support the Shakespeare Calling project. 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

 

I would be thrilled to get an email from you if you bought the book. rubyjandshakespearecalling@gmail.com 

 

Shakespeare sightings:

• In the novel Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones, a dress is described as more for A Midsummer Night’s Dream than Gone with the Wind.
• A review in Dagens Nyheter of Benjamin Britten’s opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream mostly tells the story but seems to like the production.
• A review in Dagens Nyheter of The Tempest, at Stadsteatern in Gothenburg, is enthusiastic over the multimedial production with video, music, dance, Internet, TV, 3D art and a noodle bar.
• Swedish actor Lil Terselius has died. She is known for her many roles, including Gertrude from Hamlet.

 

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

• Stand By Me – River Phoenix is in My Own Private Idaho which is a spin-off of Henry IV. Richard Dreyfuss is in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a spin-off of Hamlet, and The Good-bye Girl, a spin-off of Richard III.
• The Awakening - Rebecca Hall’s father founded the Royal Shakespeare Company. Dominic West is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard III.  Imelda Staunton is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream Re-Told, Shakespeare in Love, Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing.
• Chumscrubber – Glenn Close is in Hamlet. Ralph Fiennes is in Coriolanus. John Heard is in O. Allison Janney is in 10 Things I Hate about You, a spinoff of The Taming of the Shrew.
• The Turn of the Screw - Michelle Dockery is in The Hollow Crown.
• Stigmata - Gabriel Byrne is in Prince of Jutland. Jonathan Pryce was in The Merchant of Venice, which we saw at the Globe in London, and Timon of Athens

 

 

Further since last time:

• Started reading: Women of Will by Tina Packer.

 

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/2021/09/september-2021.html