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This week’s Shakespeare news review includes J. Caesar, Ugly Shakespeare Company, a bawdy French song in Love’s Labor’s Lost, plus Helen Mirren, Lily Rabe and Matt LeBlanc(?). PLUS our usual recap of this week’s daily highlights in Shakespearean history.
In Hamlet, Claudius is one bad, bad man (there may be some doubt through the first half of the play, but with his confessional soliloquy in Act Three, Scene Three, that doubt is removed). But what about Gertrude?
Is Gertrude guilty? And if so, of what crime?
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[EXPLICIT CONTENT AHEAD… This podcast contains adult language and adolescent humor … yeah, this podcast has some rough language ahead, and it’s a long one (that’s what she said–cue rimshot)]
This week’s podcast continues our three month-long discussion of Hamlet with a long stretch of bawdy, and a little discussion about text (not sex, but text).
Continue reading “Podcast 101: Hamlet and sucking the fun out of Bawdy”
Some random thoughts of character parallels and the seeming quantum situations of being both parallel and at odds in Hamlet…
Continue reading “Hamlet: parallels, right angles, and a glimpse into the future?”
How old is Hamlet?
(about 415 years, rim shot)
No, the character.
Continue reading “Too young, too old: Hamlet’s stuck in the middle maybe”
Before we leave the “nunnery scene”–as the Hamlet/Ophelia conversation that occurs after the “To be or not to be” soliloquy in Act Three, Scene One of Hamlet is often called–I want to dive into something of interest:
Pronouns.
Oh, I know what you’re thinking: “Bill, you said this would be interesting… pronouns? Really?”
Yes, gentle reader, I am totally serious. You should listen up; thou might learn something.
We interrupt our usually scheduled entry on Hamlet for this breaking news:
Shakespeare has some bawdy stuff in it… and more than we realized just a few months ago.
Continue reading “News Flash: Shakespeare’s Bawdy. (No kidding.)”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
[archive]
This week’s Shakespeare news review includes a Artistic Director for Shakespeare’s Globe, Derek Jacobi as Mercutio, Wittenberg the play, and Elsinore the video game. PLUS our usual recap of this week’s daily highlights in Shakespearean history.
[CONTENT REDACTED: In this blog entry, I made reference to Dr. Pauline Kiernan’s work and book on bawdy in the Bard, Filthy Shakespeare; in doing so, I have offended her by my tone and use of her material. I apologize for the offense, and have thus redacted the reference.]
[EXPLICIT CONTENT AHEAD… SKIP IF EASILY OFFENDED. This entry is going to have a slow start, but some rough language lay ahead… and it’s a long one (that’s what she said–cue rimshot)]
From the beginning of the Project, I’ve taken a dip into the Pool of Bawdy with every play. And with every play, it’s been with adult language and juvenile humor. Pretty much all naked fun and naughty games. That being said, I hope Hamlet isn’t the beginning of a trend… because save for one little sequence, the bawdy bits of the play are not a whole lot of fun.
