The Tempest: sources? We don’t need no stinking sources!

We’ve already determined that The Tempest was all Shakespeare’s work, the writing of it–and the last one he did write solo. But what about where he pilfered the story? I mean, the Bard was also the Thief of Avon, as we’ve seen many, many times before.

So where’d he get this story?

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Podcast 159: The Winter’s Tale — Concept and Conclusion

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This week’s podcast concludes our two-month discussion of The Winter’s Tale. We’re going to discuss a possible directorial concept (or rather some dramaturgical issues) and a conclusion to the play.

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Time enough at last

No. This title doesn’t mean that I can really get down to work on this blog full-time. Damn. It’s a reference to one of my favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone. But this post has nothing to do with breaking my reading glasses after finding all the books I want to read when I have (you know) time enough at last. No, this still has to do with The Winter’s Tale.

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Wide gaps in casting

Earlier this month, when I attended the Wooden O Symposium, I was lucky enough to listen to Nicholas Brush, from the University of Central Oklahoma, present his paper on bromance in Romeo and Juliet, and how a back-to-back-line sequence there, using the phrases “gentlemen” and “very friend,” can be seen as a meta-textual allusion to an earlier play, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. It was fascinating (especially when another presenter pointed out the phrase “pure gold” appears in only two plays…those two plays). And of course, it got me thinking–not as straightforwardly as Nick but tangentially–about The Winter’s Tale.

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The Winter’s Tale: stage directions

Is it any surprise that in the play with arguably the most famous stage direction ever, we find a down-tick in dialogue-based stage direction? Of course, nothing about The Winter’s Tale surprises me now…

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The Winter’s Tale: midpoint?

Using Professor Rodes’ midpoint theory, let’s take a look at The Winter’s Tale.

There are 2977 lines in in the play, which means the midpoint is at line 1489, or at Act Four, Scene Three, line 39. According to Dr. Rodes’ theory, you could find at this midpoint–or within twenty lines either way–a speech that perfectly sums up a major theme of the play (the 20-line leeway was to help remove the differences in prose line lengths between individual editions).

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Seriously, dude…really?

OK, the mark of a good literary character is change, being different at the end of the play than from the beginning because of all s/he has been through. And we all see how Leontes is a repentant king at the end of The Winter’s Tale. Right?

I’m not so sure…

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Podcast 158: The Winter’s Tale — bawdy and videos [EXPLICIT]

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This week’s podcast continues our two-month discussion of The Winter’s Tale. We’re going to discuss bawdy in the play, then review some of the videos available.

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