I just watched the Shakespeare Uncovered episode about Measure for Measure, with Romola Garai, who was a perfect host (I remain gutted that I couldn't see her as Isabella, although it sounds like the shock-value stuff in the production - blow-up sex dolls? really? - might have driven me up a wall). This season of Shakespeare Uncovered has so far ( Read more... )

The Globe recently announced casting for its Ensemble productions of Hamlet and As You Like Ithttps://blog.shakespearesglobe.com/post/172822073468/casting-for-hamlet-and-as-you-like-it-announcedRead more... )

From the Pepys diary feed, a bit I'd not seen before:

Dined at home very well, and spent all the afternoon with my wife within doors, and getting a speech out of Hamlett, “To bee or not to bee,” without book.

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1664/11/13/
I wonder what the ( Read more... )

…thinking about Shakespeare characters talking about time, I might as well mention that moment in Hamlet where Hamlet says his father has died "within 's two hours," and Ophelia responds (worriedly?), "Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord" - and then Hamlet still seems to fail to hear her properly; he says, "O heavens, die two months ago, and not ( Read more... )

A little look at the history of Yorick's skull in Hamlet, on the eve of Andrew Scott's first performance of the title role at the Almeida ( Read more... )

I just idly happened to check what might be going on at my local independent cinema and discovered that they were screening Maxine Peake's Hamlet this Monday, so if you live in the US, you might want to check yours too, as it looks like they are finally doing some US screenings:http://www.

I must have written this the day after I saw the Cumberbatch Hamlet, but then I got distracted by writing a blog post instead, and never came back to finish this. Anyway, I just found it on my computer, so for completeness' sake:

Further thoughts, about Benedict Cumberbatch this time - or at least about his Hamlet. ( Hamlet thoughts )

I take back my frustration with the rewriting of "What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba" in the Cumberbatch Hamlet: "What's Hecuba to him, or he to her" is the variation in the Second Quarto. ("Or he to Hecuba" is the Folio version.) I took issue with it because as far as I can tell, many of the changed lines in that production have been changed in ( Read more... )

Hamlet, Barbican Theatre
Lyndsey Turner, director; Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet
via NT Live
15 October 2015

Okay, so Hamlet.

I don’t want to say that it went downhill for me from the beginning, but… ( cut for length and grumpiness )

This is a telling realization, as my "comedy is hard" tag gets frequent use.

Anyway, has anyone else read this article from 2014?

Shakespeare's Bloody Problem: Why the Tragedies Almost Never Work Anymorehttp://www.vulture.com/2014/06/shakespeare-has- ( Read more... )