Monday, October 10, 2011

Lots of Shakespeare sightings this week so here they are:

• Shakespeare sightings –
  • At our staff meeting on Wednesday, the question once again came up about our poor clocks, none of which agrees with any other clock in the school. Some of us are not at all bothered by this, while others are and colleague MH, who is always the one to bring it up, said, “So once again I must remind you that(in Swedish), time is out of joint”, (in English). To which my colleague and Shakespeare friend, EG, and I whispered in unison “in the state of Denmark”, which is our standard in joke. We say it every time we hear a quote from Shakespeare, no matter what the quote. We're so highbrow!
  • Again at work – I was in the staff room adding to the list of tests to be done when I eavesdropped on a colleague – not known for his interest in Shakespeare – telling some others that he had seen the statue of Juliet in Verona.
  • In the science fiction novel Judas Rose by Suzette Haden Elgin, the subversive title character in the 23^rd century, read and understood Shakespeare.
  • Othello, being played in the Swedish town of Falun, was reviewed in Dagens Nyheter. This production has been moved to modern Sweden. Desdemona is the daughter of a wealthy businessman, Othello is a Muslim. The emphasis is on The Other in our society and the play got a good review.
  • In the movie “Elegy”, starring Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz and Dennis Hopper, the two old macho guys joke about the beast making two backs and show their literary prowess by pointing out that it's from Othello. Hopper's character also says that he's tired of playing Horatio to Kingsley's character's third rate Hamlet. Neither of these Shakespeare sightings save the movie however. I didn't like it.
  • In Children of the French Revolution by Robert Gildea, Shakespeare's importance the 19^th century to the victorious bourgeoisie as a cultural icon is mentioned on four different pages of the thirty or so I've read so far today.

• Still reading aloud with Hal: Love's Labour's Lost.
• Tickets booked: to see King Lear in December.
• Text posted: Curses and Consequences in Richard III.