Will’s Diaries

Lest there be any doubt, there’s no connection as of now between the movie Will’s Diaries and The Shakespeare Diaries. The latter has been available for quite some time on Amazon, and recently became available as an e-book. The movie is directed by Charis Orchard, and when Hugh Grant heard about the project he phoned the director in an attempt to land the leading role.  However, the director thought the call was a hoax, but did think the caller gave a good impersonation of Grant!

Winter’s Tale at the Old Vic–Reviews

Click below for links to some reviews of The Winter’s Tale at the Old Vic:

Daily Telegraph

Guardian

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Jude Law as Hamlet–Reviews

Click on these links for some reviews of Jude Law as Hamlet:

Daily Telegraph

Independent

Times

Guardian

Observer

And check out The Shakespeare Diaries

Jude Law as Hamlet

Jude Law will play Hamlet at Wyndham’s Theatre, London, from 29 May to 22 August.  See report here.

Check out The Shakespeare Diaries.

Portraits of Shakespeare

The debate over what Shakespeare looked like continues. For some of the latest news click here. And check out The Shakespeare Diaries

Lenny Henry to play Othello

This may strike some people as news from the weird (remember Lenny Henry in Chef?), but yes indeed Lenny Henry is to perform Othello. Actually, Henry can also be a serious chap, and he’s earned a B.A. in literature from the Open University. For Henry on Othello and other interesting details, read an interview with him  by clicking here.

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David Tennant, Derek Jacobi, Critics’ Circle

David Tennat and Sir Derek Jacobi have received Critics’ Circle awards for their performances of Hamlet and Malvolvio respectively. For more information, click here.

David Tennant uses real Yorick skull

Here’s some rather macabre details about the real Yorick skull David Tennan used in the recent Stratford Hamlet production (transferring to the Novello Theatre in London).

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Shakespeare: The Man Behind the Plays

There was a recent discussion at the Philoctetes Center in New York on Shakespeare, taking as it’s starting point: “Of the most famous English writer in history, famously little is known about his personal life, but many have speculated about the relationship between his biography and his plays and poems. To what extent are Elizabeth prejudices apparent in Shakespeare’s work? Is Shakespeare the man unknowable, or do his works yield some kind of buried subtext? What might the characters in the plays—who express such complex consciousnesses —reveal about Shakespeare’s imagination, about the psychology of his time? Continuing the 400 year-old conversation about Shakespeare, this panel features speakers who have studied his biography and his oeuvre, directed and acted in his plays, and fashioned their own creative works inspired by his literature and his legacy.”

There’s a video of the discussion at: http://philoctetes.org/Past_Programs/Shakespeare_The_Man_Behind_the_Plays

Check out The Shakespeare Diaries.

David Tennant as Berowne (Love’s Labour’s Lost)

Following on his performance as Hamlet at Stratford-upon-Avon, David Tennant has made another hit as Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost:

“But the evening really belongs to the mercurial David Tennant, whose Berowne winks at the audience, singles out people in the front row to make jokes from, climbs trees, presents an extraordinary range of facial gestures, is an outstanding stage presence and master of comic timing. Then, at the end when the mood darkens, he acquires a compelling, moving stillness” (The Stage, 8 October 2008).

More reviews in The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian.

Check out The Shakespeare Diaries.