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Oberon Report to the Unsatisfied: Thursday's Meeting

Dear Oberon,

Some special people couldn’t be with us at Oberon Thursday evening. We missed you all, but we want to send special wishes to Laura and Gary, and also to Robin and Judy. Although we missed Robin, we certainly understand. He did get some cookies, however, so not to worry.

For those of us who were there, we had, as Richard said, “another great meeting.” Thank you, Richard, for that. I can’t disagree.

Preparations are under way for our Oct. 25 meeting with guest speaker Lonnie Morley. Lonnie will tell the assembled multitude about herbs in Shakespeare and their authorial implications. Linda Theil and her committee have already gotten the word out to a number of groups, will make some follow-up contacts, and will work on final preparations. The meeting will be at the Farmington Library, Room 1A, starting at 7 p.m., doors open at 6:45.

Also Linda urged everyone to visit our blog, which by now features many contributions from various people. Even better, she urged everyone to contribute to it, especially those who have not yet had the opportunity to do so. We would like to see it become a flourishing center of Shakespearean thought and exchange of ideas on authorship and related issues, especially issues which our members feel are important.

Finally, Linda extended an invitation to her Labyrinth Party this Sunday afternoon. Please contact Linda at linda.theil@gmail.com

We noted the successful, well-covered introduction of the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt, which many of us have signed, by Oxfordian actors Mark Rylance and Derek Jacobi at the Chichester Festival in England which introduced Mr. Rylance's new comedy about authorship.

Richard briefly reviewed our Stratford outing and the fact that The Merchant of Venice turned out somewhat better for him the second time around. Part of this was due to a better understanding of director Richard Rose’s intentions with this production which he shared with me in an e-mail exchange which I intend to resume some time soon. The last e-mail from Mr. Rose contained an invitation to visit with him in Toronto where he is artistic director of Terragon Theatre. Mr. Rose has been most open and willing to talk about his work.

Richard (our Richard) will also be reporting on the joint SOS/Shakespeare Fellowship conference in Carmel, CA early next month. He will be our only representative and plans to provide daily updates for us as he has in the past with his inimitable reporting skills.

The Hamlet Project is now underway. We discussed key lines from Act I for themes, issues, and connections to Oxford, finding at least six connections to work with: Polonius for Burghley, Oxford’s mother’s quick remarriage, truepenny, Burghley’s gardens, reflections on nobility, and “ever I was born.” We will start with the last lines of Act I when next we work on the Hamlet Project at our meeting in November. Also, Tom Townsend will be presenting thoughts on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, their role in the play, and their Oxfordian connections. I am hoping that we will make significant progress over the next few months and have every confidence that Oberon can make it happen.

In the mean time, we have extra seating for the October meeting. Lonnie’s last visit to Oberon was very successful. She was well received and stirred interest. We look forward to seeing you all there except perhaps those of you in Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Kentucky. Not a good excuse, mind you, but with the price of gas what it is, understandable.

Tom Hunter
Oberon Chair

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