Oberon Shakespeare Study Group

      Shakespeare's Globe Theatre performers The University Musical Society has announced Shakepeare's Globe Theatre will present Dominic Dromgoole's production of Loves Labors Lost 8 p.m.   October 20, 22, 23, 24, and 2 p.m. October 25 at the Power Center on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. UMS says: Directed by Dominic Dromgoole, with designs by Jonathan Fensom and music by Claire van Kampen, the production employs Renaissance staging, costume and music. “With a delightful deisgn and jaunty music, it has abundant charm…entirely enchanting.” ( The Times , London)

According to their website,  Babes with Blades  theater company: . . . is a diverse ensemble of artists working together to expand opportunities for women in the world of stage combat. By exploring theatrical violence as a storytelling tool and as a means to entertain, educate, and enlighten, we challenge traditional expectations, push personal limitations, and celebrate the historical role of the woman warrior and her modern evolution. The all-female company will present a run of Shakespeare's Macbeth  directed by Kevin Heckman through May 30, at La Costa Theatre in Chicago. Shows are 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and Sunday's at 3 p.m. G eneral admission tickets are $20, students and seniors tickets --  with ID at the door -- are $13. Post show Talkbacks are scheduled for Sundays: May 3, 10, 17. At the May 14 and 17 shows, the company will collect donations to benefit the Viola Project  , a Chicago organization offering Shakespeare performance workshop...

The Wall Street Journal has caved in to the inevitable traditionalist reaction to its front page report last Saturday, April 18 about the finding by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens for Edward de Vere as the name behind the pen-name, Shakespeare.   All five of the five letters to the editor printed today (Sat./Sun., April 25 -26, 2009) attack the authorship issue and authorship doubters in general, and the Journal and Justice Stevens in particular. The Journal printed none of the supportive letters it received. The letters which it did print are a remarkable lot, brilliant in their own conceit but in fact blissfully ignorant and uninformed, among the very best examples of the know-nothing mentality which prefers ". . . that the media wouldn't give print space to Oxfordian elitists." They rail against “. . . treating this nonsense seriously.” They see themselves ". . . like Shakespeare,. . . primarily self-educated and masters of intell...

Two dozen Shakespeare-lovers had a wonderful time at Oberon's UN-birthday party last night. The cake from VG's was delicious! Everyone loved Ron Song Destro's film, and discussion of the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt was interesting and lively. Mara picks up information about the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt. Rosey H. and Joy T. help themselves to UN-birthday cake and coffee. Oberon Chairperson Tom Hunter welcomes visitors.

Check out author and scholar Stephanie Hughes' brand new blog on history and the authorship question: Politic Worm . I’m starting a blog on the Authorship Question, not only “who wrote the Shakespeare canon?” but the broader question of who wrote several of the other important literary canons of the Elizabethan Renaissance, and why so many found it necessary to hide their identities as authors.   So different is our present day culture from that of the English Reformation, and so much information is missing that should be there, whether on purpose or through the natural entropy of time, that, to arrive at a scenario has meant looking beyond literary his tory into mainstream history, most particularly the history of the Renaissance and Reformation periods, as well as modern clinical psychology, art history, theater history, the literary histories of the other European Renaissance nations, and the most complete biographies possible of everyone concerned.  

Hey, everybody!    In all the excitement about the Wall Street Journal article  about self-announced Oxfordian U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and our involvement with the Farmington Players (more later) and looking forward to the Interlochen Shakespeare Festival and Oberon Up North 2009, we can’t forget our Shakespeare UNbirthday party Thursday evening at our usual meeting place, Room A of the Farmington Library. Be with us as Oberon celebrates Shakespeare’s UN-birthday!   Come for a great PowerPoint presentation by Ron Destro about the authorship issue.   And don’t forget a piece of that great UNbirthday cake, coffee, and good fellowship.    We will toast Justice Stevens and the fact that the Shakespeare issue near and dear to our hearts is now front page news in one of the most read and authoritative newspapers in the country, the Wall Street Journal. Bring a guest.    Let us all enjoy Shakespeare’s UN-birthday toget...

Dear Oberon, Justice Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court was reported in the Wall Street Journal  to have come down on Oxford's side in the authorship controversy. We all knew this but here are two amazing things: It's the WALL STREET JOURNAL reporting it The poll in the article of all the judges adds up to NINE not supporting Stratford Will to THREE supporting him.  There were 3 pro Oxford, 1 specifically against Stratford but not pro anyone, 3 pro Stratford, which makes it 4-3 AGAINST Stratford.  The remaining opinions were "no comment," "no idea," and "no informed views," which according to my math puts the United States Supreme Court overwhelmingly in the Reasonable Doubt column. We have just taken a huge leap forward. Enjoy the day. Tom Hunter

Note: On date below, I understand that although the article was available online on Friday 4/17/09, it wasn't actually published in print until Saturday 4/18/09. LT Yesterday (4/17/09) the Wall Street Journal published an article by Jess Bravin titled: Justice Steven's renders and opinion on who wrote Shakespeare's plays: It Wasn't the Bard of Avon, He Says, Evidence Is beyond a Reasonable Doubt In response, Oberon Chairperson Tom Hunter sent this message -- To the  Editor of the Wall Street Journal: Thank you to reporter Jess Bravin and the Wall Street Journal for the news about the support of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens for Edward de Vere, the 17 th   Earl of Oxford, as the true author under the pseudonym William Shakespeare of the works which have been attributed for 400 years to William Shaksper of Stratford-Upon-Avon. The report is extremely relevant as hundreds of thousands of devoted Shakespeare fans around the world plan to ce...

The current issue of the journal Mathematics Teacher, Vol. 102, No. 8 April 2009 cover article by Michael Todd Edwards is titled: “Who Was the Real William Shakespeare?: Connecting language arts and mathematics, students use data analysis and readability measures to identify the Bard”. (pp 580-585).  Go to Shakespeare Oxford Society blog to see information on this interesting topic. 

As a prequel to the 13th Annual Authorship Studies Conference to be held at Concordia College in Portland, Oregon (which I will hopefully blog about in the coming days), I have taken the opportunity to spend a few days at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. However, since it is only the beginning of the season here, there is only one play by Shakespeare available to see ( Macbeth ) and, it being sold out and I not having time to stay longer, I didn't see. Actually I kind of sort of saw the play Macbeth (in a very loose sense) as you will see by reading further. I did enjoy the plays I saw however very much. They were The Music Man , Servant of Two Masters , Dead Man's Cell Phone and the subject of today's blog, Equivocation . Equivocation is a new play (in fact, I was in the first audience ever to see it) by Bill Cain (founder and former artistic director of the Boston Shakespeare Company) and is one of the newest in the literary genre of writing fiction ...

Note: Oberon will include a discussion of the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt at our Shakespeare's UN-birthday celebration on April 23, at the Farmington Community Library. LT From Shakespeare Authorship Coalition Chairperson, John Shahan: This Tuesday, April 14, will be the second anniversary of the launch of the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare . On that day in 2007, same-day signing ceremonies were held at  Concordia University  in Portland, Oregon, and at UCLA's  Geffen Playhouse . Each event involved a Declaration signing by ten prominent authorship doubters, the most notable being former  LA Times  Arts Critic Emeritus Charles Champlin. Since then,  1,470 people have signed  the Declaration, including 263 current or former college and university  faculty members . Of the total, 214 have doctorates, and 310 master’s degrees. Overall, 895 are college graduates, the largest number of them in Engli...

Having been in Chicago for a medical meeting (yes, I do have a life outside of Shakespeare), I took the opportunity to attend a performance of Twelfth Night (well, maybe I DON'T have a life outside of Shakespeare) at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. It was wonderful! The CST ( www.chicagoshakes.com ) constantly amazes me with the quality of their productions (I have blogged about them before). I only wish that they would be a reperatory theater instead of a traditional one with one show at a time, so I could go and see multiple plays like I can at Stratford or Ashland. Well, maybe I can use it as an excuse to get away to Chicago more often. Anyway, I will try to describe the performance. The stage there at CST is a modified thrust one, like the one at the Tom Patterson Theatre in Stratford, ON (only not as long). For this performance the part of the stage that "thrusts" out into the audience (surrounded on three sides) was turned into an actual swimming pool...