Oberon Shakespeare Study Group

The 2009 Oberon Shakespeare Study Group 92-page yearbook is now available from Blurb . The yearbook is a compendium of blog posts and color photos from the Oberon blog during the calendar year 2009.  The cost of a paperback copy is $30 plus shipping. The book is available for the public to order at:  http://www.blurb.com/ bookstore/detail/1491543 You can see a 29-page preview of the book by clicking on this URL:  http://www.blurb.com/books/1491543  or by clicking on the words BOOK PREVIEW in the yearbook "badge" in the sidebar on the right of this page. When viewing the preview, if you click on the FULL SCREEN option in the upper right corner of the preview screen you will see the book in a bigger picture on your screen.

Michigan Shakespeare Festival Managing Director Robert B. Duha told Oberon members at our July 21, 2010 meeting that he will no longer serve as managing director of the festival as of August 8, after two seasons in this position. Duha said he tendered his resignation after being informed that he would be laid-off at the end of the current MSF season. Duha said the festival's new artistic director, Jan Blixt, will probably take over as both managing and artistic director and that the president of the MSF board, certified public accountant John Cross, has taken over as executive director. Loss of funding is one of the factors in the management change, including the loss of a $60,000 Weatherwax Foundation grant that reduced the current budget by approximately sixteen-percent. Oberon Chairperson Tom Hunter expressed our deep dismay at Duha's dismissal because he has been such a good friend. Hunter proclaimed Duha an honorary Oberon member. Duha said he hopes to continue his asso...

Apparently Sarah Palin compared herself to the Bard yesterday on Twitter defending her use of the non-word refudiate saying: ". . . English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!" The Twitter community responded with a #shakespalin subject featuring suitably fractured Shakespearean quotes, according to the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog entry "'Refudiate' Sparks #ShakesPalin Trend on Twitter"" authored by Michelle Kung and the Washington Post's Politics and Policy blog entry "Palin invents word 'refudiate,' compares herself to Shakespeare" by Matt DeLong. Check it out on Twitter .

I was happy to be in Jackson for the official opening of the 2010 Season of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival yesterday. I attended the first (of two) preview performances of The Comedy of Errors and the opening night performance of R omeo and Juliet . Both productions were good (in my own opinion), but Romeo and Juliet was much better. Perhaps this is part due to the fact that R&J is "better" play, or is tragedy (although structured as a comedy until the very end). Shakespearean comedies (especially the "early ones") are more difficult (in my opinion again) to stage properly. They are full of long passages of puns and somewhat obscure allusions (to modern ears) as well as references to law, classical works, "aristocratic" interests, etc. These puns and allusions would go over much better for performances at the royal court, at private houses (of the wealthy) or in the Inns of the Temple (law schools such as Gray's Inn) and I am convinced that th...

Derran Charlton reports sad news from England: It is with the deepest regret that I notify readers of the Oberon Shakespeare Study Group of the passing through nature to eternity of Verily Anderson Paget, aged 95.   Verily died at her Norfolk, England home July 16, 2010 in her own bed, of a suspected heart-attack -- truly a blessing.   I was speaking to her only the day before. Verily was as fit as a fiddle. She explained that during her upcoming medical, her doctor would probably congratulate her on her excellent health!   Verily was extremely robust, always travelling abroad. She had recently returned home from the Hermitage, Russia, after singing with her local choir. Prince Charles awarded her a cycling award for her charitable works, and Charlton Ogburn, Jr. gave her the Charlton Ogburn award for her many contributions to Oxfordianism. One of Verily`s many enthusiasms in life was to walk her guide-dog  Alfie, most days, half-a-mile down the drive to Templewood,...

Shakespeare Fellowship President Earl Showerman sent this report on the annual joint conference of the Shakespeare Fellowship and the Shakespeare Authorship Society. Register online at SF/SOS Annual Conference — Sept. 16-19, 2010 in Ashland, Oregon  online registration site  . For more information about conference accommodations, see Ashland SF/SOS Conference Registration on the SOS News Online site. The Ashland Authorship Conference September 16–19, 2010 Ashland Springs Hotel by Earl Showerman The program for sixth annual joint conference of the Shakespeare Fellowship and the Shakespeare Oxford Society in Ashland, Oregon features over 30 scholarly presentations and dramatic performances. This season is the 75 th anniversary of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the conference will be addressed by both Artistic Director, Bill Rauch, and Executive Director, Paul Nicholson.  The education program features presentations directed toward the plays in production including...

Despite thousands and thousands of volumes of Shakespeare research which has been done since the Bard last wrote over 400 years ago, it is becoming apparent that much of the real discovery about Shakespeare is still in our future. The problem has been how our traditional concept of the Bard himself has limited our questions about his work. For prominent example, very recent work (still looking for a publisher) has demonstrated that past doubts and criticisms about Shakespeare’s first hand knowledge of Italy have been founded in misconceptions and downright errors based in the conviction that Shakespeare could never have such first hand knowledge because there is no proof or even suggestion based in any documented fact about his life that he ever traveled there. This combination of scholarship and personal detective work amply shows through dozens of examples how scholars have been simply wrong and has proven beyond reasonable doubt that Shakespeare’s knowledge of Italy is so subtle an...

Dear Oberon, We have just learned that our Michigan Shakespeare Festival presentation which was to occur just before the Festival's July 24 evening production of Romeo and Juliet has been cancelled. That should not prevent me from telling you about David Blixt's Master of Verona , a historical set-piece which would interest Shakespeare lovers as good background reading for the play. Blixt is the husband of Janice Blixt, the artistic director of Romeo and Juliet at the Festival. He is involved in the production of the play as its "Violence Director," undoubtedly responsible for choreographing the swordplay and other feud business which the play so richly offers. If his book is any indication, Blixt is the right man for the job. It is a page-turner of a novel full of the classic violence of medieval plots, murders, betrayals, and battles on horse and foot with a colorful variety of armor and weapons and plenty of blood. It is a tale of 14th century Verona and the wa...