Skip to main content

Stratford 2010

Thanks so much, Oberoners, for making my birthday so memorable and such fun. I didn't even realize that anyone knew the date of my birthday, so I was taken by surprise. I was given some lovely gifts and a perfectly delicious cake, guaranteed to put at least five pounds on anyone who tasted it.

While we were in Stratford, Michael and I watched The Tempest, which is a must see for anyone able to visit. Christopher Plummer is the best Prospero either of us have seen, although his sails lost a little wind near the end. Julyana Soelistyo, as Ariel, was extrordinary, and the three revellers, Bruce Dow, Geraint Wyn Davies, and Dion Johnstone (Caliban) were hysterically funny. The scene with Ferdinand, Miranda, and the logs had the audience rolling in the aisles--or should that be isles?--but I don't think I should say why as it would spoil the surprise. The masque appeared to be truncated--what would a modern audience make of it, after all?--but the special effects for it were incredible, unearthly. Highly recommended!

We also saw Kiss Me Kate. It was a bit of a letdown. The whole production was way too loud, and Bianca's voice, both speaking and singing, was so screechy she was incomprehensible. I wish I'd taken earplugs. I'd hoped for more dancing, but with the exception of one number, didn't see very much at all. It was the poorest musical we'd seen at Stratford in several years.

We're going to see Evita in October, and hope to get back to see the other "Oxford" plays before Stratford is over for the year.




Comments

Linda Theil said…
Welcome, Lynne! Since you and Michael are now honorary Oberons, we hope to hear from you often : )

Popular posts from this blog

Waugaman named Oxfordian of the Year 2021

by Linda Theil Waugaman taking his first selfie in his home office in Potomac Maryland The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship named Richard Waugaman, MD, Oxfordian of the Year 2021 at their annual conference on October 9, 2021. Waugaman is a clinical professor of psychiatry on the faculty of Georgetown University, a training and supervising analyst emeritus with the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, and is in private practice of psychiatry and psychoanalysis in Potomac, Maryland. For over a decade Waugaman has published extensively on the topic of Shakespeare authorship including work in journals outside the normal reach of the subject such as Psychoanalytic Quarterly , the International Journal of Psychoanalytic Studies , and  Contemporary Psychoanalysis . He has presented on the topic before such diverse venues as the International Psychoanalytic Congress, the New Directions Conference, the Shakespeare Association of America, the American Shakespeare Center, and the Cosmos Club in ...

What's a popp'rin' pear?

James Wheaton reported yesterday in the Jackson Citizen Patriot that the Michigan Shakespeare Festival high school tour of Romeo and Juliet was criticized for inappropriate content -- " So me take issue with sexual innuendoes in Michigan Shakespeare Festival’s High School Tour performances of ‘Romeo & Juliet’" : Western [High School] parent Rosie Crowley said she was upset when she heard students laughing about sexual content in the play afterwards. Her son didn’t attend the performance Tuesday because of another commitment, she said.  “I think the theater company should have left out any references that were rated R,” Crowley said. “I would say that I’ve read Shakespeare, and what I was told from the students, I’ve never read anything that bad.”  She said she objected to scenes that involved pelvic thrusting and breast touching and to a line in which Mercutio makes suggestive comments to Romeo after looking up the skirt of a female. The problem with cutting out...

Dudley nails it to the door

Michael Dudley author of The Shakespeare Authorship Question and Philosphy: Knowledge, Rhetoric, Identity (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023) Michael Dudley views his vocation of librarian at the University of Manitoba with dialectic rigor. "Librarianship has a duty to inform democracy," he said in Kathryn Sharpe's virtual bookclub on April 27, 2024. Dudley discussed his new book The Shakespeare Authorship Question and Philosophy: Knowledge, Rhetoric, Identity published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing last fall. Update 08/21/24 Dudley's book is also available as an ebook from   Google Play . In SAQ and Philosophy Dudley uses the hammer of logic to nail his accusations against the barricaded door of the Shakespeare citadel. "The question of Shakespeare's authorship is a malformed debate practiced in an unethical fashion," Dudley said. When asked why his book is important, Dudley said: "What sets my book apart from others on the authorship quest...