Oberon Shakespeare Study Group

The Royal Shakespeare Company, the University of Michigan, and the University Musical Society are collaborating  on a 10-day residency in Ann Arbor, MI this week. A schedule of public events from the University Musical Society -- including a script reading of Greg Doran's version of the lost Shakespeare play, Cardenio --  follows. The University of Michigan has also announced the following lecture:  Friday, March 26, 4:30 p.m.,  "Cervantes and Shakespeare: Metatextualities in Don Quixote and the Late Plays," a lecture by Valerie Wayne, 3222 Angell Hall, UofM, Ann Arbor RSC Creative Project:  Insight for the Sor Juana play (written by Helen Edmundson) Wed, Mar 24, 6-8 pm Blau Auditorium, Ross School of Business, 701 Tappan St. A play by Helen Edmundson based on the story of Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, a celebrated 17th-century, South American nun, emerging as a key figure in the history of literature in the Western hemisphere. Sor Juana wrote plays, ...

First of all, forgive me for the somewhat far-reaching title of this blog (although I think Stephen Greenblatt would approve of it). I was moved by the increasingly broad geographical trend of the last two blogs on this subject and I wanted to continue with it. It also ties in with what I thought was the most interesting parts of the presentation we saw in Grand Rapids. I can't really add very much to the two excellent blogs that have already been posted, but I can say a few things. I would like to give a word of thanks to Marty for letting us know of this opportunity to see Stephen Greenblatt. I only wish we had found out sooner. Perhaps we could have organized a larger Oberon contingent. Perhaps we could have had time to print up our "Holocaust Denial" posters or lapel pins. Anyway, I had a great time in Grand Rapids and I am glad I went. It's true that it was sometimes hard to follow the details of what Greenblatt was saying, but I liked his general idea. He is int...

Little did I think when Marty H. passed along on Wednesday the heads-up about Stephen Greenblatt at Grand Valley State in Grand Rapids that on Thursday Linda, Richard and I would be motoring our way westward across our beautiful state to the land of Amway to hear one of the most renown literary teachers and critics of our time. Well, we did, and there we found Mr. Greenblatt and a large lecture hall filled with Grand Valleyites who had come to hear his tale of the cultural mobility of Cardenio . The Cardenio project actually represents quite an undertaking, a grand experiment in cultural differences. It is a variation of the Cardenio text as updated by Greenblatt and a professional playwright Charles Mee (prompting many humorous references to the joint work of Mee and I) which was then sent out to be produced in various countries to compare the cultural differences emerging from the various productions. Why Cardenio ? Greenblatt said that it was important to the experiment to use ...