Oberon Shakespeare Study Group

In the current issue (Nov./Dec. 2010) of Biblical Archeology Review , BAR editor Hershel Shanks compares the Shakespeare authorship controversy to a New Testament authorship controversy raging in the field of biblical scholarship. In his First Person column titled "Shakespeare, the Earl of Oxford and Morton Smith".  Shanks refers to James Shapiro's Stratfordian take on the topic, Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? published last year, but does not mention Shapiro's thesis that nineteenth century biblical study opened the intellectual doors to doubting the traditional Stratfordian attribution of Shakespeare's work. Richard Whalen's review of Contested Will   posted 01/19/10 SOS News Online Linda Theil's review of Contested Will   posted 12/05/09 SOS News Online

. . . And it's very difficult to get back beyond reputation, back to the real man, back to the sources, because a lot of the history we are taught is just packages of prejudice handed on from one generation to the next. And the package is never opened and examined. We just carry it unquestioningly and hand it on ourselves. 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction winner, novelist Hilary Mantel, made this comment in an NPR interview with Liane Hanson on October 25, last year.  Wolf Hall --  Mantel's prize-winning novel featuring Thomas Cromwell as protagonist --   is out now in paperback.  A transcript of the entire NPR interview, as well as an audio link, is available at "Booker Prize winner Mantel tells the story of Henry VIII"  (scroll down web page). 

San Diego's North County Times included notice of auditions for a Patio Playhouse spring 2011 production of Amy Freed's 2001 play about the Shakespeare authorship controversy, Beard of Avon,  in the paper's Community News section today: Auditions for 'The Beard of Avon' ESCONDIDO ---- Patio Playhouse will hold auditions for "The Beard of Avon" from 10 am. to 1 p.m. Oct. 30 and from 7 to 10 p.m. Nov. 1 at the theater, 201 E. Grand Ave, Suite 1D. The story is about a bumpkin known as Will Shakspere who longs to be an artist and flee from his filthy barn, his homebound wife and incessant chores. Parts include: Will Shakspere, in his 30s ---- simple, honest, an appealing fellow who possesses hidden gifts; Edward De Vere, 40s-60s ---- 17th Earl of Oxford, wicked, charming, sexy and gay; Queen Elizabeth, 50s-60s ---- a sacred monster who wants a boyfriend; Anne Hathaway, 30s ---- Will's lively, illiterate and promiscuous wife; Henry Wriothesley, 20s ---- ...

Julie Taymore's Hawaii-located Tempest with Helen Mirren as "Prospera" debuted at the New York Film Festival October 2, 2010 to a generally lukewarm reception. The film opens nationally on December 10, 2010. Hollywood News review by Sean O'Connell: http://www.hollywoodnews.com/2010/10/04/julie-taymors-the-tempest-earns-mixed-reviews-in-new-york/ Still photos and other info on Yahoo! Movies: http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/movie-stills/gallery/2808/the-tempest-stills#info

In a comment about a 2005 Emma Kirkby/Fretwork CD titled, William Byrd: Consort Songs , a Sept. 26, 2010 post at Harper's Magazine blog attributes the Elizabethan poem, "My mind to me a kingdom is" -- often attributed to Sir Edward Dyer (1550-1607) -- to Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford (1550-1604). J. Thomas Looney in his 1921 edition of The Poems of Edward de Vere ascribed the poem to Oxford. The Harper's post is titled:   Oxford -- My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is.  The un-named poster says of the Oxford poem: This poem is one of the true masterpieces of the Elizabethan era, understandable on many levels: as a sanctuary of conscience, as a statement of Calvinist precepts, as a dissertation on contentment, as a praise of the powers of imagination and invention. William Byrd’s setting of the Oxford poem is one of the finest English art songs of the Elizabethan era. A number of excellent recordings exist, but there is as yet nothing posted to YouTube. Of the recordings, the...

At last night's Oberon meeting incoming Shakespeare Oxford Society president Richard Joyrich reported that Richard Paul Roe had been named Oxfordian of the Year 2010 at the joint Shakespeare Fellowship/Shakespeare Oxford Society 2010 joint annual conference.  A delegation from the conference had traveled to Roe's home in Pasadena, California to make the presentation previous to the public announcement at the conference banquet September 19, 2010 that Roe was unable to attend. On April 9 this year Roe was honored when the Shakespeare Authorship Research Center at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon was named the Richard Paul and Jane Roe Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre. The center director, Daniel Wright, PhD, said: The gifts bestowed by this revered colleague and his wife, in sums totaling almost half a million dollars, have gone far to make the institutionalization of the Shakespeare authorship inquiry — in a permanent, academic, and non-politica...

Christina Radish interviewed Anonymous screenwriter John Orloff on Collider.com today. Orloff explained his interest in the Shakespeare authorship question and described the filming of Roland Emmerich's  Anonymous  in Germany this spring: Yeah, I was on the set the whole time. It was an incredibly moving thing. I first learned about the issue 20 years ago, so to see this thing that I started to think about 20 years ago, take shape with an incredible group of actors and technical crew and Roland [Emmerich], it was really quite moving for me to see it come together. We had this amazing cast, and I’m really excited about it.   Orloff gives a lot of insight into the background of the film; the interview is fascinating to an authorship agnostic. Source:  http://www.collider.com/2010/09/22/anonymous-interview-john-orloff-screenwriter/