05 November 2010

Imprimis: Links and Tidbits, 5 November 2010

Just a few articles this week -- I don't know whether the world of Shakespeare was quieter (perhaps all recovering from Halloween), or if I just had my head so deep in our Road Scholars program that some things escaped my notice. Incidentally, I should add -- if any of you readers have an interesting link that I seem to have missed, please post it. I am always up for being pointed towards interesting articles, blog posts, games, and updates in the world of Shakespeare.

So, this week...
  • Sir Peter Hall doesn't care for thrust staging. Cass says: He's entitled to his opinion, of course, but I question his reasoning. The idea that blocking on a thrust stage depends on "whose turn it is to have a fit of text" is just, well, absurd, as anyone who's worked on the stage of the Blackfriars Playhouse can tell you. It isn't as though we just set in a triangle and then rotate whoever's talking to the front. Thrust staging opens up so many more opportunities than flat proscenium staging, and it gives directors and actors the chance to really play with how they want to create focus.
  • "Once More, Unto the Breach... with Cyborgs" -- Cass says: There's been quite a bit of scuttlebutt about this on the Internet over the past few days. I think it sounds, well, interesting, at least. I'm sure I'll see it, because if there are two things I can't resist, they're Henry V and sci-fi thrillers. Here's just another of the many articles I've seen on the movie this week.
  • A German blogger thinks that English is dead as a language because we use Shakespeare as a litmus test, saying "Well, Shakespeare did it, so it must be right" when confronted with any linguistic anomaly. Cass says: Considering that the source of his offense is this YouTube clip, a clever bit of word art based on a quote from Stephen Fry, I can't help but feel that this blogger has missed the point.
  • Are any of our readers participating in NaNoWriMo? If so, a blogger has tips for cribbing writing advice from Shakespeare -- particularly when it comes to creating chilling villains.
Have a great weekend! And to anyone planning to play with fire in honor of Guy Fawkes Day, remember: Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep.

1 comment:

  1. There are some plays that I feel lend themselves to a new setting and some that don't, but Henry V in space sounds wonderful. Maybe it'll give the Klingons more evidence. ;) Though I have to wonder how they'll do that scene in which the Dauphin praises his horse. Is "horse" going to be terminology for "spaceship"?

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