Hi everyone,

I know I didn’t finish my last post, and haven’t posted for two weeks, but I have a very good reason- two weeks ago I became a dad! My wife and I are very excited about our little girl, and hope she grows up as brave as Cleopatra, as wise as Beatrice, and as independent as Katerina Minolla from “Taming Of the Shrew.”

We wanted to pick the name of a good Shakespearean character, but one that has a happy ending. Unfortunately, that left out a lot of people in the cannon; we couldn’t name her Ophelia or Cordelia or Kate, and we didn’t even think about Lavinia or Juliet! But in the end, we chose a name shared by two great characters- one of them is a doctor who saves the king’s life. The other is a sweet girl from Athens who gets the love of the man she worships with the help of magic! Let’s see if you can guess her name!
Till next time, This is the Shakespeare Student, signing off!

Along the lines of Shakespeare and the Simpson’s, actor Rick Miller has created a one man show where he reenacts the entire play “Macbeth” with Simpson characters playing the parts! Here’s a trailer.  You can get the show on DVD at machomer.com.

One thing I love about Halloween is the annual Simpson’s Halloween specials. This clip is my Shakespeare Simpson’s Halloween offering.  Enjoy!

Here’s a link to the entire video: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/shakespeare-uncovered/uncategorized/macbeth-with-ethan-hawke/

http://www.americantheatre.org/2015/10/14/bill-rauch-why-were-translating-shakespeare/

A controversial project is going on at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival: they’re commissioning playwrights to translate Shakespeare for a new festival called “Play On.” While the article is mostly the artistic director going on the defensive,  he makes a lot of good points. Chiefly he argues that these plays are companions to Shakespeare,  not replacements. In the  same way West Side Story isn’t a replacement for Romeo and juliet,  these plays won’t be the ones everybody reads forever,  they will be a way of illustrating our own time through the timeless characters and stories of William Shakespeare.  That’s why I happily support the OSF initiative!

Macbeth would have started very differently.  Also Macbeth would stay away from “the milk of human kindness.”

This is why a little knowledge of Shakespeare can prevent many unnecessary tragedies.  From the hilarious movie musical “Reefer Madness, ” I give you “Shakespeare” the song.

Patron saint of cross dressers, star crossed lovers, and upstart crows!

Benedictus Santus Guiliamus!