Review: Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench & Brendan O'Hea

Synopsis: Discover the work of the greatest writer in the English language as you've never encountered it before by ordering internationally renowned actor Dame Judi Dench's SHAKESPEARE: The Man Who Pays The Rent—a witty, insightful journey through the plays and tales of our beloved Shakespeare.

Taking a curtain call with a live snake in her wig...

Cavorting naked through the Warwickshire countryside painted green...

Acting opposite a child with a pumpkin on his head...

These are just a few of the things Dame Judi Dench has done in the name of Shakespeare.

For the very first time, Judi opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra. In a series of intimate conversations with actor & director Brendan O'Hea, she guides us through Shakespeare's plays with incisive clarity, revealing the secrets of her rehearsal process and inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters, and backstage shenanigans.

Interspersed with vignettes on audiences, critics, company spirit and rehearsal room etiquette, she serves up priceless revelations on everything from the craft of speaking in verse to her personal interpretations of some of Shakespeare's most famous scenes, all brightened by her mischievous sense of humour, striking level of honesty and a peppering of hilarious anecdotes, many of which have remained under lock and key until now.

Instructive and witty, provocative and inspiring, this is ultimately Judi's love letter to Shakespeare, or rather, The Man Who Pays The Rent.

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Brendan O'Hea interviews Dame Judi Dench who reflects on her connection to the Bard through her time on stage and film, undertaking roles from Shakespeare's plays. A fun read that is not an analysis of the plays, but a noted actor's reflections, documented in a series of interviews conducted over a period of four years.

For lovers of the Bard and fans of Judi!

Who Was Shakespeare? Could the Author Have Been a Woman?

From The Atlantic: 

The authorship controversy has yet to surface a compelling alternative to the man buried in Stratford. Perhaps that’s because, until recently, no one was looking in the right place. The case for Emilia Bassano.

Theories that others wrote the corpus of work attributed to William Shakespeare (who was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 and died in 1616) emerged in the mid-19th century. Assorted comments by his contemporaries have been interpreted by some as suggesting that the London actor claimed credit for writing that wasn’t his. But more than two centuries passed before alternative contenders began to be promoted—Francis Bacon; Christopher Marlowe; and Edward de Vere, the 17th earl of Oxford, prominent among them.* They continue to have champions, whose fervor can sometimes border on fanaticism. In response, orthodox Shakespeare scholars have settled into dogmatism of their own. Even to dabble in authorship questions is considered a sign of bad faith, a blinkered failure to countenance genius in a glover’s son. 

The time had come, I felt, to tug at the blinkers of both camps and reconsider the authorship debate: Had anyone ever proposed that the creator of those extraordinary women might be a woman? Each of the male possibilities requires an elaborate theory to explain his use of another’s name. None of the candidates has succeeded in dethroning the man from Stratford. Yet a simple reason would explain a playwright’s need for a pseudonym in Elizabethan England: being female.

Just think of how obsessed the work is with mistaken identities, concealed women, forged and anonymous documents—with the error of trusting in outward appearances. What if searchers for the real Shakespeare simply haven’t set their sights on the right pool of candidates?

read more here @ The Atlantic

11 Books Inspired by Shakespeare

11 Books Inspired by Shakespeare

It’s been 400 years since William Shakespeare shuffled off his mortal coil on April 23, 1616. To honor the Bard of Avon, we’ve compiled a list of some of the greatest novels influenced by his vast endowment of words. From comedy to tragedy, family foibles to mistaken identity, and every facet of love from the bitter to the sweet, perhaps no one else in the past four centuries has left such a compelling and malleable legacy for writers, and readers, to sink their teeth into ---> HuffPost Books. 

See also: William Shakespeare's Origins

University of Delaware Library acquires rare Shakespeare quarto

University of Delaware Library acquires rare Shakespeare quarto

The University of Delaware Library has announced the purchased acquisition of a rare early quarto edition of a play by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, The Two Noble Kinsmen (London: by Tho. Cotes, for John Waterson, 1634). 

The piece was made possible with support from the B.H. Breslauer Foundation; the University of Delaware Library Associates; the College of Arts and Sciences; the recently retired Lois Potter, professor emeritus of the Department of English; and Mark Samuels Lasner, senior research fellow in the Special Collections Department.