Category Archives: William Shakespeare

The Winter’s Tale and Henry V

Posted on April 26, 2012 by stuartelden

I spent the last two evenings at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, seeing the Propeller company do The Winter’s Tale and Henry V. They are an all-male company, which leads to some interesting scenes, though I thought it worked better for … Continue reading →

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Gielgud as John of Gaunt

Posted on April 23, 2012 by stuartelden

The speech in the last post begins about a minute and a half in. This is from the BBC production of the late 70s. A young Derek Jacobi is Richard.

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Shakespeare’s anniversary

Posted on April 23, 2012 by stuartelden

On the anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, and probably birth too, here’s one of his most powerful speeches – John of Gaunt in Richard II: Methinks I am a prophet new inspired And thus expiring do foretell of him: His rash fierce … Continue reading →

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Simon Critchley interview

Posted on April 14, 2012 by stuartelden

Interview with Simon Critchley here (via Verso blog). Among many other topics (love, death, Occupy, literature) one thing it reveals is that he is co-writing a book on Hamlet with his wife. What’s the Hamlet book about, if you don’t … Continue reading →

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Edinburgh Bodies in Movement seminar series

Posted on April 11, 2012 by stuartelden

Details up of the three seminars in this series – I’m giving the third of them – 2 July 2012, on Coriolanus. Apparently I will provide ‘a delicious geographical and material twist’ to the play and film…

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Rereading novels

Posted on April 9, 2012 by stuartelden

The Guardian has a couple of features on rereading novels – a piece discussing it here, and some contemporary authors’ favourite novels to re-read here. This isn’t something I do very often with novels. I did when younger but now I … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Henri Lefebvre, Mapping the Present, Martin Heidegger, Michel Foucault, Travel, Umberto Eco, William Shakespeare | 10 Comments

Ralph Fiennes on Coriolanus

Posted on April 7, 2012 by stuartelden

Interesting interview – though the bit on Coriolanus is about 18 minutes in.

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Coriolanus in Edinburgh

Posted on April 4, 2012 by stuartelden

Just as with New York – when I spoke at the Anachronic Shakespeare conference at NYU before the AAG  – I’ll be speaking about Shakespeare before the RGS in Edinburgh. This will be the first (only?) outing for my paper on Coriolanus. It will be … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences, Territory, William Shakespeare | 1 Comment

Greenblatt on Shakespeare and Absolutism

Posted on March 20, 2012 by stuartelden

What is striking is that his work, alert to every human fantasy and longing, is allergic to the absolutist strain so prevalent in his world, from the metaphysical to the mundane. His kings repeatedly discover the constraints within which they … Continue reading →

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When Greenblatt met Clinton

Posted on March 20, 2012 by stuartelden

Good story in Stephen Greenblatt, Shakespeare’s Freedom (pp. 74-75). Greenblatt says how he was invited to the the White House for a poetry evening, and President Clinton gave a speech which mentioned Macbeth. This was, he remarked wryly, not the most … Continue reading →

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