Shakespeare
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Shakespearing #43: Lisa Wolpe’s Gender-Bent Macbeth3
Shakespearing by Chuck Cannini Lisa Wolpe’s Gender-Bent Macbeth3 On center stage, he slumped over a tire. Strands of short blond hair dangled into the tire’s hole. The back of his burly leather armor faced the audience. Faceless. Beyond him, a figure obscured by a tattered hood and cloak skulked in the shadows. The way the… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #34: Hamlet (1964)
34. Bill Colleran and John Gielgud’s Hamlet (1964) As I mentioned last week, The Globe’s film of its stage show of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a vibrant romp in Renaissance style. The film of Richard Burton’s performance as Hamlet on Broadway is, on the other hand, an exercise in drab modernity. The film was… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #33: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2014)
33. Dominic Dromgoole and Robin Lough’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2014) Plenty of film adaptations of Shakespeare actually happen to be adaptations of stage versions of Shakespeare’s plays, since the vision of theatrical directors and the experience of the actors can make an expedient transition to a two dimensional plane. Of course, the temptation and… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #32: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016)
32. David Kerr’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016) As I’ve often said, comedy and tragedy are not that far apart in Shakespearean drama. Comedies end with weddings, and tragedies … a pile of corpses. The tension between these two extreme outcomes is such an important part of Shakespeare’s appeal: Hamlet is really fucking funny, and Much Ado… Continue reading
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Episode 215: Lisa Wolpe!
Episode 215 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download. In this week’s episode, I interview the actor and writer Lisa Wolpe, plus Mistie Watkins reads her essay, “Why I Write.” NOTES Get tickets for Lisa Wolpe’s current run of shows here. Learn more… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #31: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)
31. Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) Last summer I reviewed Michael Hoffman’s 1999 adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream while promising that someday I would review the 1935 film of the same play by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle. Despite not being allowed by my physician to booze my way… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #42: New York Classical Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Shakespearing #42 by Chuck Cannini New York Classical Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Central Park) Central Park West’s entrance at 103rd Street welcomed all beneath the gentle glimmer of lampposts as green as the surrounding undergrowth, tree leaves, and shrubs. Manhattan’s brick-walled apartments and rumbling cars ceased to exist. This transition from a city to… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #27: Throne of Blood [Macbeth] (1957)
#27. Throne of Blood [Macbeth] (1957) When your humble rogue reviewed Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, he asked if an adaptation of Shakespeare can be meaningfully Shakespearean if the language is changed from English to Japanese, without the sense of the screenplay even trying to translate the poetry and psychological trains of thought in the original texts… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #26: Strange Brew [Hamlet] (1983)
26. Strange Brew [Hamlet] (1983) Ever since I noticed that Jon Finch, who played the title role in Polanski’s Macbeth, looked like Max Von Sydow, I’ve been suffering from some degree of Sydowmania. The Swedish actor who played chess with Death in The Seventh Seal has recently lent his gravitas to The Force Awakens and… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #25: Ran [King Lear] (1985)
25. Ran [King Lear] (1985) Shakespearean tragedy can be something of a downer. To give you some idea of the moody fuck I was before the age of 30, this observation had never quite occurred to me. I remember enticing my friend Numisiri to watch the Zeffirelli Hamlet with me and our friend Sam Van… Continue reading
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The Drunken Odyssey is a forum to discuss all aspects of the writing process, in a variety of genres, in order to foster a greater community among writers.
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