William Shakespeare
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #77: King Lear (2018)
77. Richard Eyre’s King Lear (2018) I basically hate Macbeth, and I like Lear even fucking less than that, sweet reader, but when the BBC released a film of the elderly tragedy starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, my hand was obviously forced into watching it. As I’ve said before, in Lear “There’s a lot… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #51: Prospero’s Books [The Tempest] (1991)
51. Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books [The Tempest] (1991) Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books is the most visionary adaptation of Shakespeare that I have ever seen, and that declaration is made with all due consideration to Julie Taymor’s amazing film of Titus Andronicus. Prospero’s Books may be the most underrated film of all time. And yet your rogue has… Continue reading
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Pensive Prowler #2: Death Takes a Holiday
Pensive Prowler #2 by Dmetri Kakmi Death Takes a Holiday Take death for instance. It’s pretty final. Six feet under or a crematorium. Food for worms or grey ash, scattered to the winds. There’s no coming back from that. Though some threaten to return and eat brains, none have actually kept their promise. We’re still… 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 Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare On Film #9: Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
#9: Much Ado About Nothing (2012) Joss Whedon’s remarkable follow up to The Avengers was, a bit surprisingly, Much Ado About Nothing. If a superhero movie demands that characterization needs to be squeezed in with an eye-dropper between pyrotechnical explosions and sublime, seizure-inducing battles between IMPOSSIBLE BEINGS, Whedon squeezes in characterization about as well as anyone.… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #33: Timon of Athens
Shakespearing #33 by David Foley Timon of Athens Timon of Athens is supposed to be one of the plays Shakespeare collaborated on. The speculation is that Thomas Middleton (Women Beware Women) wrote about forty percent of it. To make matters worse, according to James Shapiro, “individual scenes [are] divided between the two, suggesting that the… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #22: As You Like It
Shakespearing #22 by David Foley As You Like It I’ve probably fallen too easily into the assumption that the order I’m using for Shakespeare’s plays reflects an actual order of composition. Go online and you’ll find chronologies that vary significantly from Riverside’s. So my sense that As You Like It acted for Shakespeare as a… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #19: Much Ado About Nothing
Shakespearing #19 by David Foley Much Ado About Nothing Why are Beatrice and Benedick so funny? Maybe you can’t appreciate the force of the question unless you’ve been reading a lot of Shakespeare lately, unless you’ve struggled through the sometimes dusty corridors of his humor, laboriously reconstructing jokes and trying to imagine how they landed four… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #13: Romeo and Juliet
Shakespearing #13 by David Foley Romeo and Juliet One of the pleasures of re-reading a familiar text is that things you’ve taken for granted suddenly leap out at you. Like that prologue. Why would Shakespeare begin his liveliest play with a plodding plot summary in sonnet form? My first playwright’s thought is producer interference. “But… 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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