posted Jul 24, 2023 by Tom Fasano
Last night, I had the pleasure of catching a local performance of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure put on by the talented folks at Ophelia’s Jump. It was a display of professional theater at its finest, making for one of the most memorable Shakespeare-under-the-stars experiences I’ve had. So glad I didn’t let this one pass me by.
posted Jul 14, 2021 by Tom Fasano
A leading Shakespearean expert in Stratford-upon-Avon has turned down a request to help Boris Johnson write his book on the Bard. The prime minister allegedly was working on The Riddle of Genius instead of attending Cobra (Civil Contingencies Committee) meetings.
Mr Johnson’s literary agent allegedly asked a Shakespeare expert to semi-dictate the content of the book to Mr. Johnson. The Churchill Factor, a recent book penned by Mr Johnson, was written in collaboration with his former research assistant Warren Dockter.
Stephen Greenblatt, author of Will in the Wolrld: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, has not been approached to help with Johnson’s book. He said, “I haven’t been approached and do not know who might have been. Have you tried Jim Shapiro at Columbia? If I were the PM, I might ask him.”
posted Mar 20, 2019 by Tom Fasano
![Shakespeare Coriolanus [ Caedmon]](https://i0.wp.com/archive.org/download/02CoriolanusCaedmon2/R-9735810-1485552609-7548.gif.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
Caedmon’s Coriolanus, fronted by a granite-voiced Richard Burton, is one of those LPs that feels like it’s been carved out of a hillside rather than recorded in a studio. Burton doesn’t so much speak the verse as detonate it—every line flares with that volcanic Welsh baritone that made even his grocery lists sound operatic. Jessica Tandy, Michael Hordern, Robert Stephens, and the rest of the cast round things out with a clean, unfussy delivery that keeps the focus exactly where it belongs: on Shakespeare’s most abrasive, least domesticated tragedy.
Director Howard Sackler opts for austerity—no sonic fireworks, no theatrical gimmickry. Just actors, breath, and text. And surprisingly, that’s enough. The result is a taut, muscular performance that captures the play’s chilly political undercurrents without ever slipping into doctrinaire sermonizing. Yes, it’s an artifact of the early ’60s Shakespeare boom, but it hasn’t yellowed. Like Coriolanus himself, it barreled into the world already half-made of stone.
posted Mar 4, 2019 by Tom Fasano
![Shakespeare - King John [Caedmon]](https://i0.wp.com/archive.org/download/01KingJohn1/King%20John.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
This is a 1964 recording of Shakespeare’s “King John” by The Shakespeare Recording Society, distributed by Caedmon Records. The production was directed by Howard Sackler and featured:
This was part of a comprehensive series by the Shakespeare Recording Society to record all of Shakespeare’s plays. The series was notable for featuring distinguished British actors and high production values.
The album artwork is particularly striking, featuring a medieval-style illustration with armies, tents, and castles that captures the play’s historical setting during the reign of King John (1199-1216). The stylized art reflects the period’s illuminated manuscript aesthetic.
“King John” is one of Shakespeare’s less frequently performed history plays, focusing on political intrigue, the conflict with France, and the king’s troubled relationship with the nobility and the Pope. Having this on vinyl would have been an important cultural artifact in the 1960s, when recorded drama helped bring classical theater to wider audiences.
posted Jun 8, 2012 by Tom Fasano
The Museum of London said Wednesday that an archaeological dig had uncovered part of the gravel yard and gallery walls of the 435-year-old Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch. The site is situated behind a pub on a site marked for redevelopment just east of London’s business district.
The remains are of a polygonal structure, typical of 16th-century theaters. It is believed to be the venue immortalized as “this wooden O” in the prologue to “Henry V.” The Curtain opened in 1577 and was home to Shakespeare’s company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, from 1597-1599, until the players moved to the Globe Theatre across the Thames.
Among the plays premiered at the Curtain were the Bard’s “Henry V” and possibly “Romeo and Juliet,” as well as Ben Jonson’s “Every Man in His Humour.” Shakespeare and his troupe moved to the Curtain after a dust-up with the landlord of their previous venue, known simply as The Theater.
The troupe’s experience at the Curtain was not a happy one, according to Patrick Spottiswoode, director of education at Shakespeare’s Globe. The venue staged sword fights, acrobatics, and bear-baiting — in addition to plays — and attracted a rough, demanding audience. “It was a different kind of house and they were probably desperate to leave,” Spottiswoode said. “Crowds would flock to The Curtain to see all sorts of activities — they didn’t go there to see thesps.”
The Lord Chamberlain’s Men abandoned the site in 1599 for the Globe, the theater they’d built using timbers smuggled from the original Theatre and pushed across the frozen Thames on large sleds. The Curtain survived at least until the 1620s, which makes it the longest-lived of London’s Elizabethan playhouses.
The real estate company redeveloping the site said it plans to preserve the site.
The Theater and the Curtain were London’s first successful playhouses — before then, plays were staged in inn yards and various makeshift spaces. Elizabethan playhouses were built outside the city walls, making them free from regulation by civic leaders, who were hostile to theaters and other disreputable forms of entertainment.
Despite recent discoveries, there is still much to learn about the Elizabethan theater. According to Heather Knight, a senior Museum of London archaeologist, “The late 16th century was a time of a theatrical arms race in London. The proprietors of these building were making improvements to attract customers. So to have the chance to look at the earliest of these buildings (The Theater), and the one that had the longest life is a real opportunity.”