Quote #034

"We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life 
Is rounded with a sleep."

 Prospero - 'The Tempest', Act IV, Scene 1

34 - The Tempest

This is a marvellous play but somehow much shorter than I remember it. I could have sworn there was more interaction between Miranda and Ferdinand. And I'd also forgotten just how forgiving Prospero was towards everyone, especially the treacherous brothers Antonio and Sebastian.

I once used Trinculo's first discovery of Caliban as an audition speech for RADA. The person auditioning that day was John Duttine, of 'Day of the Triffids' fame. Having finished my pieces I embarrassed him by asking for his autograph for my Mum, as she had adored him in 'To Serve Them All My Days'. I'm not saying that's why I didn't get into RADA but I didn't get in...

And Finally - The whole play happens within the space of three hours - so roughly in real time, which I think is Billy-Boy's only attempt to do so. Although there was one other lost work performed as a single marathon over the course of one day. It was based on the Gunpowder Plot and saw a rouge Knight go against his Lords and Masters, thwart the terrorists, save the king and capture Guy Fawkes - while simultaneously dealing with problems with his Lady wife, his wayward daughter and from consonantly hearing an odd noise that sounded like 'Do-Do-Dat-Doooo!' His name?...

Sir Jacques de Bauer...

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Swifter Than the Moon's Sphere

The landing of the Mars probe last week reminded me of the Bard’s own contribution to our Solar System – the moons of Uranus.

The first moons ‘discovered’ were named by John Herschal, whose father first discovered the planet itself. Instead of using names from mythology Herschal named them after Shakespearean characters Oberon and Titania and the spirits Ariel and Umbriel from Alexander Pope’s ‘Rape of the Lock’.

In total Uranius has 27 moons and all are named for characters from either Pope or Shakespeare.

The Bardy-bunch are-

Cordelia

Ophelia

Bianca

Cressida

Desdemona

Juliet

Portia

Rosalind

Cupid

Perdita

Puck

Mab

Miranda

Titania

Oberon

Francisco

Caliban

Stephano

Trinculo

Sycorax

Margaret

Prospero

Setebos

Ferdinand

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Sportive Tricks

I'm not an overly patriotic person (and certainty not a major lover of sports) but I was moved by the Olympic opening ceremony for the London 2012 games. And what kind of ceremony wound it have been without at least one nod to Billy-Boy Bard.

So it was delightful to see the great Kenneth Branagh quoting from 'The Tempest' Caliban's description of his own Isle of Wonder. 

"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices,
That if I then had wak'd after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again, and then in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I wak'd,
I cried to dream again." Act III, Scene 2

And of course that first line is also inscribed upon the gigantic 23 tonne Olympic Bell that was struck but Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins to mark the start of the ceremony. So the Bard was catered for and, thanks to Branagh and Bradley's mutton-chops, so was the Beard!

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A Town Called Shakespeare!

 

On a dusty road, in the 'Bootheel' of New Mexico you'll find a small town called Shakespeare. And, rather fittingly, it's a 'Ghost Town'! Originally a stop on the stagecoach route it had a brief life when a mine opened up nearby. But when the mine closed in 1929 so did the town.

Wouldn't it be great to perform one of the Bard's plays there? But which one? Which play would suit a Western / Ghost Town setting? Personally I do The Tempest... 

Prospero, originally the mayor of the large town on Milan is now a hermit living in a ghost-town, speaking to the Native American spirits that inhabit the land. Rather than a tempest at sea a dust-storm deposits the travellers from Milan within the realm and at the mercy of the deposed mayor and his daughter. Now read on... 

Shakespeare, New Mexico

Shakespeare Ghost Town

GhostTowns.com