Monday 1 March 2010

'Do Shakespeare over Breakfast...



Hi Everyone!!
No, unfortunately, I'm still on hiatus ): *sigh* but just thought I'd give you a little insight into what I've been up to literature wise...
My Aunty very kindly took me to the Globe Theatre to see the lovely Ben Crystal give a fantastic [and very animated] talk on his best selling book 'Shakespeare On Toast.' If you haven't already guessed, the book is indeed in fact, about Shakespeare, without the usual stereotypes that the legendary playwright and his works have come to be labelled under.
'Shakespeare On Toast' is in fact a bitesized version of everything loveable about the fantastic playwright, although unfortunately the book doesn't involve a picture of Joseph Fiennes as Will himself, which would make me love him even more than I already do. The book is endearing, provides provocative thinking, and most of all passionate in trying to encompass Shakespeare; not only in trying to build a picture of the thought process behind his works and creative and literary genius, but the type of person that Will Shakespeare was. And, believe me when I say, one read of this book and you'll forget EVERYTHING you were ever told about Shakespeare that was dreary or seemed boring by pushy A-Level teachers wanting you to read aloud in awkward silences, and giving your squeaky voice the incredible opportunity to be magnified in the entire room whilst speaking in iambic pentameter. Oh Happy Days!!!!
The Globe itself is amazing, and provide Shakespeare plays with the dimension of being performed in all their glory as opposed to them just being read, but then again Shakespeare is THAT good that his plays prove completely compelling even when written in language that doesn't really make sense and sounds incredibly stupid [and yes, in Macbeth, I was petrified of the three witches on the heath and thought Lady Macbeth was the ultimate BITCH, and that was just from simple words alone, and one of the many reasons why Shakespeare is still read, enjoyed, and revered 400 years later, and I can only hope that in another 400 years from now, his work will continue to shine in more remarkable ways than one.
For more information, you can check out The Globe Theatre at www.shakespeares-globe.org and on Twitter, you can follow The Globe at: @RSAGlobe and Ben Crystal @bencrystal. [And yes, i already tweeted him...and he tweeted back.]