Folger Education Partners with PBS on “King Lear”

This from the Folger in partnership with PBS:

The Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, partners with PBS this month to provide educational resources on teaching Shakespeare in the 21st century. Experts from Folger Education are sharing innovative ways to incorporate Shakespeare’s King Lear, and other literary works, into history, social studies, English, and language art through:

  • contributing to PBS’s Media Infusion, an online forum for sharing ideas on using multimedia resources in the classroom;
  • moderating a webinar in the PBS Teachers LIVE! Series;
  • providing online lesson plans and demonstrations for using digital media and the web.


Gail Kern Paster, director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, will be a special guest contributor on PBS’s Engage blog and answer “5 Good Questions” on the play. PBS airs the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of King Lear, with Sir Ian McKellen in the title role, later this month.
“We believe that Shakespeare is for everyone, and new technologies such as remixes, social media and other tools for creative interpretation allow students to discover and rediscover Shakespeare in ways that are timeless and relevant. We are excited to partner with PBS to bring teachers new ideas that they can immediately apply in their classrooms,” said Robert Young, head of Folger Education.

A panel of Folger Education experts, drawn from schools across the country, will present and demonstrate methods for teaching Shakespeare using digital media during a webinar on March 18. All of the presenters are alumni of the Folger’s nationally-known Teaching Shakespeare Institute, and include Robert Young, head of Folger Education; Michael LoMonico, Senior Consultant on National Education for Folger Shakespeare Library and a lecturer at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y;  Christopher Shamburg, Associate Professor of Educational Technology for New Jersey City University in Jersey City, N.J.; Amy Ulen of Tumwater High School in Tumwater W.A. and founder of www.ShakespeareHigh.com; Mary Ellen Dakin of Revere High School in Revere, M.A. and Josh Cabat, an English teacher at Roslyn High School in Roslyn, N.Y.

In addition to presenting in the PBS Teachers LIVE! Webinar, Michael LoMonico is a guest expert for PBS’s Media Infusion. In “Mashups, Remixes, and Web 2.0: Playing Fast and Loose with Shakespeare,” LoMonico suggests practical strategies on how to use multimedia resources to approach King Lear in the classroom.

“Today, advances in technology have given Shakespeare teachers excellent tools to help students explore the texts more closely,” LoMonico explains.” These Web 2.0 tools empower students and give them real-world tasks that they can post for the whole world to see.”

To learn more about PBS’s Media Infusion, please visit http://www.pbs.org/teachers/mediainfusion/. 

To read Gail Kern Paster’s response to “5 Good Questions” please visit http://www.pbs.org/engage/blog on April 2. 

Learn more about Folger Education’s partnership with PBS and its resources for teachers at www.folger.edu/lear. 

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The Shakespeare Road Trip, Part 1

It's time to start planning that summer Shakespeare road trip.  If you have never made the pilgrimage to beautiful Ashland, Oregon to the great Oregon Shakespeare Festival, perhaps this summer's offerings will tempt you.

Speaking strictly Shakespeare, playing in rep this summer will be Macbeth (which has already started its run! 2/13 - 11/1):

"Black magic. Murder. Ghosts. Madness. Death. Shakespeare's brooding tragedy digs into the dark territory of a man's shocking choices..."

in the Angus Bowmer Theatre;

All's Well That Ends Well (6/30 - 11/1):

"The path to bliss is uncertain when you try to make somebody love you. Helena wants Bertram, but Bertram isn't interested in her. Can Helena's determination and clever trickery lead to a happily-ever-after?.."

in the New Theatre;


Henry VIII (6/2 - 10/9):

"The queen has not produced an heir, and the Tudor line is in jeopardy. Obsessed, Henry sets his eye on the fetching young Anne Bullen (Boleyn). Urged on by the Machiavellian Cardinal Wolsey, the king reshapes the world to suit his needs: divorcing the queen, eliminating rivals, flouting papal law, and forever changing the face of religion in England—and beyond..."


and, Much Ado About Nothing (6/4 - 10/11):

"When WWII Italian resistance soldiers stop to rest at Leonato's villa, there's courtship of all kinds. While Beatrice and Benedick hide their infatuation beneath witty barbs, Hero and Claudio race to the altar. Enter the malcontent Don John, bent on ruining the wedding. He nearly succeeds, but not before Beatrice and Benedick finally tell each other how they really feel..."

both on the outdoor Elizabethan Stage.  

In a Jacobean-related world premiere, Equivocation (4/15 - 10/31):

"What if the government commissioned you to write the definitive history (make that a self-serving lie) of a national crisis? What story would you tell? Welcome to London, 1605, and the world of King James, the Gunpowder Plot, and the Tower dungeons, as William Shakespeare and his theatre company struggle to create a play to please the king and not lose their hearts, souls, or heads in the process..."

will also be at the Bowmer.  And there's more, lot's more.  OSF productions are always outstanding, and the venue is delightful.  I'll see you there.

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Pacino as Lear and DiCaprio at Parnassus

UPI reported yesterday that:

"Hollywood actor Al Pacino has signed on to play the title character in a new film adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear."

"Variety.com said Michael Radford wrote the script for and plans to direct the movie. He is expected to start shooting it in Europe this year.

"This will be the second time Radford and Pacino team up for a Shakespeare project; they also worked together on the 2004 film version of "The Merchant of Venice," in which Pacino played Shylock."


I'm not sure what to think about the "Radford wrote the script" part of this story, but it probably can't be good.  The Pacino Merchant was good, however, and presentationally sumptuous.  Perhaps we will be treated to similar atmospherics in this big screen Lear.

The Guardian is reporting that:

"Dame Judi Dench and Leonardo DiCaprio are among a handful of stars who will be inducted into a new hall of fame dedicated to William Shakespeare.

"The hall - to be erected in the playwright's birthplace in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England - will honour the performers, directors and artists inspired by the great dramatist's body of work.

"Dench toured with esteemed theatre troupe the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s, while DiCaprio became a star after tackling the tragic lead role in the 1996's Romeo + Juliet"
(Post Chronicle).

In addition to these mega-stars, a few minor Shakespeareans are also under consideration, Olivier, Branagh and Patrick Stewart among them. 

Here is the list of inductees: 

  • Ben Jonson
  • David Garrick
  • Charles Dickens
  • Ellen Terry
  • Laurence Olivier
  • Judi Dench
  • Kenneth Branagh
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Leonardo DiCaprio
  • Akira Kurosawa
  • Sam Wanamaker
  • Paul Robeson

And here is a link to a very nice Guardian slideshow detailing each one.  Including Leo and Kurosawa was a publicists masterstroke to provoke controversy and generate that all important buzz.  Dickens and Wanamaker, as potent as they were as promoters of Shakespeare, can hardly be said to belong as actors.  And how can Ben be included but not Burbage?  These twelve were chosen by the Birthplace Trust. (!)

That's not the best part.  The best part is that:

"The hall of fame will have 13 names, the minimum number of players to perform any Shakespeare play. The trust has chosen 12, but Guardian readers are invited to vote online for the last name. Vote at guardian.co.uk/stage."

Here is the list of possible candidates for that coveted 13th place:

  • Peter Brook
  • John Gielgud
  • Boris Pasternak
  • Sarah Siddons
  • Peggy Ashcroft
  • George Bernard Shaw
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • Sarah Bernhardt
  • Virginia Woolf
  • David Tennant

Pasternak?  Woolf?  Ones sees why, but really.  The great Helen Mirren, John Gielgud, or any one of dozens of more deservings are not on the list of inductees or the list of potential candidates.  As I said, its all about buzz.  The Hall of Fame, such as it is, is to be part of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's visitor centre at Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire.

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Now at the Folger: The Winter's Tale

"Leontes:  I have too much believed mine own suspicion" (3.2.149).  He is racked by repentance, yet, it is too late, Hermione is dead, says Paulina, and "winter in storm perpetual, could not move the gods to look that way thou wert" (210-12).  But is it so?  Is there no deep magic, beneath winter's snow, that can make so wrong a right...

Shakespeare's great romance, The Winter's Tale, is being offered now (Jan. 28 - Mar. 8) at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D. C.  Not many of us are in a position to attend, but through the  ample resources at the Folger web site we can participate.  "Actors Daniel Stewart (Leontes) and Connan Morrissey (Hermione) give a behind-the-scenes take on the play, which explores the themes of love, forgiveness, and second chances".

Teacher's will find especially useful the downloadable pdf study guide; others will enjoy the wealth of links:  music samples from the play; a synopsis of the play decorated with a magnificent facsimile of a drawing inspired by Owen Jones and Henry Warren from a mid-19th century production;the director's notes (Blake Robison); a reminiscence of the 1856 Charles Kean production, in fact, Ellen Terry's first stage role as Mamillius to Kean's Leontes; an introductory adaptation from the New Folger Library Shakespeare edition, edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine; and more.

For those interested in a serious study of the play, I can recommend the following editions:

The Arden Shakespeare:The Winter's Tale third series, edited by John Pitcher.

The Oxford Shakespeare: The Winter's Tale, edited by Stephen Orgel--among the new series being issued by Oxford in 2008.

The Bedford Shakespeare Series: The Winter's Tale,edited by Mario DiGangi.

The New Cambridge Shakespeare: The Winter's Tale, edited by Susan Snyder and Deborah T. Curren-Aquino.

Congratulations to the Folger on another splendid web presentation and for mounting what promises to be another great production.  We will link to reviews here when as they are published.

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Emmanuel Adriaenssen: Renaissance Greatest Hits

Emmanuel Adriaenssen (1554(?)-1604 - also known as Hadrianius), Flemish composer and lutenist, was one of the most influential Renaissance musicians primarily because of the publication of his Pratum Musicum, (1584, rev. 1600), and Novum Pratum Musicum, 1592.  The contents include about 5 fantasies, 50 vocal compositions, for 1-4 lutes with 1-4 vocal parts, and about 30 dances (The Lute in Britain, p.223).

The lute was possibly the most popular instrument of the Renaissance, certainly the lute literature from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries is extensive (for a remarkable list of 16th century publications for the lute see the list published by Appalachian State). 

Lute music printing was centered in the Netherlands, especially Antwerp by the Phalese firm, and few pieces of printed music were more important than  Adriaenssen's Pratum Musicum, which amounted to nothing less than a Renaissance compendium of greatest hits written in lute tabulature, or "intabulation" as it is known (see Svsann'vn jour à 5 from the Novum, for example). In fact, the Pratum was a much studies source for Italian madrigals (which predominate), motets, chansons, canzonets, villanellas, galliards, corantos, preludes, fantasias, Neapolitan songs and German and English lute pieces by the best known composers of the late sixteenth century, "freely transcribed" by Adriaenssen.

Lutz Kirchhoff, Sabine Drieier and Petra Manz compose the Liuto Concertato, Maie-Claude Vallin, Claudio Cavina and Max van Egmond the voices on the wonderful Love Songs and Dances from Sony Classical (SK 66 263), which is a collection of some of the Adriaenssen compositions from the Pratum, and the most accessible I know.  This sparkling collection is a delight, particularly Dreier's strong, beautiful flute and Manz's virile viol.  The best tracks, in my opinion, are  the sets of Galliarda, but each has its strengths.  As a representative piece of Renaissance trans-national music it belongs in everyone's collection.Interestingly, G. R. Hibbard, in his Oxford edition (p. 243) of Love's Labour's Lost suggests that the song sung by Moth, given at 3.1.3, "Concolinel", may have been to the tune of "Altra canzon englesa" found in the Pratum Musicum, (see the contents listed here, specifically the entry for 92v/2 attributed to John Johnson) via the 'Dallis' Lute Book.  Be that as it may, no one can doubt the influence of the Pratum Musicum, nor can they fail to be impressed by the cosmopolitan, interconnected influences of late Renaissance musical confluences contained therein.  Speaking specifically of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, there is no reason to doubt the lute music provided for the company by Augustine Phillips was any less ornate, complex and, yes, cosmopolitan, than the poetry provided by Shakespeare himself.

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Shakespeare? Elementary, Watson

The English press was full, yesterday, of stories on the government's latest initiative to bolster national interest in the nation's seemingly leading export: Shakespeare.  Children as young as five years old will be introduced to the works of Shakespeare, and a number of teaching initiatives, "with tried and true teaching methodologies" are being advanced among primary students.  Here are links to the wide press coverage this story gained:

The PDF ("Shakespeare for all ages and stages") describing the new effort can be read from the department for schools, children and families.

While England was abuzz, the rest of the world, seems not to have noticed.  Really, I suppose there are two questions: 1) Is it appropriate to introduce so complex an author to such young children?; and 2) What makes English pedagogues think Shakespeare needs their help?

On the first head, I would submit there are some things inherently unsuitable to the "for Dummies" treatment: nuclear physics, reformation theology, and the works of Shakespeare among them.  Simplifiied explanations can exceed the point of obviating their objects.

On the second head, the last time I checked the Shakespeare industry was thriving and needed no help from educators.  In fact, in spite of the best effort of educators to discourage interest Shakespearea has triumphed.  If one could invest in Shakespeare.inc it would be the better than owning Google.

Ah well, elementary educators will be elementary educators, one supposes.

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William Byrd

We are often amazed today that men like Thomas Tallis and his student, William Byrd, whose lives spanned the religious ferment among the great Tudor rulers, could have developed such religious pragmatism when it came to their profession, writing music for the liturgy of the Church of England and the Catholic Mass.  In doing so, they were undoubtedly reflecting the religious ambiguity of their times, when too open a politically incorrect belief could be fatal, but when no public belief was equally unacceptable.  And then, after all, it was their professional business to provide music for religious ceremony, Protestant or Catholic.  It seems often the talent and inventiveness trumped nonconforming personal belief with creative artists.

If you look up William Byrd in an encyclopedia his birth date will often be succeeded by a question mark.  It is, indeed, indefinite.  It is just possible he was born as early as 1534, but more likely in 1543, depending upon whether the Wylliam Byrd who became a chorister in Westminster Abbey in 1543 is the composer, or simply another lost William Byrd.  His birth place is usually given as Lincoln, since he has strong Lincoln associations later in life, but if the Westminster chorister and Byrd are the same, London is a more likely birth place.  In any event, there is no doubt he died in 1623, aged at least 80.

It is a near certainty that Byrd sang in the Chapel Royal during the reign of Mary I under Thomas Tallis.  In his mid-twenties he is found as organist and choirmaster of Lincoln Cathedral.  He was named a gentleman of the Chapel Royal under Elizabeth, in 1572 and worked there as organist, singer and composer for many subsequent years.  He published a collection of motets with Tallis before Tallis' death, and composed Ye Sacred Muses as an elegy to the departed Tallis.

In spite of Byrd's employment writing for the Protestant Church of England under Elizabeth, he seems to have harbored strong personal Catholic sympathies, and wrote a good deal of music for the Mass in his later years, apparently celebrating Mass secretly with his co-religionists.  Even though Byrd composed and openly published Catholic music he was not molested by the state, though some of those in possession of his printed music certainly were.  He composed prolifically throughout his very long life, and after Orlando Gibbons, is often considered the greatest of Elizabethan-Jacobean composers.

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Thomas Tallis

Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 - 1585) has been called the Father of English Music.  Thanks to Henry VIII's love of music (and personal musicality) the choir of the Chapel Royal became remarkable throughout Europe.  Their first known performance was in 1510, and Henry cultivated his choir in order to impress foreign visitors and for the pure love of music.  Most of the music performed by the highly trained choir was composed by its members, William Cornish, its early master, Robert Fairfax and later Thomas Tallis.

Tallis joined the Chapel Royal in 1542 after Waltham Abbey, where he had been organist and choir master, was dissolved in the sweeping changes Great Harry made to the English religious establishment.  (The abbey was actually dissolved in 1540).  Henry had heard Tallis sing at Waltham and had been duly impressed, and Tallis' talents as composer, singer and organist were recruited into the Chapel Royal.

Tallis wrote a good deal of music during the reign of Henry VIII--and continued to write for the courts of Edward VI and Mary I, surviving the religious controversies of those turbulent times by dint of his native talent--but his great achievements were made during the reign of Elizabeth.  He is best known for his Lamentations and Spem in alium from that time.  Interestingly, in 1575 Elizabeth granted to Tallis and William Byrd a twenty-one year monopoly on polyphonic music and a patent to print and publish music.

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Shakespeare Alive and Well in Chicago and DC

Two of the great national Shakespeare companies have announced their 2008-2009 seasons.  First, in Chicago:

"This summer, a hip-hop re-imagining of Much Ado About Nothing, by the creators of The Bomb-itty of Errors, revels in a modern take on Shakespeare’s wit and wordplay. CST will also stage Willy Wonka, the delightful family musical based on Roald Dahl’s much-loved novel, where children discover the fantastical world in the mysterious candy maker’s factory. Then on stage this fall, envy erupts into a fatal struggle between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Viennese court composer Antonio Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, staged by CST Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin. For the first time, Shakespeare’s contemporary rival Christopher Marlowe infiltrates Shakespeare’s home in Chicago as Sean Graney directs a promenade production of The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward II, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer. From India, CST presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in a lush celebration of converging cultures performed in eight languages (including English) by actors, dancers, street musicians and acrobats from across India and Sri Lanka.

In the New Year, an ambitious Scottish warrior and his Lady clash with their kingdom’s nobles and their own consciences in a deadly contest for the crown as Barbara Gaines directs William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. CST presents the Chicago premiere of Michael Pennington’s one-man homage to the Bard—Sweet William—a large-spirited celebration of William Shakespeare’s life and work. In the spring, with Short Shakespeare! directed by Amanda Dehnert, CST invites audiences new to Shakespeare to engage in a lively, accessible production of his dramatic work. Finally, lovers confuse their passions amid a conspiracy to make a fool out of a brooding steward in William Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night directed by Josie Rourke, Artistic Director of The Bush Theatre, in London." (BroadwayWorld.com).

Then, in our nation's capital, Stacy Keach is back:

"The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC, announced a 2008-09 season to start with Romeo and Juliet and end with Robert Falls' acclaimed production of King Lear starring Stacy Keach"

Here is the lineup:

  • Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, directed by associate artistic director David Muse, Sept. 9-Oct. 12, Sidney Harman Hall. "The world's greatest and most enduring love story, Romeo and Juliet follows its star-crossed lovers as they hurtle from their first shy glances to their last heartrending kiss. Caught between their feuding families, Romeo and Juliet desperately struggle to build a world insulated from the violence, but their love races toward a final confrontation with fate."
  • The Way of the World by William Congreve, directed by Kahn, Sept. 30-Nov. 16, Lansburgh Theatre. "Featuring witty repartee in the grand tradition of The Country Wife and The Beaux' Stratagem, Congreve's delicious comedy of manners sends up courtship and marriage. Amid the gossip and frivolous love affairs of fashionable London society, the clever and conniving lovers Millamant and Mirabell are determined to pursue 'a marriage of true minds.' But Millamant's jealous guardian stands in their way. The only way to achieve their goal is to beat the fops, the fools and the resentful rivals at their own game — through double-dealing and outrageous deception."
  • Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, directed by Rebecca Bayla Taichman, Dec. 2, 2008-Jan. 4, 2009, Sidney Harman Hall. "One of Shakespeare's greatest comedies, Twelfth Night ponders love lost and found. A shipwreck separates twins Viola and Sebastian, but tragedy quickly turns to comedy when they wash up in a land turned upside-down by love. With raucous antics, ravishing language and rich characters, Shakespeare creates a bittersweet tale of laughter and longing."
  • The Dog in the Manger by Lope de Vega, translated and adapted by David Johnston, directed by Jonathan Munby, Feb. 10-March 29, 2009, Lansburgh Theatre. "A master of Spain's Golden Age, Lope de Vega explores love, fidelity and class with wry humor in The Dog in the Manger. The haughty countess Diana rejects her many aristocratic suitors only to fall in love with her handsome young secretary, Teodoro. To pursue this forbidden love, Diana must sabotage her suitors, deceive her friends and concoct ever-more elaborate schemes. De Vega balances high tragedy and low comedy, examining the savage whims of the human heart."
  • Ion by Euripides, translated and adapted by David Lan, directed by Ethan McSweeny, March 10-April 12, 2009, Sidney Harman Hall. "In Ion, the Greek playwright Euripides crafts a remarkable romance of loss and reconciliation. Abandoned by his parents, Ion grows up as an orphan at Apollo's temple. But when his mother appears in search of a prophecy, Ion must confront both his painful past and his unexpected destiny. Euripides' plot twists and turns with jealousy and revenge before culminating in a reunion scene of deep tenderness and pathos." This is the American premiere of David Lan's translation, "which captures the rich beauty of this neglected masterpiece."
  • An Italian Straw Hat by Eugene Labiche, adapted by John Strand, music by Dennis McCarthy, directed by Kahn, May 12-June 28, 2009, Lansburgh Theatre. "Based on the famous French farce/vaudeville by Eugene Labiche, this new play with music follows the hapless bridegroom Fadley as his wedding day turns to chaos. When Fadley's horse eats a young lady's hat, Fadley must find a replacement — or suffer the wrath of the woman's lover. What follows is a daylong mad dash full of mistaken identities, larger-than-life characters and hilarious pratfalls, all brought to life with music reminiscent of vaudeville, light opera and even barbershop quartet. Michael Kahn directs this frothy and frolicking play, set in turn-of-the-century New York, adapted by John Strand (Lorenzaccio) with new musical numbers by Dennis McCarthy."
  • King Lear by William Shakespeare, directed by Robert Falls, June 16-July 19, 2009, Sidney Harman Hall. "One of the most powerful dramas in Western literature, King Lear is both an intimate family drama and an explosive political epic. Beginning with a monarch's division of his kingdom amongst his three daughters, Lear explores the most basic questions of human existence: love and duty, power and loss, good and evil. Tony Award winner Robert Falls remounts his 2006 production, which captures both the stark violence and devastating passion of Shakespeare's masterpiece. Stacy Keach will play the title role, returning to STC for the first time since Macbeth in 1995." (Playbill)

The Lear is worth a flight in from anywhere.

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Cultural Olympics, 2012

Ready for more Olympics?  The UK arts community, ever hungry for public commisions, is.  Plans for the 2012 Cultural Olympics were announced today by Lord Coe (BBC).  One of the first "events" will be lighting of the Blackpool Tower in "pink, blue, orange and green - the colours of London 2012 - at 2012 BST at 26 September."  (The Chinese get all the luck with the memorable opening ceremony on 8-8-8.  Not a lot you can do with 2012).  Other events in the run up to the actual games will include a youth digital film competition, National Singing Day (!), Festival of Carnivals (in the UK, yet!!), and, subject of our interest, a World Shakespeare Festival.  Just how much more Shakespeare can be performed than is already being performed remains to be seen, but one has to respect the effort, though one would hope for more creative ideas.  After that embarrassing and anemic UK sideshow during the closing ceremonies in Beijing, with a greyed and paler shades of greying Jimmy Page pretending to finger sync to an uninteresting dinosaur boomer anthem sung by the delicious (one must admit) Leona Lewis, it is all uphill.  Click here for the video of Lord Coe making the slightly defensive case for the so called cultural Olympics.  Only slightly less than 4 years to go...

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