The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch

I was troubled by this book, a story set in the near future where a Joan of Arc-like figure has been martyred and an older woman has decided to die during a performance of a new kind of entertainment known as "grafting." She intends her graft to be a song of this new Joan  and an epic defiance of the fascist regime in which she lives.

The author is clearly talented and this book has garnered lavish praise and it's easy to see why. She has created an elaborate construct for her near-future story with its overtly political message--the villain is a "rage-mouthed" former lifestyle guru-turned unlikely celebrity-turned billionaire-turned politician. Who could that possibly remind us of? The book's prose is quite consciously incendiary--the novel's first words are, "Burning is an art," and much of what comes in the next pages has to do with the delicate art of "grafting," a form of scarification carried out as a medium of communication. (The details are not for the squeamish.)

What to read by Margaret Atwood after you've reread A Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood is one of the authors who is rewriting Shakespeare's plays for the "Hogarth Shakespeare'" collection. Her novel, Hag-Seed, is a r-imagining of Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest. Unlike some of the plays in the series so far (I'm thinking of Jeanette Winterson's luminous retelling of The Winter's Tale, Gap of Time), The Tempest is a play that's been re-imagined mamy, many times, most recently in Julie (The Lion King) Taymor's version with Helen Mirren as "Prospera." 

All of Shakespeare's plays are full of quotable lines, but my very favorite exchange in all of Shakespeare is a conversation between Prospero and Caliban. "You taught me language," Caliban says to Prospero, "and my profit on't is I know how to curse." I've seen about half a dozen performances of the play, including one stunning version mounted by Ellis Rabb and another starring Anthony Hopkins as Prospero. (Stephanie Zimbalist played Miranda.) 

I'm looking forward to reading Atwood's "take" on the tale because the books I've read so far have been terrific.  I'm especially looking forward to Nesbo's Macbeth, which is one of my favorite plays, despite its reputation for being a cursed piece of work.

Other books will be published over the next four years, including Jo Nesbo's version of Macbeth and Gillian Flynn's Hamlet. Tracy Chevalier's Othello re-do will be out this fall. I already have Anne Tyler's Vinegar Girl (The Taming of the Shrew) and Howard Jacobson's Shylock is My Name (The Merchant of Venice).

i'm surious how much of a feminist take on the play Hag-Seed will have. One of the things that has always bothered me about The Tempest is the way Prospero stole the island from Caliban's mother, the witch Sycorax.

Margaret Atwood rewrites The Tempest

What can I say but "I can't wait to read this." It's on offer as an Early Reviewer copy at Library Thing, so of course, I signed up for it, along with 308 other people who are vying for 20 copies. Wish me luck!

Shakespeare in the Raw!

For a May 2016 staging of The Tempest in Central Park, according to production notes: The production uses semi- and full-nudity to celebrate body freedom and free expression and to dramatize the conflict between the visitors to Prospero's island and its inhabitants. 
You can read more about the production and see the pictures here. 
I just hope it was a warm night! 

Caliban's Drabble

In honor of #ShakespeareWeek

Caliban’s Drabble

They say that two wrongs do not make a right. That is a concept that was unknown to me until the Duke and his daughter came to the island and took it for their own. My mother offered the duke friendship and welcomed the girl, but he saw her as an enemy and with his magic imprisoned her.

He took my birthright and in return, he taught me language, which I welcomed, for it allowed me to curse and I often had need to curse.

And to bemoan my wretched fate.

Fuck language.

Fuck curses.

I want my island back.

 

YouTube finds: Helen Mirren's version of The Tempest

I've been wanting to see this forever but somehow never did. But now that it's #ShakespeareWeek, I went looking for Shakespeare on YouTube to see what sort of Shakespeare goodness I could find. Imagine my delight when I discovered the full movie is up. Directed by Julie Taymor, who conceived he fabulous stage version of The Lion King, the movie is a visual treat and stars Helen Mirren in the role of Prospera. Shakespeare productions are always fiddling around with the sex of their protagonists, much in the way the playwright himself played with it, but here the sex-change works beautifully in a way that female Hamlets never have for me. If you love the play--and I do, I've seen around seven productions of it--check it out here.

Sunday Shakespeare Goodness--Helen Mirren's TEMPEST for free

I've seen a lot of productions of Shakespeare's The Tempest. I've seen a Comnedia dell'arte production iperformed solely n Italian during the a cultural "Olympics" that accompanied the 1984 L.A. Summer Olympics, I've seen a production in San Diego with three oversized seashells as the only set (Ellis Rabb played Prospero) and I've seen two more traditional versions, one with Anthony Hopkins and Stephanie Zimbalist and one with Christopher Plummer as the vengeful mage.

When I found out Helen Mirren was going to do a female version of the play with Julie (The Lion King) Taymor directing, I was intrigued but somehow I never managed to catch the 2010 production. But now, thanks to YouTube, I can see the whole movie for free! It was worth the wait. Djimon Hounsou plays Caliban, who has the best line in the play (and one of my favorite lines in all of Shakespeare) when he says, "You taught me language and my profit on't is I know how to curse." 
This was Shakespeare's last play, the culmination of a career, a master at the top of his game.
Enjoy it here.

Happy Birthday America

AdAbraham Ortelius. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Antwerp, 1595. Shelfmark G1015 O6 1595 Cage. Folger Shakespeare Libraryd caption

The Folger Shakespeare Library has a page devoted to "Shakespeare in American Life." There are some interesting factoids there--did you know Thomas Edison almost became a Shakespearean actor?--and some general trivia connecting Shakespeare to America. (Remember, he knew about America and referenced it in The Tempest when Miranda says, "O brave new world..." Check out the site here.