intertext

Via shaksper_random

I know certain members of my flist who will really appreciate this.

I'm spending some enjoyable time sampling the pleasures of this CD, which arrived from Amazon yesterday. It's some of Shakespeare's sonnets, read by wonderful British Actors. Some of them are put to music, too, but I haven't tried any of those yet. There are some treats: Ralph Fiennes, reading "Th'expense of spirit in a waste of shame" as if in the middle of love-making, complete with orgasm and post-coital relaxation. John Gielgud, Diana Rigg, Richard Briers, Jonathan Pryce, Timothy Spall, and many many more.

For a taste (and a marvellous one - you may be hooked) try a version of Sonnet 130 read by Alan Rickman. I have to send you to a link in someone else's blog - and I'm sorry that I don't remember who or what led me there, but am grateful to aslowhite for the post. Alan Rickman reads Sonnet 130 as a seduction - you'll swoon. One of my colleagues, to whom I sent the link, pointed out that he falls victim to the common misreading of "any she belied," reading "she" as a pronoun, subject of "belied," rather than, as it should be, noun, object in the phrase "as any she." Thus he promotes the interpretation "she's hideous, but I love her anyway." I tell my students I will beat them, or throw them out the window, if any of them interpret the sonnet that way, but lots do anyway, and now they have Alan Rickman supporting them. But, oh, you'll swoon, and it's worth it.

PS: lidocafe: I have already ordered a copy for the library.

A trailer via Shakespearegeek for Kenneth Branagh's new movie production of As You Like It. Branagh seems to be pulling out all the stops in too-clever-by-half gimmickry - mixed race leads are a rather tired attempt to be "different," and what matters really is their ability to speak the lines not what they look like. What I'm unsure about is the somewhat inexplicable appearance of Japanese Samurai Warriors and geishas. The Forest of Arden apparently contains a Buddhist temple... Kevin Kline is Jaques and Alfred Molina Touchstone - nice casting there.

After a quick scan on IMDB, I see that it was released in Italy in '06, although Shakespearegeek's entry suggests a September 07 release for us. hmmm.