Comments on: Shakespearean Inspiration

By: Tracy Grant

Tracy Grant — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:04:49 +0000

The Old Globe is wonderful, Stephanie. San Diego has some fabulous theater. And the Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festival is great too. The productions you’ve seen sound fascinating. Ashland did Cyrano a couple of years ago in their outdoor theater. It was a lot of fun. They’re doing Henry VIII this year. It’ll be only the second time I’ve seen in on stage.

I’ve heard about the Alan Gordon books–they sound wonderful. Must seek them out.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:24:47 +0000

Live theater of any kind is a treat for my family. Not always but occasionally, we get down to San Diego and see one of their open-air Shakespeare productions, which are performed in the summer. I’ve seen Much Ado About Nothing, which had a post-Civil War setting, a lovely island-fantasy staging of Twelfth Night, a flawed but interesting King Lear with Hal Holbrook, an unusual Winter’s Tale with a neurotic, insecure Leontes (an off-beat but effective take on the role), and a turn-of-the-century All’s Well that Ends Well that managed to convince me that a happy ending was not completely out of reach even for Bertram and Helena. This summer the SD Old Globe is doing Twelfth Night, Henry VIII, and Cyrano de Bergerac(in lieu of a third Shakespeare play)–we might go down to see one of them, but I’m not sure which. I’ve also seen Love’s Labors Lost, courtesy of the UC Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festival. So far, a trip to Ashland hasn’t been in the family budget, but maybe someday.

Since I enjoy Shakespeare, I tend to be attracted to other works influenced by his, though I might seize more eagerly upon something inspired by Much Ado, Midsummer Night’s Dream, or one of the lesser-known plays rather than another take on Romeo & Juliet. There’s this fascinating series of historical mysteries by Alan Gordon that postulates that Shakespeare’s fools were really medieval spies operating out of a secret Fools Guild. “Feste” is the hero of the series, and in the first book “Thirteenth Night,” he must return to Illyria years after the events of “Twelfth Night” to solve a murder. Good stuff.

By: Tracy Grant

Tracy Grant — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:01:30 +0000

Thanks, Amanda! I actually should have named “Midsummer Night’s Dream” as another inspiration for “Beneath a Silent Moon”–the whole lovers-changing-partners-on-a-midsummer-night-bit. In fact, I kept looking or a quote a quote from “Midsummer” or “Hamlet” for the title but couldn’t find one that worked. Both have quite a few quotes that mention the moon though, particularly “Midsummer.”

By: Amanda McCabe

Amanda McCabe — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:16:18 +0000

What a great post, Tracey! I’m also very, very inspired by Shakespeare. My first play was “Midsummer Night’s Dream”, closely followed by “As You Like It.” I’ve been hooked ever since.