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Shakespeare’s Last Day
Imagine Will Shakespeare on his death bed, visited by his friend Ben Jonson. What would they talk about?
Such is apparently the premise of The Careful Glover, a new play by Jim Baines:
Ben arrives and meets spirited, restless Judith almost immediately. She takes him to her father, where the two swap memories, sing songs and get soused. It is in these moments that Will admits to having one more script almost finished, one that should get tongues wagging again back in London. Will gets Ben to promise to get the play produced.
I think I’d like this one.
Maybe somebody here can help me with something, though. Does this sentence make any sense?
There are some yawning minutes in Act II when Will is awash on his own version of Macbeth’s moor, a storm raging in a transparent nod to Shakespeare’s fondness to show nature’s fury when earthly relationships — individuals, families, countries — go awry.
Is that a Macbeth thing, or a Lear thing? Took me a couple of readings of “moor” to realize he wasn’t talking about Othello. :)
1 comment:
Yeah, it makes sense in the context that's been created for the statement. The Tempest, the storm in Julius Caesar, etc. I can see how it causes a double take by sort of mixing all sorts of references and metaphors. "So foule and faire a day I have not seene." is spoken by Macbeth directly before he and Banquo discover the Witches (who have previously entered in the Folio, to the stage direction:"Thunder"). "Upon the heath", says #2. Witch when asked "Where the place?" to meet Macbeth; although a 'moor' is the same thing as a 'heath', moor or less. :)
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