Shakespeare
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I have long been interested in genealogy and, like most family historians, the Holy Grail is to connect my family to Royalty, especially Richard III! Unfortunately this is nearly impossible*, but I have done it in an indirect way. I found out that my 4 x great grandfather was a portrait painter by the name…
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If the review at the link below is accurate, I am bemused. Just one word. Why? http://www.theartsdesk.com/theatre/richard-iii-wales-millennium-centre
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This past weekend, the beloved Film Forum – one of New York City’s last revival houses – screened a restored version of “Chimes at Midnight,” Orson Welles’ 1965 underrated masterpiece in which he starred as, possibly, the definitive Falstaff. Sadly, this movie hasn’t been seen in either general release or in video/dvd format for thirty…
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White Lily’s “Richard III: The Murderous Machiavel?” post, here in Murray & Blue on 31 January 2015, is beautifully presented and argued, with the subject deserving extensive research and multiple books on its own. But I think we’re playing into anti-Ricardian hands if we set Richard III beside Machiavelli’s The Prince. There is another way.…
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In various discussions, on- and off-line, a Ricardian often times finds herself confronted with a particular type of debate about Richard III. Sometimes it is phrased in the context of the “brutality of the times” or the “scheming nature of a royal court” or the “rough and aggressive nature of lords and nobles in the…
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No, not another story of Bosworth, or a comparison between both reigns, but rather a reluctant concession that Henry did have some merits. Please, no catcalls and brickbats, for I remain a staunch Ricardian. I will always support Richard. Hell will freeze before I desert him. So, what are Henry’s merits? Well, maybe they would…
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As we have observed before, Shakespeare’s plays tend to be historically inaccurate but they make good cultural history for his own lifetime. As an example, we took King Lear (probably written 1605-6), in which Cordelia was executed for political reasons, something that almost never happened to women before 1536, in England or Scotland. Similarly, the…
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In the research just released by the University of Leicester, researchers identified Haplogroup G as the Y-Chromosome of Richard III. Is that also the Haplogroup for the Plantagenet Dynasty? The jury is still out on that, but perhaps Shakespeare gives us a clue:
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Here is a link to a Daily Mail article (28th November 2014) about the filming of “Richard III” for the BBC2’s forthcoming TV series “The Hollow Crown”, which is based on Shakespeare’s history plays. Benedict Cumberbatch is Richard, and the filming is at Leeds Castle in Kent. The article contains a number of interesting pictures.…
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Robert Cecil—Was He Shakespeare’s Real Richard? It is quite astounding that many traditionalists still trot out the old ‘Shakespeare was right’ trope when referring to Richard III, even though more statements in his famous depiction have been proved to be wrong than ‘right’ in regards to this maligned king. Shakespeare was, of course, a dramatist,…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 