How a Jewish scholar became the Shakespeare whisperer helping to make ‘Hamlet’ relevant to our times
James Shapiro first encountered Shakespeare in the classroom, but that's not where he learned to love the Bard
Hamlet
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Culture The Secret Jewish History Of Theater’s Most Famous Skull
Children are often told they can be anything they want when they grow up; they’re less commonly informed that the same rule applies when they die. After all, the philosopher Jeremy Bentham requested that his body be embalmed and put to service as the mascot of University College London, where his physical remains still cheerfully…
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The Schmooze More Dude Than Duke in Coen Brothers’ ‘True Grit’
As with Henry Hathaway’s 1969 film, Joel and Ethan Coen’s remake of “True Grit” (which is really another, truer, adaptation of Charles Portis’s novel) follows a young girl in pursuit of her father’s killer. Played here by new recruit Hailee Steinfeld, the impossibly precocious Mattie Ross hires a surly, drunken, tough-as-nails federal marshal (Jeff Bridges)…
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The Schmooze Of Settlements, Boycotts and Political Theater
Watching an actor burst into tears during a monologue, Hamlet marvels at how the performer inhabits the scene so deeply — if only he could evoke such dramatic feelings in real life, Hamlet reasons, he might save his kingdom. Thus inspired, Shakespeare’s hero rewrites the script of a play that dramatizes what’s wrong with his…
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Culture ‘Alas, Poor Andrzej’: The Strange Case of Tchaikowsky’s Skull
The admission by London’s Royal Shakespeare Company that, despite previous disavowals, a production of “Hamlet” featured not only Dr Who actor David Tennant, but also a real human skull onstage — as Hamlet’s deceased friend the jester Yorick — brings the donor of that skull back into the limelight. The Polish-Jewish pianist Andrzej Czajkowski (who…
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