Here's an odd thing you might not know - Shakespeare wrote (or did he) Henry VI Part 2 before Part 1, indeed Part 3 also seems to have pre-dated the 'first' instalment. How very Star Wars.
Just so you know how things stand, I do not mean to suggest (by my opening sentence) that the anti-Stratfordians are other than a bunch of amusingly misguided loons. I merely point to the possibility, no likelihood, of co-authorship in the Henry VI trilogy.
But reconciliation can’t happen without truth, and the truth is that the blame for the American carnage we saw unfold in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, can be laid at the feet of the president and his many Republican enablers. Those with integrity will admit, first to themselves and then to the wider world, their complicity in the deceitful and disgraceful presidency of Donald Trump. It is the only decent thing to do, and we’ve gone far too long with an absence of decency. (Peter Wehner in The Atlantic)
Yesterday afternoon in Washington a lunatic mob urged on by the sitting President of the United States invaded the Capitol. Four people lost their lives in the insurrection. I had been searching for a suitable summary of the depths of sadness I feel at this state of affairs. Wehner encapsulates it nicely. Read his whole article at Insurrection
I had originally intended my piece today to be an unsubtle excoriation of the loathsome Ted Cruz - a man of clear intellect who has, for reasons which can only be attached to his own ambitions, been an enabler in chief of the malevolent and conscienceless President. However, let us instead hope that yesterday will stand as the low-water mark of this Trump inspired era. It is difficult not to have doubts.
I have a friend in America, a wise and good man - JB. He is a lifelong Democrat and he and I would diverge on many matters of policy. However what we would agree on is the mandatory preservation of the rule of law and, more flowery I know but still true, the need for common decency. Trump has trashed both of these concepts and done long-term damage to the serious Right. Let us put it in terms Trump would understand and let us do it in his own childish font - LOSER!!! This is apparently a term that Trump despises - there are nastier and yet justifiable epiphets one could use but let's keep it simple shall we. Sleep well America but rise wisely.
During my second undergraduate incarnation I set myself the task of viewing all thirty-seven plays in the First Folio in the course of one academic year. With a bit of travelling and resort to the BBC Shakespeare, I managed it. Now I'm heading for the same destination but by a different route. Of course there are no theatrical productions for me to enjoy in Covidland but there are plenty of other resources. Thus I have re-watched the Jonathan Miller BBC production of Taming of the Shrew. During the course of 2021 I will attempt to call at all thirty-six of the remaining stops and report on the view from the culture train.
I can vaguely recall the controversy at the time of the original production (1980) when it was announced that John Cleese had been cast as Petruchio. Here's the thing - it works. In spades. Cleese brings all the ostensible mania that marked Basil Fawlty but, importantly (and this was missed by many critics), his character is this time in control of his actions. As his Kate, Sarah Badel is brilliant. Sure the sexual politics of this play remain troublesome but by playing the two protagonists as equals Miller makes those politics easier to negotiate. Quite an achievement.
I had not previously taken the time to like this play. I was wrong. I can even accept Miller's decision to ditch the Induction in its entirety. After all screen Shakespeares start with a framing device in the very confines of the image. A good start to my journey.
2020 is at last behind us. The year started in the shadow of my father's death. We did at least get to give him a memorable funeral before the darkness of Covid engulfed us all. By government dictat we spent much of the remainder of the year cowering in our homes - could it have been handled better? Well yes possibly but no plausible candidate for stewardship of the ship of state suggested him or herself. Perhaps the only political illumination in the year came last week when the largely risible Michael Fabricant kept referring to Keir Starmer as a smarmy lawyer.
My golf did get marginally better but paranoia sufficiently clouded governmental sense to mean that we could hardly even lock ourselves away in the Anglesey home we own and on which we pay punitive tax. What did they think we were going to do - run around the village coughing our nasty English germs through people's letterboxes?
