SHAKESPEARE’S SECRET COMPASS WEBINAR

SHAKESPEARE’S SECRET COMPASS:   A FREE MASTERCLASS IN USING THE BARDPOWER IN 12TH NIGHT If music be the food of love, play on. JAN 6TH 6 PM – 8 PM GMT. ZOOM AND IN-PERSON Writers: do you ever really want to undermine the tyranny of tradition but fear the blowback? In 12th Night, Shakespeare shows us how he gets […]

12 days of Christmas ‘Heresies’ in Shakespeare

DAY 11: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW: THE MERRINESS OF CHRISTMAS Here the allusion to Christmas is so subtle, the Bard has to use the very word ‘Christmas’ to alert us to it. Christopher Sly represents a sly portrayal of the Prodigal Son. The religious promise of Christmas is that the birth of Jesus will […]

12 days of Christmas ‘Heresies’ in Shakespeare

DAY TEN: KING LEAR: A FIENDISH PARODY OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH? Expressing the truth of what I see Shakespeare doing here in Lear is a truly gut-rending experience for me. Surely, not even Shakespeare would dare imply that we should consider Jesus to be a bastard! But what is the word we use to describe […]

12 days of Christmas ‘Heresies’ in Shakespeare

DAY NINE: HENRY V: STAR OF WONDER The opening chorus of Henry V is rarely heralded as an epiphany, per se, but is closer perhaps to the prayer of the common man begging God for the messiah to come and liberate us from the tyranny of Satan – oft parodied as the tyranny of the […]

12 days of Christmas ‘Heresies’ in Shakespeare

DAY EIGHT: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: JOHN’S GOSPEL IN A NUTSHELL If you want to move your readers with deep mystical allusion that can hardly be recognised on the surface, revel in the Bard’s mastery here. Could the iconic demand for that ‘pound of flesh’ be another irresistible revenge story – superficially like Hamlet also […]

12 days of Christmas ‘Heresies’ in Shakespeare

DAY SEVEN: THE TEMPEST: EPIPHANY AND/OR REVELATION? With the Bard’s exquisite brilliance, the Tempest can be seen both as a denouement and foreshadowing of his entire works. As a writer, what body part would you sacrifice in order to craft an opening chapter that could do so much with so little to undermine the tyranny […]

12 days of Christmas ‘Heresies’ in Shakespeare

DAY SIX: MACBETH: THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS Shakespeare delivers a visceral shock to the audience by reminding us of the Christmas horror of the jealous King Herod’s notorious attempt to murder the baby Jesus thwarted by the 3 wise men. Can you feel it in this gruesome scene from Macbeth? Christmas allusion? Gets my […]

12 days of Christmas ‘Heresies’ in Shakespeare

DAY FIVE: HAMLET: THE GUARDS ARE TALKING ABOUT CHRISTMAS! To confirm that Hamlet really is a cunningly camouflaged ‘passion play’,  the wily Bard has those sentinels converse about the Christmas season and the Star of Bethlehem. Christmas allusion? Gets my vote. Let me know what you think. SHAKESPEARE’S SECRET COMPASS:  A FREE MASTERCLASS IN USING THE BARDPOWER […]

12 days of Christmas ‘Heresies’ in Shakespeare

DAY FOUR: HAMLET: THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE SHEPHERDS In Luke, while the Shepherds guard their flocks, an angel appears – and scares the hell out of them. In Hamlet, while the Sentinels guard their folks, a spirit appears – and scares the hell out of them. Christmas allusion? Gets my vote. Let me know what […]

12 days of Christmas ‘Heresies’ in Shakespeare

DAY THREE: MORE MACBETH: THE EPIPHANY Shakespeare seems determined to undermine the mawkish sentimentality of the usual Nativity Play with his own far more muscular version of events. Christmas allusion? Gets my vote. Let me know what you think. SHAKESPEARE’S SECRET COMPASS:  A FREE MASTERCLASS IN USING THE BARDPOWER IN 12TH NIGHT If music be the food of […]