Modernised Version Of The Moor

I just came back from watching "Othello", this year's production of "Shakespeare In The Park". Unlike previous years where I had a pavilion seat, this year I was sitting at the general area, which means I had to get a picnic mat and sit on the grass. Since it rained earlier, the grass was still wet. But because it rained, the weather was pretty good for an outdoor play, not too hot and not rainy!

From where I was seated, I could see almost the whole of the screen. This rendition of Othello was set in modern times, in a modern army base camp. The actors wore modern army camouflage uniform, and there are modern equipment like tanks, cars, news reports and even a helicopter!

Otherwise the play followed almost directly word for word in the book. To be honest, I am not very impressed with this version. I know it is good effort on the part of the production team, and I guess they need an updated version to capture the audience, but personally, I feel Shakespeare is not Shakespeare unless it is authentic. 

Afterall, how can anyone do justice to the man who invented so many words, phrases and idioms that are being used in the English language even now? How can anyone even pay tribute to a man who singlehandedly made the English language into the same class as that of Latin and French? Who can ever revamp the English language as he did? Since then, English Literature is not English Literature if not a single Shakespeare's work is studied.

So even though Othello is a good rendition, I find it not authentic. Maybe I am more hardcore, but I would prefer it more if it is really set in those times, five hundred years ago, instead of modern times. Somehow it just does not cut it with modern settings and Shakespeare speak at the same time.

I hope the next production of Shakespeare In The Park will follow the story more authentically!

My Shakespeare Paper

Finally the paper is over! Tonight was my Shakespeare paper, with one extract from Othello and one from Aphra Behn's The Rover. We had to choose either one and critique on the extract with regards to themes, languages, tone and performance potential.

The next question would be a comparison of two plays - Henry V, As You Like It, Othello and The Rover. However, the play we chose in the first question could not be used anymore in the second question.

To be honest, I panicked when I saw the paper. I had no idea how I started writing, nor how I managed to write so much, nor what I was writing. I did not even know whether I was on the right track!

I can only hope and pray that I can pass this well enough to pull up my overall grade!

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First Year, Second Semester

I start school again next week. This would be the second semester of my revamped first year (because I have started, then deferred, then the system changed and the modules got broken up, but finally I am getting it going!), and I will be taking four modules this time round. My appeal for additional subject "for interest sake" did not get through so I am back to doing the normal curriculum which adds towards the whole cumulative grade point average.

Not that it is that big an issue to me. After doing some calculation and if I mugged a bit more, I think I can just achieve a first-class honours if I keep my grades up. Besides, I am studying things I like, so it is a very good deal indeed!

I will be having lessons every Thursday and Friday, a switch from previous semester where my lessons were every Monday and Tuesday. In any case, the subjects I will be taking will be : Changing English, Using English, Shakespeare, Aphra Behn and The Canon and Literature and Gender.

Changing English is on the history of English from its origins in the fifth century to the present day, together with the dynamic diversity of present-day varieties of English found throughout the world. It focuses on the radical changes that have taken place in the structure of English over the thousand years or so, picking on the influences of migration, colonialism and many other historical, social and cultural phenomena.

It will also look at dialects, accents, as well as the shifting styles of individual speakers as they respond to changing circumstances, like dialect and stylistic variations in English, and accents as a social symbol. There will be two assignments and one written examination.

Using English is the way in which the English language is used today in different contexts, in many parts of the world, by both native and non-native speakers. It explores issues of language use in speech and writing, in work and play, and in persuading and informing.

It will also touch on the adaptations and variations in English language use and debates relating to how these are perceived and evaluated by difference groups of users, as well as the marketisation of English, correctness, appropriateness, social judgments and offensive language. There will be two assignments and one project at the end, no written examination.

Shakespeare, Aphra Behn and The Canon explores the complex processes by which certain writings and not others achieve a high cultural status, and examines why the very concept of the canon is now being challenged. Topics studied will be the idea of the canon, theatre poet, politics and performance, dramatic text, the restoration theatre, and love, sex and marriage.

There will be two assignments and one written examination at the end. The books to be studied will be Henry V, Othello, As You Like It and The Rover. Finally, I can get to do Shakespeare! How I wish I can clear this and look forward to an entire module fully on Shakespeare next year or so!

The final module is Literature and Gender. It covers themes and issues that arise out of reading literary texts with a concern for gender, and explores the various factors that have led to the rediscovery and re-reading of texts by women.

The literary texts studied include prose fiction, poetry and drama, mainly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and largely by British and American women. The texts are concerned with the issues of sexuality, race and class, including A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, The Color Purple by Alice Walker and Top Girls by Caryl Churchill. There will be two assignments and one project, no written examinations.

So this semester, I only need to take two papers as the other two are fully coursework based. I can hardly wait for term to start! Seems like a very exciting term ahead!

Letters To Juliet

When I first came across this show, I thought I must watch it because it has a Shakespearean theme. For those not in the know, Shakespeare is my favorite writer of all time! Whenever I need some inspiration, I always look through his works and I will perk up.

"Romeo and Juliet" is my utmost favorite and I always wish I can go to Verona. Imagine how romantic it will be if someone proposes to me while I am at Juliet's balcony in Verona under the moonlight! That would be the perfect proposal!

By the way, I will be taking a Shakespeare module this coming semester. Hooray! Finally, a long-awaited for subject that I will truly love!

In any case, Letters To Juliet is set in Italy (where else?). It is based on a true event in Verona where many broken hearted, confused and lost women from all over the world go to Juliet's house and write heartfelt letters, pouring out their souls and asking for advise.

The writing letters part is true but whether the letters actually get answered in reality, I am not sure. In the show, at the end of everyday, someone will collect the letters and there will be a team who call themselves "Secretaries of Juliet" who sits down for a few hours daily answering and replying the letters and actually sending them out.

How wonderful it is! Maybe the reason so many people believe in writing letters to Juliet is because the letters actually get answered? If I am to pour out my soul and stick a letter on the wall of Juliet's house in Verona, I would think it is just that. But if the letter gets answered, I will be totally ecstatic and over the moon!

That is the power of writing letters. Nowadays with the advanced technology, no one bothers writing letters anymore. They rather send an email, text message or instant chat.

Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought writing letters beat everything else. It adds the personal touch, which the impersonal email, texts or instant chats simply do not cut it.

Gone are those days where we write letters to our friends living overseas and waited expectantly for their replies and we were so excited whenever we received a reply. I used to be the one checking the mailbox everyday, wondering if any of my pen pals wrote me a letter.

Now with emails, instant chats and social network portals, keeping in touch with each other is just a click away. It conveniences everyone, but as a result, we have become impersonal. We rely too much on technology that we have forgotten how to actually socialise - calling someone to talk, writing letters with a personal touch to share your happenings.

How I wish my guy is the type to write letters! I do not mean emailing a love letter or poem, or putting up on his blog as a dedication. I mean a real letter written by ink on sheets of paper sealed with a kiss in an envelope. That would mean so much more to me!

So instead of emailing, why not pick up a pen and some paper and actually write a letter to someone we know?

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Much Ado About Nothing

I finally went to watch the next running of Shakespeare In The Park, after missing out on "Midsummer Night's Dream" the last time round. "Much Ado About Nothing" is essentially a comedy of errors with a happy ending. Despite being a local production (not that local since there were a few foreigners), the casting was pretty good! Especially for Beatrice and Benedick.

Oh, I love Benedick! He is not the dashing, lovey gushing character like Romeo, but his wits are amazing indeed! And his infamous quotation :

"I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviors to love, will, after he hath laughed at such shallow follies in others, become the argument of his own scorn by failing in love: and such a man is Claudio. I have known when there was no music with him but the drum and the fife; and now had he rather hear the tabour and the pipe: I have known when he would have walked ten mile a-foot to see a good armour; and now will he lie ten nights awake, carving the fashion of a new doublet. He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier; and now is he turned orthography; his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes. May I be so converted and see with these eyes? I cannot tell; I think not: I will not be sworn, but love may transform me to an oyster; but I'll take my oath on it, till he have made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool. One woman is fair, yet I am well; another is wise, yet I am well; another virtuous, yet I am well; but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich she shall be, that's certain; wise, or I'll none; virtuous, or I'll never cheapen her; fair, or I'll never look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair shall be of what colour it please God. Ha! the prince and Monsieur Love! I will hide me in the arbour."

Wow... that speech really turns me on! And for a confirmed bachelor to actually fall in love, yet too proud to admit it.. that is something else altogether! In a way, I am kind of like Beatrice - her pride to admit her feelings. But seeing how those two banter is really what stole the show!

My only gripe is that, for a play to be featured in a park, not just any park, but the park, I end up going alone. The rest are either couples or families, with their own picnic mats and snacks, whereas I sit alone on the grass, with no one but myself and the occasional ants crawling up my body for company. How I wish I really have someone with me!

Tickets To Give Away ....

Now that my trip is postponed, I am having a bit of trouble. I booked some concert tickets in mid-July, with the plan that I will be coming back on the twelfth. But now that I will be coming back a week later, I will need to miss a few events.

First up is the Jacky Cheung concert which I am looking forward so much to. I even got Category 1 tickets, with the best seats! The friend I went to the Alan Tam concert with is supposed to attend the Jacky Cheung concert with me, but now that I told him I will not be able to make it after all, he also pulled out. Thus, I now have a problem selling or giving away the tickets. People know how weird my interests are, that no one I know likes the same types of things I do.

Not only that, I have also bought tickets for the performance of Sir Ian McKellan's King Lear and The Seagull, both by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Excellent performances I think, yet no one is interested in watching them, even though the the tickets are of a good category. At times I wish I can be more like others, like the things others like, so I will not end up being alone all the time with things I do.

So now I have trouble with disposing the show tickets. To me, money is not a problem. I am not trying to make a profit by re-selling my tickets. What matters is that the tickets do not go to waste, and that people who watch on my behalf enjoy the show(s). Yet why is it so hard to get others to go, even if I offer them for free? No wonder the general public here is not cultured enough, and not willing to try out something different.

Good Year For Shakespere .... And Music

This is a great year for cultural activities! There are so many upcoming events which seem to be better than previous years! Shakespeare's plays are getting more active this year, not to mention classic icons that have withstood the test of time.

Upcoming on my list are :

1. Alan Tam 30th Anniversary Concert - Saturday 28th April 2007, 7:30pm, Expo Max Pavilion

2. A Midsummer Night's Dream - Thursday 10th May 2007, 7:30pm, Fort Canning Park

3. Macbeth - Friday 25th May 2007, 8:00pm, DBS Arts Centre

4. Jacky Cheung World Tour 2007 - Friday 13th July 2007, 8:00pm, Indoor Stadium

5. King Lear (by the Royal Shakespeare Company, starring Sir Ian McKellan) - Thursday 19th July 2007, 8:00pm, Esplanade Theatre

6. The Seagull (a play by Anton Chekhov, also by the Royal Shakespeare Company) - Sunday 22nd July 2007, 2:00pm, Esplanade Theatre

7. Hey Figaro! The Barber of Seville (by the Singapore Lyric Opera) - Friday 27th July 2007, 8:00pm, Esplanade Theatre

8. The King And I - Monday 6th August 2007, 8:00pm, Esplanade Theatre

9. Engelbert Humperdinck 40th Anniversary Tour - Saturday 25th August 2007, 8:00pm, Indoor Stadium

Looks like this island is moving towards its goal of being an Arts hub very soon!

My First Assignment ....

Talk about coincidences. One of the questions in my upcoming assignment is a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley called "Ozymandias", which happened to be the very first poem I was tested on during upper secondary Literature lessons. Luckily I still have my Literature text, so all the notes can still be used! Never heard of Percy Shelley? Surely many would have heard of his wife, Mary Shelley, the author of "Frankenstein"? She was his second wife after his first wife committed suicide after he left her. Anyway, those famous authors seemed to lead rather colourful lives.

Ozymandias (Percy Shelley)

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said : 'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that a sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on those lifeless things,
The hand which mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Incientally, I came across this extract from The Week (13th January 2007, page 16) that puts it so aptly why poetry (especially Shakespeare) should be appreciated :

"Wrestling with Shakespeare, Chaucer and Woodsworth has a beneficial effect on the mind, says the Sunday Telegraph. Neuro-scientists have discovered that the unusual sentence structures and obscure words contained in the words of classical writers challenge the brain, causing it to light up with electrical activity. By contrast, reading ordinary, modern text causes only normal levels of electrical activity. Brain imaging techniques showed that Shakespearean text also sparks activity across a wider area of the brain than plain text. 'The jump in activity is caused by the brain re-evaluating what it is reading,' said brain imaging expert Professor Neil Roberts. 'With a Shakespearean sentence, the brain sees it as grammatically difficult but tolerates it as making sense. It perhaps acts as a cue to the brain that there is something there that had more meaning than one meaning'."

So the conclusion? Shakespeare boosts the brain! I knew it! So I am going to start re-reading all his works again!

Fare thee well, my sweet! Thou shalt read thy works till the morrow!

What I Want For My Birthday

This is so cool! William Shakespeare's portrait engrossed on the entire Hamlet's infamous soliloquy. The best birthday gift in my entire life, except that this can only be shipped to certain countries and not to where I am staying. :-(

What a pity, I would so love to add this to my Shakespeare collection.

Why Shakespeare?

Finally I found a blog on everything Shakespeare. At first I thought it would be a review of all his works, and adaptation of his works for shows, but it turned out that the blogger manages to use Shakespeare’s quotes and works and integrate it with current events.

Impressive! :-) Here is someone who really knows what Shakespeare is about, apart from a literary point of view. I feel so much more enriched reading his musings of the great bard’s works.

His latest post made me reflect. Yes, why Shakespeare? When I was young, I read the abridged version of his works. Only in upper primary or so before I started reading some of his original works.

At that point in time, I understood not a single word. I asked this question (which years later, someone asked me the same question), “Why did he not write in a language which everyone understands? Why must he use such a ‘weird’ language?”

People may not believe this, but Literature was not my best subject until upper secondary. In fact, I almost flunked Literature and History in Secondary One. Those were my worst subjects.

When I entered secondary school, I thought the examination questions were just like normal comprehension questions, so I gave precise answers in a few sentences.

It was after I did badly for the mid-year examinations that I realized the questions have to be answered in an essay form with paragraphs, not point form. Anyway, I did very badly for my first Literature examination.

I remember that semester we did poetry and short stories. Because I answered everything in just a few sentences, I could not even make the grade to pass. I was cursing and swearing at why I needed to do such hard subjects.

At that point in time, I wanted to give up. I really thought reading for pleasure was so much better than reading to answer examination questions. Then Shakespeare changed my life.

“Romeo and Juliet” was the first text I studied, although I have read the abridged version. I have read the original “As You Like It” and “Macbeth” the year before and was not really impressed.

But after studying “Romeo and Juliet”, I fell in love with the book, with the author (although he has been buried for almost half a millennium), and with the subject itself.

I do not know whether it was because this is Shakespeare’s most touching play, or whether it was due to the fact that I had a British native as an English and Literature teacher who taught English in a way no one has ever taught before, but that semester, my Literature grade went from a D to an A.

And from then on, I read not just for pleasure, but for literary analysis. Reading is just movement of words if no feelings were involved. But when one gets emotionally attached to a book, reading will then become enjoyable.

And through Literature, I learnt to appreciate History, because Shakespeare based most of his plays on historical events before his time. And the more I read, the more I researched, the more interesting I found the subject to be.

At a time when science subjects were looked up upon and Humanities were frowned upon, I chose the road less travelled. I wanted to do Literature and History. Except for the fact that my mum forced me into the triple science combination, quite a large part of my life was involved in my two favourite subjects.

So why Shakespeare? He changed my life. He taught me the beauty of the language. He taught me how to read. And most of all, he taught me how to feel.

So if anyone asks me this question again, I will say Shakespeare will teach you things beyond what is in his works. He will improve your language, will enable you to appreciate the beauty around you, and will make you a more feeling person.

Radio Shows For Airheads?

Is it not just so exasperating when you know the answer to a radio show, yet can never get through to the line, but those who did get through do not know the answer in the first place?

I was tuning in to the Gold Breakfast Show yesterday (Tuesday actually) morning. The deejay was giving away prizes for the person who could name three Shakespeare tragedies. I was feeling excited as that is the type of question specially made for me!

However, I tried calling in again and again, but to no avail. And the deejay kept picking up calls from those who could not answer the question fully. The callers stated "Romeo and Juliet", but gave wrong answers to the other two.

Some said "Merchant Of Venice" (a comedy), some "Midsummer Night's Dream" (a comedy too), and some even said "David Copperfield", of a totally different era. The deejay said "David Copperfield" is a Dicken's play!

Well, not a play actually, but a novel. Anyway, after five callers, the competition was closed, and all got consolation prizes for participating. I was so disappointed! I could have answered that in a breath!

Shakespeare wrote thirteen tragedies - "Titus Andronicus", "Romeo and Juliet", "Julius Caesar", "Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark", "Troilus And Cressida", "Othello, The Moor Of Venice", "Macbeth", "King Lear", "Antony And Cleopatra", "Coriolanus", "Timon Of Athens", "Pericles, Prince Of Tyre" and "Cymbeline" (listed in chronological order). Just pick any three of these and one could be a winner!

Times like these I wish those who are not confident of answering correctly should refrain from calling in and wasting the airtime, and let those who really know the answer get through the line.

Remember Remember The Fifth Of November ....

Remember remember the Fifth of November
Gunpowder treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

The nursery rhyme written exclusively for Guy Fawkes Day in 1605 England, where a group of conspirators were plotting to bomb the Parliament House. They were all hanged for treason, but their idea lingered on.

So sayeth V, while he tried to bomb the Big Ben of London in the opening scene of "V For Vendetta". Beautiful language, beautiful speech, and I love the way he manages to enrich my sparse vocabulary by speaking in all kinds of words beginning with the letter 'V'.

The movie itself was on oppression by the government of its people, and only through mass rallies, riots and bombs to make statements that the government could be overthrown. Thus, gunpowder treason should be a lesson not just on the public minds, but also the government in order to have peace.

My friend loves the show, and he is in awe of the way the character V was speaking. He says he wished he could speak like that. Fast, fluent, real proper English, yet manages to get the message across at the same time.

Speaking of the beauty of the English language, I managed to get a treasure yesterday. A treaure to me, at least, in the form of a thick hard-cover book with gold-lined pages and printed on thin white paper, with the title "Shakespeare : The Complete Works", and a colour portrait of the Bard himself on the cover.

I cannot believe I actually found it at a rental book store! I have been looking for a book like this for ages! A compilation of all of Shakespeare's works in chronological order, from his first play to his last, his poems and sonnets, with a biography and an introduction. What a find!

I was rather hesitant to get the book, since it was rather expensive, but I succumbed to temptation and so, the book is now in my hands! And I must say, the bookstore owner seemed relieved to get rid of that book, probably because no one would ever buy it. I am probably the only one insane enough to get a book like this - thick, bulky, heavy, very small print, expensive.

But now that such a treasure is in my hands, I will slowly devour page by page, and immerse myself in the beauty of the olde English language once again! Now if only I can get my hands on the chocolate book, it will be another treasure for me!

Poetic License

A stranger you were once.
Then with a gentle look
You took my hand.
As our lives engaged,
You lit my life.
Love is a decision,
Not an emotion or feeling,
That if made from the heart
Will outlast anything.

Nice poem right? No, it is not by me. I got this from one of my online friends which I find very meaningful. Ironically, despite all the English Literature I have done, I still cannot write good poetry. :-( The above poem reminds me of Shakespeare's most famous sonnet - Sonnet No. 18.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling bud of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And ever fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Beautiful right? The best forms of poetry (especially love poems) I love are still Shakespearean quotations. Just like my favourite verses from some of my favourite plays below.

Romeo and Juliet

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs;
Being purg'd, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;
Being vex'd, a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears;
What is it else? A madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.

And the famous line : My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep: the more it give to thee The more I have, for both are infinite.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans;
Coy looks with heart-sore sighs; one fading moments mirth
With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights:
If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain;
If lost, why then a grievous labour won;
However, but a folly bought with wit,
Or else a wit by folly vanquished.

Twelth Night

If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! It had a dying fall;
O, it came o'er my ear like a sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour.

Maybe I shall try composing a haiku on the same theme :

What is about love
That cause all to live and die
In eternity.

Ok, I already said I cannot write any form of good poetry. I can analyse and argue about poems, but yet I suck at writing poems. That is why I always admire my friends who can write such beautiful poems so effortlessly. So for those of you who wants an explanation of what the above poems mean, feel free to let me know and I will give you the gist of all.

So good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say good night till it be morrow.

Why Shakespeare Heroine?

I have received feedback that I am probably the only one in the world who goes by the moniker "Shakespeare Heroine". Personally, I do not quite believe that, since I am just one in a whole lot of billions, but it will be nice actually if it is really true.

Hence the question : Why "Shakespeare Heroine"? Very simple – I love Shakespeare. I have read the abridged version of Shakespeare's plays in primary school, and when I entered secondary school, I got to do the unabridged versions for the first time. I remember doing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in Secondary 1, followed by "Romeo and Juliet" (my favourite of all times) in Secondary 2, then "The Merchant of Venice" as my 'O' Level text. When I entered Junior College, I used "Hamlet" as my 'A' level text, and "Julius Caesar" for my 'S' paper before I had to give it up. When I entered NIE, I did "MacBeth". I always get so immersed in all his tragedies and comedies. His plays are so intense that I always imagine myself in the shoes of the heroines.

When I was growing up, I used to have idealistic views of how love should be like. Shakespeare's works epitomizes love, drama and excitement, things I liked to have in my life. I would love to have the strong will of Juliet, who should just elope with Romeo, and not commit suicide. I would love to have the wit and brains of Portia (from "Merchant of Venice"), who married Bassanio and single-handedly saved his friend Antonio from the clutches of the wicked Jew Shylock. I would like to be Desdemona, who, despite all Othello's doubts about her, remained truly faithful and endured all his tantrums. I would like the strength of Ophelia, who loved Hamlet enough to let him go. But most of all, I would love to be Celia (Hee hee!) (from "As You Like It"), who escaped with her cousin Rosalind to the forest and endured hardship just to save her father from the evil duke.

Thus the name "Shakespeare Heroine". It does not refer to any one character in particular, but all of Shakespeare's great female characters. It can easily refer to Juliet, or Ophelia, or Helena, or even Cleopatra and Lady MacBeth. I do believe I am the only one of my friends who have read all of Shakespeare's original plays and sonnets and have all his books in my collection. Any one else with an entire collection? Perhaps we can trade!