Celebrating St. Crispin’s Day →

Guy Patrick Cunningham celebrates St. Crispin’s Day (Oct. 25), Shakespeare’s Henry V, and — by extension — Shakespeare himself:

In a sense, the best counterpoint to Henry is Shakespeare himself, who has managed to take a shallow, dishonest man and turn him into the subject of a profound, candid work of art.

The whole play (Gutenberg, Wikisource, Amazon) is definitely worth a read-through. It’s one of my favorites.

Sci Fi Saves Shakespeare, For Real This Time →

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet production stars Doctor Who’s David Tennant as the brooding prince and Star Trek: TNG’s Patrick Stewart (who’s had some pretty impressive Shakespeare roles over his career) as Claudius. Casting two high-profile science fiction stars means that audiences contain a lot more geeks than usual — the type of people more likely to stand in line for Star Wars tickets than Two Gentlemen of Verona.