The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0392 Thursday, 4 May 2006
[1] From: Al Magary <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wednesday, 03 May 2006 12:18:42 -0700
Subj: A Waste of Shame
[2] From: Martin Steward <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 4 May 2006 08:20:59 +0100
Subj: SHK 17.0383 "Waste of Shame" on BBC-America
[3] From: Olwen Terris <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 4 May 2006 08:48:45 +0100
Subj: RE: SHK 17.0383 "Waste of Shame" on BBC-America
[4] From: Kevin De Ornellas <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 04 May 2006 12:27:16 +0100
Subj: Re: SHK 17.0383
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Al Magary <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wednesday, 03 May 2006 12:18:42 -0700
Subject: A Waste of Shame
A BBC America drama about Shakespeare is scheduled this Saturday; this
seems to have been broadcast in UK in Fall 2005. The blurb
(http://bbcamerica.com/genre/movies_specials/a_waste_of_shame/a_waste_of_shame.jsp):
A Waste of Shame, starring Rupert Graves (The Forsyte Saga) is an
intense drama about the passionate and destructive love triangle that
consumed Shakespeare - fueling some of the most celebrated, sexual, raw,
bitter, and vitriolic love poems ever written. Written by William Boyd
(Chaplin), the film focuses on two key figures in Shakespeare's life
that featured heavily in his sonnets, "dark lady" and "fair youth."
In 1609 William Shakespeare published a collection of 154 sonnets,
creating the greatest lyric sequence of poems in world literature. 126
of these sonnets are addressed to a fair youth, and 26 are addressed to
a dark lady. The mystery the sonnets contain has endured for almost 400
years - who was the fair youth that inspired such passion? Who was
Shakespeare's dark lady?
Based on academic sources, A Waste of Shame begins in 1596, when
Shakespeare is working as a playwright in London, away from his wife and
children. He's in rehearsal for Henry IV when he's told his
eleven-year-old son, Hamnet, is deathly ill. He races back to Stratford,
but his son dies shortly after. Upon his return, his life is radically
changed when he's asked to become a mentor to the seventeen-year-old
Earl of Pembroke. Shakespeare is immediately struck by his physical
beauty and is soon drawn deeper and deeper into his world.
A Waste of Shame also stars Zoe Wanamaker (My Family) as the Countess of
Pembroke, Tom Sturridge (Being Julia) as the fair youth, and Indira
Varma (Rome) as the dark lady.
A Waste of Shame premieres Saturday, May 6th, 8:00 p.m. ET/9:00 p.m. PT.
[BBC's press release on this production is at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/09_september/06/4autumn_highlights.shtml
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Martin Steward <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 4 May 2006 08:20:59 +0100
Subject: "Waste of Shame" on BBC-America
Comment: SHK 17.0383 "Waste of Shame" on BBC-America
"BBC-America is going to be telecasting a television film about
Shakespeare this Saturday, entitled 'Waste of Shame.' Apparently it was
shown on television in England last year. Can anyone who saw this in
England advise as to whether or not it is worth watching?"
It looks good, there are some nice performances and it's lots of fun as
long as you don't take it too seriously.
m
[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Olwen Terris <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 4 May 2006 08:48:45 +0100
Subject: 17.0383 "Waste of Shame" on BBC-America
Comment: RE: SHK 17.0383 "Waste of Shame" on BBC-America
I am afraid I thought it quite dreadful. The writer William Boyd wrote
of the drama - "the lustful, misogynistic tone of the Dark Lady sonnets
seems to me to lead naturally to the conclusion that she might have been
a prostitute". This is the premise. I have a strong aversion to dramatic
reconstructions, and this was one of the worst; dialogue which it was
difficult to believe that anyone would ever speak and very few academic
insights into Shakespeare's work. It seemed to want to be a 'Shakespeare
in Love' and failed (for me).
William Boyd's comments on how he approached the drama can be read by
visiting http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1644965,00.html
Olwen Terris
Senior researcher
Shakespeare Project
British Universities Film and Video Council.
[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Kevin De Ornellas <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 04 May 2006 12:27:16 +0100
Subject: 17.0383
Comment: Re: SHK 17.0383
>"Waste of Shame." ... Can anyone who saw this in England
>advise as to whether or not it is worth watching?
I think that you need to make that decision yourself. Have a look at the
BBC/OU web page on the program:
http://www.open2.net/shakespeareretold/wasteofshame_progsummary.html
Incidentally, the BBC broadcasts its analogue and digital signals
throughout the British/Irish Isles, not just in England.
See also a 'Waste of Shame'-related article from last year's 'Guardian':
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,,1645660,00.html
Kevin De Ornellas
University of Ulster
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