For newbies here, TRP (The Reading Project) refers to an off-shoot of TMP (The Memory Project). Inspired by the reading habits of the Nolan family in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, I decided to read a little Shakespeare and the Bible every day.
Two weeks into the New Year, it’s already evident that my life won’t accommodate any daily, seven-day-a-week ritual other than moisturizing. So instead of reading one page of S & B daily, I try to read Shakespeare at the rate of one scene per sitting and I prefer to get the whole act in, if time allows. As for the Bible, a chapter works better, at least in Genesis.
Unexpected discovery: There’s nothing better than reading a Shakespeare play, stopping with the penultimate scene, and then seeing it performed. Of course, it helped that the DC production of A COMEDY OF ERRORS was one of the best I’ve seen at the Shakespeare Theater there (and I’ve a season-ticket holder for almost five years now). Still, I have to think my knowledge of the text helped a lot. So now that I’m reading THE MERCHANT OF VENICE – which happens to be one of the rare Shakespeare plays that I’ve managed to never see or read – I plan to try this again, popping in the latest film version when I’m almost through.
Meanwhile, a nice bit of synchronicity this week, as I find Shylock referencing a passage in Genesis that happened to be that day’s Bible reading, the bit about Jacob and Laban and the sheep. Meanwhile, I’m kind of appalled by the Desperate Housewives subplot of this week’s portion, in which Jacob has sex with Rachel, Leah and their servants. Are mandrakes so precious that you would trade a night with your husband for some? Wisteria Lane pales. But nothing bothers me more than the Jacob and Esau story, the part about how Jacob steals Esau’s blessing.
As for my other reading: I’ve yet to begin my first Jane Smiley book, from her list of 101 titles (Jennifer Egan’s LOOK AT ME), but I did finish KINGS OF INIFINITE SPACE (highly recommended), and, forgetting about my resolve to read the Smiley books, I started ARTHUR AND GEORGE, then remembered that I needed to read DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP and “Minority Report,” because Crow references them in NO GOOD DEEDS and if he read them, I better, too. And I have a galley in the on-deck circle (hang on, Bob!) and six student manuscripts about to land, and my own galleys, which I’m reading aloud, the better to catch errors. Somewhere along the way, I squeezed in two comfort re-reads: THE JOYOUS SEASON (Patrick Dennis) and A NOVEL CALLED HERITAGE (Margaret Mitchell Dukore).
In short: No apologies, not yet, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m keeping my resolution even as it evolves.
My favorite version of Comedy of Errors? the one the Flying Karamazov Brothers performed years ago. A bunch of their long-time fans went to see it at Lincoln Center; later when it was on PBS, my dad taped it for me.
My favorite version of R & J? San Francisco Ballet’s version, as choreographed by Michael Smuin.
In fact, one of the first Shakespeare productions I ever saw was a ballet version – NYC Ballet maybe? – of “The Tempest”. Which I also saw as a kid at the Hartford Stage Company.
And I still want to sit and watch the entire Ian McKellan Richard III, having only seen a few bits of it but loving the ease with which the language comes to him and the fascinating interpretation of the story in a fascist English setting.
You may want to double your pleasure by reading Smiley’s A THOUSAND ACRES when reading Shakespeare’s KING LEAR. Or you could triple it by seeing James Earl Jones’ portrayal on video before reading the last act. (Can’t say I advocate the movie version of A THOUSAND ACRES, though.)
Can I watch WEST SIDE STORY when it’s time for Romeo & Juliet?
(Oh, who am I kidding? I’m going to watch the one from my youth, Olivia Hussey and what’s-his-name.)
and here’s Smiley’s list, FYI, sorry for any duplication
http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/smiley100/list.html
bkworm, thanks! Everybody keeps referencing this list and now I finally know where to find it.
And watch the Peter Brooks version of Lear, with Paul Scofield. It’s excellent.
I love “Do Androids Dream…” The clunkiest opening imaginable, but it really gets into its stride.
I saw Merchant of Venice at Stratford-upon-Avon back when I was at school. It starred Sting’s ex-wife and was reduced to hilarity, partly because of some wobbly staging and partly because the men all wore codpieces with little pieces of tinsel on them. Also saw a Macbeth at Stratford which was so bad, the audience cheered when Macbeth was killed. As a counterbalance, saw Julius Caesar without knowing the text and was enormously moved by it.
Can I suggest, when you get around to Winter’s Tale that you watch the Eric Rohmer film of the same name. It’s not about the play, even though there’s a lengthy excerpt from it in the middle of the film, but it’s immensely moving and deals with some of the same themes.
Leonard Whiting(and Leonard Di Caprio played Romeo in that modern version I couldn’t finish watching)
The Rohmer film isn’t a version of the play, though it includes a chunk of the play in it. I’ve just written about it in a piece about French cinema over at http://contemporary-nomad.blogspot.com/ But Winter’s Tale is an intriguing play, all the same.
As for Macbeth, you have to watch Kurosawa’s “Throne of Blood” with that. It’s the best version of the play I’ve ever seen.
Kevin,
Thank you for the suggestion for Winter’s Tale, one of my favorites that I’ve never seen staged. I may read that next, in fact, now that I know there’s an interesting film version.
Which reminds me . . . now I can watch Scotland, PA after reading Macbeth.
Hey, I was “surfing” the net “writers thingss.” and found THE MEMORY PROJECT. I was quite surprised that my book (“A novel called HERITAGE”) was one of your “comfort re-reads.” That wasn’t my title of choice, but when it’s your first novel, and Charles Scribner Jr. says he thinks “A NOVEL CALLED HERITAGE” is a better one, you say, “Yes, that’s a very good idea.” I’ve published a second called “BLOOM” and the third is still making the rounds…”they” think people won’t understand it (my sisteen year old daughter did). For NOW it’s called DREAMING IN REVERSE. I’m you liked and mentioned my book. Best, Margie