Shakespeare on Toast

Being interviewed on t’radio tomorrow about Shakespeare on Toast…

Details to be found here…

The Richard III Quarto, at the British Library Evolving English Exhibition, 13 November 2010 -- 3rd April 2011

I was asked to record the opening speech of Richard 3 for the British Library’s Evolving English Exhibition. Knowing the listener would be using headphones while reading the original Quarto edition, I found myself whispering the speech into the microphone. Have a listen and get inside Richard’s head… The Folio text is below.

Now is the Winter… in Original Pronunciation

Enter Richard Duke of Gloster, solus.

Now is the Winter of our Discontent,
Made glorious Summer by this Son of Yorke:
And all the clouds that lowr’d vpon our house
In the deepe bosome of the Ocean buried.
Now are our browes bound with Victorious Wreathes,
Our bruised armes hung vp for Monuments;
Our sterne Alarums chang’d to merry Meetings;
Our dreadfull Marches, to delightfull Measures.
Grim-visag’d Warre, hath smooth’d his wrinkled Front:
And now, in stead of mounting Barbed Steeds,
To fright the Soules of fearfull Aduersaries,
He capers nimbly in a Ladies Chamber,
To the lasciuious pleasing of a Lute.*
But I, that am not shap’d for sportiue trickes,
Nor made to court an amorous Looking-glasse:
I, that am Rudely stampt, and want loues Maiesty,
To strut before a wonton ambling Nymph:
I, that am curtail’d of this faire Proportion,
Cheated of Feature by dissembling Nature,**
Deform’d, vn-finish’d, sent before my time
Into this breathing World, scarse halfe made vp,
And that so lamely and vnfashionable,
That dogges barke at me, as I halt by them.
Why I (in this weake piping time of Peace)
Haue no delight to passe away the time,
Vnlesse to see my Shadow in the Sunne,
And descant on mine owne Deformity.

*In the Quarto text the word is Love, not Lute
**I think my favourite bit is the way the rhythm begins to canter here…

From the series of talks I gave Macmillan Poland in May 2010…

Discussing the difference between performing Shakespeare in RP vs OP (Shakespeare’s accent); then performing Sonnet 116 in RP, and OP; and then reading from the opening chapter of Toast, Schwarzengger’s Hamlet…

About the Book

The video below was made for the Meet The Author website. In it, Ben talks about exactly why Shakespeare on Toast is so different from all the other books on Shakespeare out there…

Excerpt

To whet the buds of those of you out there wanting to know a little more of what Shakespeare on Toast is like, here’s a slice to get your teeth into…

Click on the book to read the excerpt…

Get your own – Open publication

Podcast

Last year I was invited to speak on a panel on Speaking Shakespeare at the British Shakespeare Association. They asked me to talk about Original Pronunciation – the accent Shakespeare and his band of brothers would have been using some 400 odd years ago.

So please click the link below to hear an excerpt from a Podcast interview that took place after the panel session…

Speaking Shakespeare Podcast

Interview

Interview for BBC Radio Wales with Phil Rickman, recorded the week before at the Hay on Wye Winter Weekend and broadcast 7th December, 2008 –Shakespeare on Toast “breaks new ground” says Phil, while I explain just why Shakespeare’s poetry is so interesting and so misunderstood…

Click here to listen to the interview

Worked up an appetite? Fancy a little more? Buy the book from Amazon or The Book Depository…

From the series of talks I gave last week for Macmillan Poland…

Discussing the difference between performing Shakespeare in RP vs OP (Shakespeare’s accent); then performing Sonnet 116 in RP, and OP; and then reading from the opening chapter of Toast, Schwarzengger’s Hamlet…

Spent a fine morning being filmed running around the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre with Dad: he explaining the origins of the Original Pronunciation experiments, me acting some examples.

Performed excerpts from Henry V, Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and all of Sonnet 116 – which sounds SO different in Shakespeare’s accent – then were interviewed about our work together.

All for an Open University film. Lovely to work with Dad again. Lovely to be back in that terrific space.

Now to Poland to give a series of Shakespeare talks, Ash Cloud permitting… (has it really been capitalised?)

A clip from BBC Blast’s film about the Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company’s production of Othello Retold, which I worked on last year…

The workshop as part of Akala’s HipHop Shakespeare Company Othello Retold project with BBC Blast can now be seen on the BBC iPlayer…

And my father, David Crystal, has written a blog-post about it, so touched was he by one of the sequences…

<< Back to Interviews Page

TV

CNN Clip, April 2009
I was asked to appear on CNN for Shakespeare’s 445th birthday… Here’s the clip:

Meet The Author, 2008
The video below was made for the Meet The Author website. In it, I talk about exactly why Shakespeare on Toast is so different from all the other books on Shakespeare out there…

Richard & Judy, 2005
Okay, so I just dug this out, a video clip of when I was asked onto C4′s Richard & Judy chat-show, to talk about a copy of the 1623 First Folio that’d been found in an attic… Enjoy!

Radio

Click the links to listen to the interviews…

Interview with Libby Purves on BBC Radio 4′s Midweek, from June 10th, 2009

Interview with Ian McMillan on BBC Radio 3′s The Verb, from 19th June, 2009 – talking in & about Original Pronunciation – Shakespeare’s accent…

Interview with Phil Rickman on BBC Radio Wales, from December 7th, 2008 — recorded at the Hay Winter Weekend, Shakespeare on Toast “breaks new ground” says Phil, while I explain just why Shakespeare’s poetry is so interesting and so misunderstood…

Interview with Trisha Goddard on CityTalk FM, from September 14th 2008 — talking about whether Shakespeare is still relevant…

Interview with Muthamma Prasad for her BookClub show on PhoenixFM, from October 24th 2008 — talking about my favourite books, reading experiences, and of course, Shakespeare…

Recent Appearances

2008
September
1st, BBC Asian Network, Nikki Bedi

3rd, RTE, Morning Show, Tom Dunne

5th, BBC Radio Kent, Pat Marsh Show

6th, BBC Radio London, JoAnne Good

8th, BBC Radio Shropshire, Clare Ashford

8th, BBC Radio Wales, Roy Noble

10th, BBC Radio Leith

11th, Radio Mediterraneo FM, Hannah Murray

14th, BBC Radio Lincolnshire

14th, CityTalk FM, Trisha Goddard

30th, BBC Radio Cambridge, Sue Dougan

October
24th, Phoenix FM, Muthamma Prasad’s Bookclub

November
20th, BBC Radio 5 Live, Dotun Adebayo

2009
March
15th, BBC Radio 5, Up All Night with Dotun Adebayo

April
23rd, CNN, Around the World with Becky Anderson

June
10th, 9am BBC Radio 4, Midweek with Libby Purves
11th, 10am BBC Radio Bristol, Graham Torrington’s show
19th, 9.15pm BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 3′s The Verb, with Ian McMillan

<< Back to Interviews Page

The interview clip from last week’s The Verb on BBC Radio 3, where I talked in & about Original Pronunciation – Shakespeare’s accent – with Ian McMillan is now up.

Listen here…!