The DVD of the Shakespeare Sonnets App arrived today.
As close to the App as possible, it’s been lushly produced, and so for those of you who are iPad-less but want to explore the Sonnets in performance, in Quarto, and from a number of critical, theatrical, and academic points of view, you can snag the DVD here:
Shakespeare Sonnets on DVD from Amazon
Produced by Illuminations Media, Faber and Faber, Arden Shakespeare and Touch Press, and features Sir Patrick Stewart, David Tennant, Fiona Shaw, Kim Cattrell, Dominic West, scholars James Shapiro and Katherine Duncan-Jones, and the poet Don Paterson, amongst many others.
The Shakespeare Sonnets iPad App came out a couple of weeks ago, to great acclaim:
Ben Crystal’s reading of Sonnet 141 in Original Pronunciation is a treat – theverge.com
Ben Crystal’s reading of Sonnet 141, delivered in Original Pronunciation, is a salutary reminder of the warmth and unpretentiousness of our national poet – Poor Rude Lines
A digital delight – Ben Crystal gives his approximation of Shakespeare’s own pronunciation, rugged and lilting at once – The Independent
An extraordindary achievement – The Times
A wonderful app that will provide hours of enjoyment –
The Telegraph
Faber’s app commissioner now wields as much power as the person who decides where to open a new Waitrose –
The Guardian
Just a wonderful iPad App… An absolute star for classrooms – iPadinsight.com
The App is produced by Illuminations Media, Faber and Faber, Arden Shakespeare and Touch Press, and features Sir Patrick Stewart, David Tennant, Fiona Shaw, Kim Cattrell, Dominic West, scholars James Shapiro and Katherine Duncan-Jones, and the poet Don Paterson, amongst many others.
I act Sonnet 141 – In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes in Original Pronunciation – take a look at the video here:
And you can download the App now from iTunes UK or iTunes US
Apologies for the lack of posting to this site in recent months…
Unless you follow me on Twitter you may not know I was playing Demetrius in Iris Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream this last July, in the gardens of St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden, London.
Nor that I curated a 70 minute CD of well-known – and not so well-known sonnets, speeches and scenes of Shakespeare for the British Library, the first of its kind spoken by professional actors, and out March 2012.
I’m about to adapt Venus and Adonis for Roughhouse Theatre & Bath Theatre Royal… and very excitingly, will be beginning work on a new series of books I’ve been commissioned to write for Arden Shakespeare…
Nor indeed, will you know that I am about to leave for Nevada, USA, to start rehearsals to play Hamlet…
It’s going to be an Original Pronunciation production, the first for 400 years, and will open November 1st.
I’ll be keeping an account and diary of the whole process – the first of which will be up very soon – and found via my Twitter feed…
