Thoughts on Ian McKellen's "Acting Shakespeare"

In 1982, Ian McKellen entertained a live audience for 1 hour and 26 minutes performing select speeches from various Shakespeare plays: Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Henry V, MacBeth, Tempest, King Lear.

I was particularly struck by ihs rendition of Act 2, scene 2 where Hamlet asks the Player to perform the death of Priam and then the succeeding soliloquy. The scene is all about Hamlet thinking about how the Player so gets into his role that he actually cries. Hamlet wonders how the Player can cry over Priam when he is not Hecuba and that he Hamlet is so distanced and unemotional when his own father has been murdered.

At the beginning of the soliloquy as I watch Ian McKellen perform, I realize that Shakespeare is telling the people how they should behave as an audience, how they should enter into the world of the characters and respond to their dilemmas.

Why had I not noticed this before? I think it was because as I watched this old dvd of McKellen's one man snow, I was struck by the artificiality of what McKellen was doing as he introduced each character and scene, acted the speech, and then wove in facts about Shakespeare's life and Elizabethan England and London.

His performance of Polonius listing the actor's repertoire was hilarious -- and that is something I barely read finding it too tedious.

I am watching this section of the dvd again. McKellen sits in a plush brown velvet chair as Hamlet, and then stands up when he becomes the Player reciting the murder of Priam by Pyrrhus and the grief of Hecuba, the mobiled queen. When he sits down again in the chair, his entire demeanor changes and he becomes the suddenly ashamed and hyper-critical Hamlet.

McKellen wears grey pants and a blue shirt with the buttons half undone down his chest. His hair is air blown without any grey and his face is craggy with pronounced cheekbones and thin sensitive lips. His face is free of wrinkles except around the eyes and sketched on the forehead. His blue eyes recede and blaze with emotion occasionally. When he says "vengenance," he raises his voice to a shout and his clenched hands to the heavens. He rubs his temples when he says "brain" and then has the suddenly inspiration of how to trap the conscience of a king.

Bob has a small poster of McKellen from this production. He always spoke of watching this of PBS and wishing to have a copy to share with this students. While it is quite good, I think the students would prefer to see excerpts since they might find the style a little old-fashioned.

Footnote: He has a great Scottish accent version of Macbeth's speech "Life is but a walking shadow." He then summarizes the progress of Macbeth as a character from the play's beginning to the end.

More on the Academic Schedule

Each day during the Cambridge Teacher Seminar, we had a full day of sessions, activities, and discussions planned.

Here is a brief overview:

Sunday, July 4
Walking tour of Cambridge by Suzanne Lynch; this was our quick orientation to the village of Cambridge, the nearby colleges, and how to get back to Westcott House

Monday, July 5
9-12:30 Visual Experience discussed "What is art?"
2-4:30 "Writing England: Viriginia Woolf and Questions of National Identity" by Dr. Suzanne Lynch
4:30-5:30 "Cambridge University in 1,000 Steps" which was a guided tour by Dr. Nicholas James and an explanation of the Cambridge undergraduate educational system

Tuesday, July 6
9-12:30 Visual Experience learned about architecture from the medieval period to the modern and then took a walking tour of various colleges to see examples
2-4:30 A Poetry reading by Andrew Motion, former poet laureate of Great Britain
4:30-6:00 "Literature Makes History: How Poets Helped End Slavery" by Professor James Basker, the founder of the Oxbridge Summer Programs
8:00-9:00 "Emotions and the Good Life" by Dr. Nick Treanor

Wednesday, July 7
9-12:30 Visual Experience discussed various aspects of art: line, color, form, compostion, etc and then took a tour of the FitzWilliam Museum
2-4:30 A tour of the FitzWilliam by Hannah Malone
5-6:00 Choral Evensong at King's College Chapel
8-9:00 Cambridge Voices a cappella concert in the Wesley Church

Thursday, July 8
9-12:30 Visual Experience learned about Funerary architecture
4:30-6:00 "Oliver Cromwell: A Great, Bad Man" by John Morrill
6:30-9:00 Reception with the Gates Scholars and staff from the Cambridge Tradition and the Cambridge Prep Experience

Friday, July 9
9-12:30 Visual Experience discussed Impressionist Painters, their techniques and their popularity
2-4:00 "Trip to the Whipple Museum and Cambridge Science" led by Dr. Simon Mitton
4:30-5:30 "Animals and Ethics" by Professor Michael Banner

Saturday, July 10
9-12:30 Visual Experience learned about the history of burials and cemeteries and visited a graveyard
6:30-9:30 Farewell banquet hosted by Professor James Basker in The Prioress's Room, Jesus College

Clare College Fellows Garden

On my early early Saturday morning walk, I found the gate to the Fellows Garden of Clare College. It was a wrought iron gate with a piece of convex glass embedded in the center. Of course it was locked, but I promised myself that I would come back later in the day. I could glimpse through the gate how lovely the gardens were.
I was not disappointed. Come in and see the flowers.

A slide show of the flowers.

A Contrast

On Saturday I went to the Cam on two separate occasions. The first was quite early in the morning. The only sounds were the birds and my own footsteps. Not even the river made any noise at it slipped past. Here is a video:



Then I went back a few hours later and stood basically in the same spot. The scene was totally different. Do you see the guy who fell out of the punt?

I spy....

There is a guitar player somewhere in this picture. Can you find him?

The Gömböc. Wait! What is that?

When our group first entered the Whipple Science Museum, several of us noticed this odd shape rocking in the first display case. One of the other women muttered that it started to move when we walked into the room. I think the vibrations made by all our heavy steps disturbed it.
It was beautifully mesmerizing to watch as it rocked silently in the case.
Here is a video, and sorry about the reflections so bear with them.

What do you think? Can you find out more about it?

What about the Academics?

I figure I better provide proof that I am doing something academic and intellectual at Cambridge. So here is a video of a few pages of my notebook.

The Cambridge Teacher's program supplied each person with sturdy bound notebooks. I have carried mine to each lecture and Visual Experience study group and taken notes. On the right are notes from the lectures and on the left are random thoughts or side-tracks.

The New Cakes at Fitzbillie's?

Walking back from the Fitzwilliam Museum, I paused at the window of Fitzbillie's to see what new pastry delights they had. Sadly, nothing like the cupcakes of two days ago as you can see from these two pictures. I will keep an eye on the shop to see if the display case improves.

Views from St. Mary's Tower

On July 8, I climbed the 123 stairs to the top of the tower of St. Mary's and looked down at all the lovely colleges.

Once at the top, the view covered all 4 directions. Here is what I saw looking north.



And here is what I saw looking West.

Today we went as a group to choral evensong at King's College Chapel. There I am waiting outside to enter the Chapel. In the background is the entrance to King's College. Can you guess when it was built? I will tell you at the bottom. You may be surprised.

Anyway, choral evensong is a beautiful service lasting about 45 minutes. The service is mostly conducted in song except for two readings from the Old Testament and the New Testament. The singing is down antiphonally by the choir of boys and men (tonight only men). So for example when they sang Psalm 33, they passed each verse back and forth between them so you have song first from one side of the choir and then from the other.

We were able to sit near the choir because Liz (the bursar of Westcott House) knows the King's College chapel folks well. Two of her boys were choristers. We took our seats first and then after us came at least 100 other people. Some of them could sat between the choir stalls and the alter but others sat in the nave beyond the choir stalls. Those people could not see the choir at all and maybe could not hear them very well. When I observed them sitting in the nave and craning their heads to peer inside the open arched gothic door to see the choir, I suddenly realized how hierarchical and exclusive are some aspects of the Church of England.

As I sat down, I tipped my head back to look at the magnificent fan vaulting. Where each set of fans met was either a Tudor rose or a Beaufort portcullis -- both carved in high relief.

Also as I sat, I scanned the dark wood of the choir screen to find the initials of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. I had read he had had their initials carved into the screen. I found his initials on little shields: H R for Henricus Rex. I thought I saw on the other side of the choir H A and felt satisfied. However after evensong, I took a closer look and discovered my mistake. Those initials too were H R.

The evensong service as lovely. But I did get rather tired standing through all 28 verses of Psalm 33 which was all about how the speaker was being tormented by his enemies.

After the service, I began searching the screen for those initials. I was the last one to leave and did so only reluctantly. When I stepped through the gothic arch, I turned around and saw HR carved in a circle on each door. Then I looked to the left and up. I found more H R initials. Still nothing and I felt acutely disappointed. But then I looked over on the right hand side of the screen. There they were!

Up above my head: the H and the A. Carved together. The loops of the lower limbs of the letters curved and twined -- to my eye making a heart shape.

I tried to take a picture but my hands were too shakey with excitement. So down below is a blurry version of the initials which I tried to edit and enhance to make look better.

I remember reading that when she was crowned, these two initials were on the carriage or something and everyone pointed at them and said "ha, ha!"




Oh yes, the entrance gate was built in the 19th century during a neogothic revival.

The Round Church

This little church is Norman one which built after the Crusaders returned from the Holy Land. There they had seen the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which Constantine had been built over the empty grave of Jesus Christ in the 4th century.

This style church is found all over Europe but England only has 3 of these left.

Here is a picture of what it looks like from the outside but I also took a video of the inside of the church. To take the video, I stood in the exact center of the original nave of the church and beginning at the stained glass window in the 14th/15th century chancel, I turned in a slow circle. You really can see that this church is round!

A Comparison

Today I went walking absurdly early in the morning and I took these two pictures.

The one on the right is of Henry VIII. The one of the left has the caption "The King Was Not a Handsome Man."

When I was reviewing them today, I thought they spoke to each other on a number of different levels.


What do you think?

An Inspirational Bakery in Cambridge

I happened by a bakery on Trumpington Street in Cambridge and noticed the beautifully decorated cakes in the window. What caught my eye first was the chocolate cake with the teddy bear wearing a graduation cap. I think graduation from University took place recently because it was the end of term last Sunday and lots of shops have graduation themes in their windows.

Anyway, I took these pictures and a video for my girl since she loves to bake and decorate cupcakes.

I have noticed there are several very nice bakeries in Cambridge. There is a french patisserie on Jesus Lane which is a 1 minute walk from Westcott House. One afternoon I will indulge in something decadent there with a cup of good coffee.

I have seen a Starbucks around the corner and I will have to go there to finally get a decent cup of coffee. All the coffee I have been served at the B & B and Westcott has been sludge.

A View of Emmanuel College Courtyard

Emmanuel College in Cambridge is on St. Andrew's street. We were led there on a tour by Professor Nicholas James. He explained the typical layout of each college using Emmanuel as an example. As you see in this video which was taken standing in front of the Porter's Lodge: first there is the dining room which you can see has a large bow window -- this lets in more light which falls on the table where the masters eat; then directly across the green is the chapel; then there are the lodgings for students and professors; and last you see the Porter's Lodging. The Porter allows people in and out of the College. As Professor James said, the Porter knows everyone and knows who should be allowed out -- or not.

Two Videos from a Visit to a Cambridge Pub

What can you see beside the River Cam while sipping a pint of bitter?

Take a look!


And another one taking a few seconds later.

Guard on the March

London: The Tower, Westminister Abbey, and Lots of Walking

Here is a slide show of a visit to the Tower and Westminster Abbey.

I added captions to all of the pictures.

Let me know what you think!

Seeing Great Works of Art -- Tudor, Greek, Assyrian, Anglo-Saxon

July 3

Here is a slide show of what I saw in the British Museum. But scroll further down for a description of a day of walking and sight-seeing.



Tomorrow I go to Cambridge for my week there, but now I wonder if my suitcase will close. I have bought so many presents that it is already bulging. I wonder too if it will be less than 50 pounds. I am going to have to keep an eye out for smaller and lighter presents.

Today was a busy day. Let me list the sites:
1. St. Margaret Church next to Westminster Abbey
2. The National Portrait Gallery
3. The British Museum
4. Kensington Gardens
5. Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain
6. The Albert Pub for fish and chips

St. Margaret’s tomb was most interesting for the various 16th century memorials – in particular one for Cornelius van Dun who managed to remain a warden of the guard through 4 separate, successive monarchies beginning with Henry VIII and ending with Elizabeth I. He must have been totally apolitical to survive all 4 reigns in that place of honor. Or else without a brain.

Also there is the body of Sir Walter Raleigh – they brought that there after he was beheaded for displeasing James I. He could not stop raiding the Spanish. Thomas Seymour (d. 1600) is there with his wife. I wonder if he is Jane Seymour’s brother. I must check on that.

After that I strolled (rather walked fast because I had set myself a tight time line) to the National Portrait Gallery. I had little use for most of the galleries except the Tudor gallery and the Romantic gallery and the contemporary gallery. Courtesy of the London Pass, I received a guidebook and took copious notes in that which I will render later. The definite highlight of the Tudor Gallery was the portrait of Catherine Parr. Maybe this is because hers was among the first I saw after the portrait of the 5 generations of Sir Thomas More’s family. But Catherine Parr’s portrait was beautifully rendered in the detail of the brush work on the furs, the lace, and the brocade. Her face was lovely and serene. By this portrait I can see why Henry married after the turbulence of his previous wife.

Also in the museum, I saw a painting of Diana, which was done during her engagement to Prince Charles. It was hung next to a portrait of hm. Both paintings were of equal size. I wonder why….but only her portrait was shown in the guidebook.

I could not find a recent portrait of J.K. Rowling. But from the picture in the guidebook it looked odd. She is seated on a chair in a room out of perspective. Now is that because of the originality of the conception of the wizarding world?

I next went to see the British Museum shepherded by the guide of London Walks. I only listened to less than half of the talk because it was old knowledge – mostly. I did learn a couple of things about the Elgin marbles. But it was useful as a quick orientation to this incredible museum. Among the treasures we were taken to were:
• Elgin Marbles
• Sutton Hoo helmet
• the chess men of Lewis
• the Rosetta Stone
• the lion hunt from Nineveh
I took out early and tried to get to Kensington Palace before it closed admission at 5 pm. I did not make it, but had a lovely walk through the garden and then through the park. I spend at least an hour watching children play and walk in the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial fountain. I put my feet in its cold water and only left when everyone else was evicted by the guards.

Then I walked through the Garden past Buckingham Palace and down Buckingham Gate Road to the Albert Pub for another fish and chips dinner. I shall tour London and England sampling each pub’s fish and chips! Instead of beer, I had a glass of white wine.

Then back to the quiet B & B hosted by the old Italian man (his wife had heart trouble 3 months ago when she was visiting Italy and is still there).

Canterbury Cathedral

On July 2, I woke up very early to catch a train from London to Canterbury. It was surprisingly easy to do and the train ride was quite comfortable.
Once there, I walked across a small pedestrian bridge to the ring wall and caught a first glimpse of the spires of Canterbury Cathedral. I was following the footsteps of Chaucer's pilgrims 600 years later.

Here are some pictures to give you a sense of what I saw. And I promise to write more later.

London: The Tower, Westminister Abbey, and Lots of Walking

July 1, 2010
Today was a day of total walking. It began after breakfast and a tube ride from St. James to Tower Hill on the District Line. This meant 7 stops going east. Once there, I walked to the entrance to the Tower. I wanted to arrive early because I had read in the guidebooks that the Tower gets crowded very quickly in the summer – and they were not wrong.
Most of the morning was spend touring the Tower, using an audio guide and then an official guide. The Tower was first built by William the Conqueror to control the populace after he vanquished Harald at Hastings. It was at first a royal residence and defensive structure and then later acquired its more sinister reputation. You see, the Tower was quite secure – a safe haven for the monarchs and a strong jail for the prisoners.
Not all the prisoners were put in dungeons. The royal ones – such as Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I – were held in royal apartments. Anne was held in the same rooms where she stayed before her coronation – these were room Henry VIII had redecorated for her in 1533. Walter Raleigh was held in the Bloody Tower and his wife came to visit him there. In fact, they had a son while he was imprisoned. How is that for conjugal visiting privileges?
I also saw the water gate, which is now called the Traitor’s Gate. Originally the gate was opened to allow the king’s barge to dock when he came to the Tower on the Thames. The gate is wide enough so that the entire barge can enter. The water gate is directly below the royal apartments in the Thomas More Tower (I need to check the name of this tower). In this tower, I saw the royal apartments where Henry VII’s Elizabeth gave birth and died. I also saw a bed made up for the king. There was an interesting display that allowed you to touch the samples of various materials which made the mattresses (straw vs horse hair vs feathers), bolsters, sheets of linen, coverlets of tapestry and curtains of rougher tapestry.
In the White Tower was an armor display (you children would have loved this given that you always make me go into the Philadelphia Fine Art Museum’s armor room). There I saw the two suits of armor made for Henry VIII – one when he was young, thin and had a 34 inch waist and one when he was old, fat, and had a 54 inch waist. The armor was composed of many pieces and fit together like a puzzle depending on what activity the king was engaged in – jousting, foot combat, or real battle.
Also in the White Tower is the King’s Chapel, a fine example of Romanesque architecture. Now this chapel I found astonishing. It was here Henry married Katherine of Aragon. It was here that the kings worshipped privately. Only they could stand on the main floor of the chapel. All others had to stand on the balcony looking down at the king at worship. The guide mentioned that you could come back and attend Sunday service. The service is a 9 am and I plan on being there! Who could resist not praying where the kings and queens have prayed?
After the tour, I took the subway again to catch a London Walks tour of Old Westminster. That was quite interesting and covered a huge swath of history. Of particular interest was the tour through the back streets where the politicians lived. David showed us the house where the British Neo-Nazi movement began and then he pointed out the house literally around the corner where Churchill and his friends began the Anti-appeasement Movement. I also walked by the house where Lawrence revised his book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
We saw many things on this walk and I don’t want to enumerate them all right now, but I must talk about attending evensong at Westminster Abbey.
In this Abbey is buried Edward the Confessor. In this abbey William was crowned king on Christmas Day 1066.
It was a lovely service in the nave of the church. Organ music played a prelude before the choristers entered in a double line. They stood on either side of the choristers nave composed of wooden seats with little lamps with little white shades before each seat. The back walls of the choristers nave were painted a rich blue and ornamented with gold leaf spires, arches, and curliques. The choristers sang antiphonally, passing the lines back and forth across the nave of the church and the sound soared to the top of the gothic arched roof.
I sat in the front row, facing opposite rows of seats and behind the people-filled seats, I caught glimpses of Poet’s Corner.
The service was a special one because in attendance for the first time was the High Commissioner of Rwanda and his wife. She read the second lesson from the Gospel of Matthew. She read well, but her voice was soft and I did not catch all the words. What an intimidating setting for a visitor – even the High Commissioner’s wife. We also said amen to a special prayer for the peace of security of Rwanda.
When the service was over, we were ushered out of the Abbey. Heaven forbid that we might wander about and sightsee when we had not paid admission of 15 pounds. But as I was leaving, I walked over the grave of Charles Darwin and saw the sculpture for Sir Isaac Newtown and paused at the tomb of the Unknown British Soldier from the Great War and saw the memorial stone reminding us all to remember Winston Churchill who led Britain through its darkest hours.
After this, I decided to get some dinner. I had eaten nothing all day. Not even a snack from my back pack and I had had almost nothing to drink. I am not sure the half pint I had at St. Stephen’s before the tour counts. So I walked west along the south bank of the Thames and walked 20 minutes or so to the Founder’s Pub where the night before I had gulped down a pint because the tour guide wanted to leave. I had a more leisurely meal tonight – one of the evening specials of fish, chips, and salad and a pint of Gold. It was a lovely, quiet meal and I caught my breath and sent a couple e-mails back home to my husband and children.
I emerged to a quiet dusk and walked a little further to the New Globe and took a few pictures. A lovely Estonian woman volunteered to take my picture in front of the wrought iron gate to the New Globe if I would take hers. It seemed a fair bargain and the picture she took did not turn out too bad. Then I took several more pictures of the various animals ornamenting the gate. Each one was mentioned in a play such as Hamlet’s crab and Macbeth’s bear. I could not find Lear’s pelican but I am sure it was there.

Preparing for a Trip to Great Britain

In just a couple of days I will travel to England for the first time in my life -- which is kind of amazing given that I have studied British Literature for decades. Other destinations had priority -- Ireland, Germany, Turkey. But this is a trip just for me which I am taking alone without family or friends. Why? To learn and to rejuvenate. To see and experience. To visit and remember all the places I have imagined for these long years.

Tentative Schedule
First day: find my B & B near Trafalgar Square
Second day: explore London -- Globe Theater? The Tower? Westminster Cathedral? Parliament?
Third day: Canterbury, the destination of Chaucer's Pilgrims
Fourth day: more London
Fifth day: travel to Cambridge
Sixth day until twelfth day: learning art history
Twelfth day: return to London to a hotel
Thirteenth day: fly back to States

And find two knitting shops in order to find presents for my mom, sisiter, and a dear friend.

An application to attend the Teacher Seminar

My school encourages faculty to become students again every summer by providing funds for teachers to study and travel.

Below is a lightly edited copy of my application.

December 8, 2009

It is with great excitement that I submit a petition to represent Episcopal Academy this summer by participating in the Cambridge Teacher Seminar, July 4-11, 2010.

The Cambridge Teacher Seminar is an opportunity to actually live at the college and attend workshops on various topics such as World Histories, English Literature, Science and Philosophy or Visual Experience: Art in History and Literature. Of these study groups, I wish to attend the one on art history especially after reading John Medina’s book Brain Rules. In this book, he argues that the current generation of students learns best in highly interactive environments rich with visual imagery. This year I am trying to integrate more visual images into each class, but I am finding that my deficit of knowledge about art, art history, terms, and methodology is limiting my lessons and ability to vary focus questions and class discussion. I think after attending the Cambridge Teacher Seminar, I will return to the classroom better able to engage and excite the students about the literature we are reading by integrating more visual material into the classroom.

The description of “Visual Experience: Art in History and Literature” says the study group “is specifically designed for teachers in various disciplines…to consider creatively how the visual and aesthetic dimension can be used to enrich their respective subjects” (quoted from the Oxbridge brochure). Led by Dr. Sophie Pickford, teachers will get to explore the following areas: portraiture and the novel; landscape painting as commentary on social values; religion and divine in art; representing the past visually; and, architecture as a definition of space. I don’t think we will be sitting in a room looking at slides of the art work. We will actually be walking to see the art held by Cambridge University. They will take us into galleries and spaces not normally open to the public so we can see the true colors and brush strokes of the paintings. For example, when we discuss religion in art, we will actually get to see some of William Blake’s engravings! I have studied his watercolor engravings for the Songs of Innocence and Experience for years in facsimile, but to actually be able to see those engravings would be incredible.
In addition to the study groups each morning, the Seminar also has plenary sessions. These would be terrific opportunities to listen to recognized authorities talk about other topics such as the history of Cambridge University, how poets helped to end slavery in England, the impact of Oliver Cromwell, and educational theory and practice.

While the Cambridge Teacher Seminar would be a great intellectual experience, it would also be an even greater social experience. Teachers from all over the United States travel to Cambridge to meet British colleagues equally committed to teaching and learning and promoting the life of the mind. I would love to have a chance to spend time devoted to conversation and dialogue with other people and hear what they have to say about teaching and the world. It is rare in the typical busy day at Episcopal Academy that folks have an opportunity to have an in-depth discussion about a piece of literature that lasts beyond the ring of the next class bell. I long for a chance to be in a historied place where the primary focus is starting and continuing a conversation with other like-minded people.

I would be so honored to be selected to be an Oxbridge Fellow. I promise you, the selection committee, that I would take full advantage of every opportunity presented by this program.

Well, here is a picture of the latest member of the family. I tried to send the photo through picasa and it did not work. I had to click a link to get the pic. Bogus.

The dog is a mutt by the name of Merlin. He is a rescue dog and loves to chase squirrels, chew rawhide bones, and go for walks.

A couple days ago he somersaulted while treeing a squirrel. He limped for 3 days but now he is much better and gambols through the wabe.