Author: krismcd59

Jonson, Shakespeare, and Fathers

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Ben Jonson was particularly interested in fatherhood, but most of his experiences were sad ones, not really appropriate for this day on which we celebrate our fathers. His most famous poem, surely, is his elegy for his eldest son, Benjamin, who died at the age of seven, while Ben was away visiting a wealthy patron […]

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Happy Birthday, dear Ben

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Benjamin Jonson was born on this date in 1572 in Westminster, England. We are so fortunate to have had a new biography and a new edition of his complete works appear in the last year; perhaps at last he will have a place in the popular imagination equal, if not to Shakespeare’s, at least to his […]

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The Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire

.Reading time 2 minutes.

May 11, 2013 Fifty years ago today, the first Renaissance Pleasure Faire took place in North Hollywood, CA. Born of the same creative energy that spawned many other artifacts of the Sixties, the event was initially a project begun by teacher/artists Phyllis and Ron Patterson, designed to enhance arts and performance education in their community. […]

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I know where I want to go next year

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

If only for the chance to see Early Modern Drama played by candlelight, this is a consummation devoutly to be wish’d: Ten Reasons to Get Excited About the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

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Bess of Hardwick

.Reading time 4 minutes.

The letters of Elizabeth Talbot (c.1521-1608), known historically as “Bess of Hardwick,” have just been made available as a searchable database. This is a treasure trove of domestic history and an insight into the life of probably the most influential non-royal woman of her time. She was the matriarch of a powerful dynasty that produced […]

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Happy Birthday to a Reverend Head

.Reading time 2 minutes.

May 2 is the birthday of that great antiquarian, teacher, and scholar, William Camden (1551-1623), the man we can fairly give credit for the mind and career of Ben Jonson. Camden was the usher of The Westminster School when Jonson was a pupil there, and probably sponsored the bright bricklayer’s stepson as a scholarship boy. Camden took […]

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Happy May Day

.Reading time 1 minute.

“GET up, get up for shame, the blooming morn Upon her wings presents the god unshorn. See how Aurora throws her fair Fresh-quilted colours through the air : Get up, sweet slug-a-bed, and see The dew bespangling herb and tree. Each flower has wept and bow’d toward the east Above an hour since : yet you […]

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Back in Print

.Reading time 1 minute.

“O merchant fortune! Do not run away.” After a brief hiatus that unfortunately included both the 2012 holidays and Shakespeare’s birthday 2013, William Shakespeare: His Life and Times is back in print in the US! Here’s a sample: 25 February, 1613 My Child, I am coming home, and to stay this time. Thou marvell’st at […]

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