DramaLit Blog 1.0: BU School of Theatre

A series of pieces worth reading on the movie “Anonymous,” opening this weekend.

1) James Shapiro, in the NYT Op-Ed section, takes on director Rolan Emmerich.

This bit in particular jumps out at me as worthy of note  (especially at a contemporary moment that is witnessing the Occupy movement, protesting the sense that the privileged 1% get to make the rules):

“The case for Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, dates from 1920, when J. Thomas Looney, an English writer who loathed democracy and modernity, argued that only a worldly nobleman could have created such works of genius; Shakespeare, a glover’s son and money-lender, could never have done so.” (Bold face type mine.)

2) News that The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, in Stratford-upon-Avon, is protesting the film by pasting over Shakespeare’s name, wherever it appears, all over town.

— and a bit more on this from the BBC.

3) Some more background from the NYT.

4) A snarky little piece that made me laugh.

5) The great historian/thinker/critic Simon Schama takes up the pen over at the Daily Beast.

Finally…

I wish I could find these study guides for English teachers that Sony Pictures is alleged to be handing out in concert with this movie. If anyone finds them online, post ’em.