A Selection of Videos on YouTube on the Shakespeare Authorship Question

Videos on YouTube arguing that Edward De Vere (and not the man from Stratford-upon-Avon) wrote the Shakespeare plays

Did Shakespeare Really Write Shakespeare?

On February 11, 2016, Tom Regnier gave a presentation at the North Palm Beach (Florida) Public Library on the topic, “Did Shakespeare Really Write Shakespeare? Or Did Someone Else?” Regnier is a lawyer; an Appeals Attorney at Tom Regnier Appeals, P.A. This talk was distributed by the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpFXD07_NYg

Real Shakespeare: Edward de Vere, the 17^th Earl of Oxford

This is a talk from 1995 by a descendent of Edward de Vere: Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, Earl of Burford. Despite some of his right-wing, Little Englander nationalist, anti-academic views, he provides some worthwhile arguments as to why Edward de Vere wrote the plays of ‘Shakespeare’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Nv6Oy5wpo  

Shakespeare Authorship / Crackpot to Mainstream

A talk by Dr. Keir Cutler, author of ‘The Shakespeare Authorship Question: A Crackpot’s View’ (2014).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpc5A-14tmw

Shakespeare Authorship Question: Why Was I Never Told This?

A talk by Dr. Keir Cutler. He focuses on the personal experiences that lead him to doubt whether William Shaksper of Stratford-on-Avon wrote the plays of ‘William Shakespere’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyVjR9FNo9w

The Shakespeare Mystery

A ‘Frontline’ programme, originally made in 1989 – but still very interesting regarding the Shakespeare authorship debate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkqcLJZ9I3s

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Mark Rylance, Founding and Former Artistic Director of the Globe Theatre being interviewed about the Shakespeare Authorship question, saying that there is room for ‘reasonable doubt’

Mark Rylance – Part One (Founding Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, London) – Interview about the Shakespeare Authorship Question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETCCsi4ErNk

Mark Rylance – Part Two (Founding Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, London) – Interview about the Shakespeare Authorship Question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpjMPihbif4

Mark Rylance tends towards Bacon, although also thinks it could be De Vere, or even some other playwright(s)

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IMPORTANT

Sir Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance discuss the ‘Declaration of Reasonable Doubt’, arguing that there is ‘Reasonable Doubt’ about the authorship question. I have just signed the petitions. Over 3,000 people have signed the petition. If you agree, that there is 'Reasonable Doubt' then do sign the petition!

Sir Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance discuss The Declaration of Reasonable Doubt – Published on YouTube on April 24, 2016.

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the death of Mr. William Shakspere of Stratford, Sir Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance reaffirm their support for the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare, which they launched in the UK in a signing ceremony in Chichester, West Sussex, 8th September, 2007. The petition can be signed at http://www.doubtaboutwill.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZNYifQfYiE

Something Unspoken

I went to see 2 short plays by Tennessee Williams at the Pentameters Theatre in Hampstead a few days ago  - 'I Can't Imagine tomorrow' and 'Something Unspoken'. Wow - what an experience.

The theatre itself, above a pub, was something else. I have never seen anything like it before, and I doubt that there is anywhere else in London quite like it. It is small and intimate and felt rather like stepping back in time, into a glorified and very large front room. The decor was amazing and there were pictures on the walls, particularly showing the history of the theatre and times gone by. One could chose one's seat and there were an interesting variety of seats, some armchairs, sofas and upright chairs with cushions.

I love Tennessee Williams plays but had never heard of these 2 before, so that also intrigued me.

And 'Something Unspoken', in particular, dealt with such an important topic that I thought that I would blog it.

'Something Unspoken' dealt with lesbian themes at a time when the subject was very much taboo. Hence, the 2 females in the play - employer and employee felt that they had lesbian feelings for each other but no way could they express them overtly. Cornelia, the employer tried to confront what had been suppressed, saying that there seemed to be 'something unspoken' between them. She gives Grace 15 roses - one for each of their anniversaries as Grace has been working for Cornelia for 15 years. But Grace cannot bear to address the topic in this overt way; not surprising as she, being the employee is in the more vulnerable position. They are also continually being interrupted in their attempt to articulate their feelings by other sounds - in particular, the phone keeps ringing; there is also the music playing on the gramophone player. And of course, this is what happens in life - we are being continually interrupted.

I thought it was a fascinating and important play because not only was it bravely addressing the largely taboo topic of lesbianism at the time, but the basic idea about the difficulty of trying to express oneself on certain difficult topics, can also be widened far beyond the lesbian theme.

In fact, do not many of us sometimes engage with this way of conversing, in some way or other? We try to articulate some things, some topics that are very difficult to articulate (for various reasons, including the obvious one of society's prejudice) and find it near-on impossible. And so it becomes 'something unspoken' and we try to communicate it in ways other than the normal verbal means of communication between one another. In fact, this is one of the reasons that novels and plays are so powerful anyway. They allow us a form of expression that is not possible through non-fiction writing. I mean, many novels are based on autobiographies and the novelists' actual experiences. So the raw truth becomes somewhat disguised and becomes something that is in some way largely unspoken. Music is another alternative mode of expression; but of course that is largely even more camouflaged.

Back to the Future: Launching the Left Book Club

BACK TO THE FUTURE: LAUNCHING THE LEFT BOOK CLUB

November 17^th

Conway Hall

25 Red Lion Square

London, WC1R 4RL

7.00pm

With: Ken Livingstone, Kevin Ovenden, Natalie Bennett, Kate Osamor MP and others

Suggested donations, £5, concessions £3

To book your place email: admin@leftbookclub.com

The original Left Book Club was founded in 1936 as a means of promoting radical debate in Britain. It swiftly became a phenomenon, distributing over 2 million books and forming 1,200 reading and discussion groups across the country. It engaged in political activity, including solidarity work (e.g. with Spain), political agitation and much else. The LBC is considered a factor in the creation of the Welfare State and in Labour’s landslide election victory of 1945. It closed in 1948.

Today we face a similar crisis to that of the 1930s, with capitalism breeding inequality, suffering and violence around the world. As then, however, the global left remains mobilised and committed to the creation of a fairer society, free of the repression and austerity that has defined the modern era.

The re-launch of the Left Book Club will help us rise to the challenge posed by the global crisis. The LBC will publish four books a year covering a range of progressive traditions, perspectives and ideas focused on the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.

Our aim is for these books to form the basis of a wide network of reading circles, discussion groups and other educational and cultural activities relevant to constructing the conditions for progressive social change in the interests of working people.

Jeremy Corbyn:

The relaunch of the Left Book Club is a terrific and timely idea, and will give intellectual ballast to the wave of political change sweeping Britain and beyond, encouraging informed and compassionate debate.

The work will open minds and inspire. I have a large collection of Left Book Club publications collected by my parents and me.

I support the LBC wholeheartedly.

The Left Book Club: http://www.leftbookclub.com/

***END***

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Some Good Quotes About Books

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” (Toni Morrison)

“So, please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install, a lovely bookcase on the wall.” (Roald Dahl)

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” (Jane Austen)

“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn’t carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.” (Stephen King)

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”  (Cicero)

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.” (Charles William Eliot)

“I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.” (J. K. Rowling)

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.” (Ernest Hemingway)

“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.” (Anna Quindlen)

“A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.” (George R. R. Martin)

“A house without books is like a room without windows.” (Horace Mann)

“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives whilst reading.” (William Styron)

“So many books, so little time.” (Frank Zappa)

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” (Groucho Marx)

“I cannot live without books.” (Thomas Jefferson)

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” (Stephen King)