5 sleeps until my next #SlowShakespeare blog, starting 1 January💫 #MoonMad 🌙 (how many times will I see Dream in 2026? one booked already; doubt that I'll pass 2025's 8 Hamlets or adaptations thereof though...) (why no donkey emoji why)

I can't do a poll, but I can make an executive decision, so🥁🥁🥁 I'll be starting my EIGHTH #SlowShakespeare daily blog on 1 January: #MoonMad aka Midsummer Night's Dream. Because we could all do with some laughs & a bit more fairy-dust right now... (Gwendoline Christie as Titania at the Bridge, 2019)

I can't do a poll, but I can make an executive decision, so🥁🥁🥁 I'll be starting my EIGHTH #SlowShakespeare daily blog on 1 January: #MoonMad aka Midsummer Night's Dream. Because we could all do with some laughs & a bit more fairy-dust right now... (Gwendoline Christie as Titania at the Bridge, 2019)

SO. Shall I start another #SlowShakespeare blog in the new year?? the daily writing itch needs scratching, it turns out. It could be #MoonMad? #InArden? or whatever?? thoughts? interest??

SO. Shall I start another #SlowShakespeare blog in the new year?? the daily writing itch needs scratching, it turns out. It could be #MoonMad? #InArden? or whatever?? thoughts? interest??

Joining in the enthusiastic reposting of this beautiful Stoppardian story & adding that, 15 years ago, this was me, having the systemic adjuvant chemo, before the surgery & the radiotherapy & more chemo & a decade of drugs. My surgery anniversary's next week; forever grateful to @cuh.nhs.uk 💙

Stoppard. DAMN.

Cambridge people! Do you like Shakespeare? Do you like material culture? You can hear me talking about BOTH in the Henn Lecture @stcatharines.bsky.social, 1 December, 5.30pm. There will be a reception after the lecture to launch Textile Shakespeare; info here www.caths.cam.ac.uk/about-us/new...

Today is the OFFICIAL publication day for TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE! Please indulge me: I want to say a little (perhaps rather a lot) about it and share my acknowledgements - and a discount code! Appropriately,🧵1/10

Fortinbras: no words... EXEUNT. FINIS. THE END. www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... And so it ends... Branagh carried off, and in his coffin in the 1996 film; Andrew Scott in a publicity image for the Almeida production in 2017.

Lovely to be at the last performance of Romeo a Juliet by Theatr Cymru in the Wanamaker last night. Sweet, clever (of course the boys bring the Mari Lwyd to the Capulet party) & a treat to see Steffan Donnelly's production in a space he knows so well. I have not a word of Welsh but it didn't matter.

This is the PENULTIMATE POST in #InkyCloak a #SlowShakespeare Hamlet blog which began on 1 October 2024 and has continued daily (with a week off at Christmas and one day in February when the server was playing up). The last lines of the play tomorrow; how will it all end?

Horatio: we'll do as you say, Fortinbras www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Fortinbras (Mbulelo Grootboom) looks at Hamlet (Vaneshran Arumugam); Claudius (John Kani) seated, Horatio (Adam Neill) on the right, in the 2006 Baxter Theatre Company production dir. Janet Suzman @the-rsc.bsky.social

Fortinbras: I'm taking charge www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Branagh included Fortinbras (Rufus Sewell) being crowned in his 1996 film. It's all drawing to a close; what disappears from the page at this point, to some degree, are the dead, but on the stage, that's where the eye rests...

Horatio: I can explain! www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Horatio (Nicholas Farrell in Branagh's 1996 film) is charged with telling the story of Hamlet, by Hamlet, in what sounds like Hamlet's own words: carnal, bloody, unnatural. #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare ends on Sunday just shy of 400 posts!

English Ambassador(s): excuse me? www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Do the English ambassadors have the hardest job? post-Stoppard, 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead' lands differently & anyway who cares?? Here's Rupert Goold's mad tilting Titanic @the-rsc.bsky.social 2025 because why not??

Enter Fortinbras, with QUESTIONS www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Fortinbras has often been cut (although not in the *many* versions I've seen recently); Branagh staged it as a kind of invasion in his 1996 film (if you've got all those extras, why not??)

Horatio: goodnight, sweet prince...🥲 www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... I do love Horatio, the best of Shakespeare's many friends... Stephen Dillane as Horatio in Hamlet, dir. Zeffirelli, 1990. Also, Milton liked this bit (of course he did, the angels❤️) in the @freelibrary.bsky.social folio.

Hamlet: the rest is silence... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... And finally, as if he were sleeping. Hamlet (David Tennant), dead in Horatio's arms (Peter de Jersey) @the-rsc.bsky.social 2008-9. The synthesis of an actor's utter exhaustion with their character's never fails to move me.

[noises off] Hamlet: what NOW? Norwegians incoming. www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Because he CAN, Branagh shows the Norwegian army arriving at Elsinore in his 1996 film. With Rufus Sewell as Fortinbras in a nice shiny breastplate. #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare is in its 14th month. Days to go.

Somewhat astonishingly, here it is, a book, a thing in the world... More, including acknowledgements, soon❤️

Hamlet [to Horatio]: live on! tell my story! www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... The dying Hamlet (David Tennant) cradled by his friend Horatio (Peter de Jersey) in the 2008-9 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet, dir. Gregory Doran.

Hamlet: I AM DEAD HORATIO💀 www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Osric (Peter Cushing) cradles the dying Laertes (Terence Morgan) in Olivier's 1948 film; Hamlet (Ian McKellen) realises the game's up in 1971; Milton liked this bit (the 'fell Sergeant death') in his 1623 copy @freelibrary.bsky.social

Hamlet kills Claudius! (finally) ☠️🍷 www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Two RSC Hamlets giving Claudius what's coming to him: Toby Stephens & Clive Wood, dir. Michael Boyd des. Tom Piper 2004; David Tennant & Patrick Stewart in 2008-9, dir. Greg Doran, the second image from the filmed version.

TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE is official-publication-date-minus-2-weeks (11 November) which is a LOT👀 (I can't remember feeling this wound up about other books, I have the concentration of a gnat at the moment🙄) but seems to be live as an e-book already so, available to your Kindle right now, apparently...

I am very much looking forward to seeing Othello at the Theatre Royal Haymarket soon, but am also delighted/intrigued by the fact that over the Christmas season it's sharing the stage with Peppa Pig's Big Family Show👀 Check your tickets & showtimes carefully, people, especially on matinee days.

Laertes to Hamlet: we're both dead, mate, and HE'S to blame! www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... A moment earlier: Hamlet (David Warner) & Laertes (Charles Thomas) @the-rsc.bsky.social 1965, dir. Peter Hall: the untucked shirts, not especially 'period', make them look like schoolboys...

Hamlet: poison! betrayal! endgame!🤺⚔️🤺☠️🍷 www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... A (coloured) still from the short, silent film, Le duel d'Hamlet, made in 1900: Laertes (L, Pierre Magnier) and Hamlet (R, ACTUAL SARAH BERNHARDT) - static cameras make filming duels particularly challenging.

I am finalising my annual London round-up for Shakespeare Survey & can report that it includes 29 shows (some of them adaptations) in 15 different venues, including 2 Dreams, 2 12th Nights, 2 Richard IIs, 3 Macbeths, 3 R&Js, & 7 HAMLETs. (pic: Camille O'Sullivan as Lucrece, which I saw at Wilton's)

Fencing getting deadly serious🤺💀🤺 www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... 2 2025 Hamlets: @the-rsc.bsky.social with Laertes (Lewis Shepherd, L) & Hamlet (Luke Thallon, R) (by this point fencing on the Titanic made perfect sense) & Hamlet (Hiran Abeysekera, L) & Laertes (Tom Glenister, R)

Gertrude *drinks* Claudius: ooooops www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... 4 Gertrudes drink from the poisoned cup: Eileen Herlie (Olivier, 1948) and Penny Downie (RSC 2008-9) know exactly what they're doing; Glenn Close (Zeffirelli 1990) and Julie Christie (Branagh 1996) are blithely unconcerned...

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!🤺⚔️🤺 www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... I like the reverse angle here: Hamlet (Michelle Terry, L) and Laertes (Bettrys Jones, R) fight (rapier and dagger) in the 2018 Globe production; & a close-up of Laurence Olivier & Terence Morgan (rapier and dagger again) in the 1948 film.

Claudius: DRUMROLL PLEASE www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Eyes on the foils: Robin Williams as Osric in the 1996 Branagh Hamlet. (I found it interesting to think about noise & silence in this moment in the scene; it's potentially REALLY noisy, then very quiet. Amazing control of the tension.)

I saw one of the final previews @the-rsc.bsky.social at the weekend & concur; it made terrifying sense as a world, I LOVED what it did with the priest, the SPACE, & Lia Williams is astonishing. Whole run sold out, can we have a transfer as a little treat? www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/o...

Claudius, doing weird stuff with a pearl www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Claudius (Derek Jacobi) flourishing the pearl that he proposes to add to the wine, in Branagh's 1996 film. Tension is rising. (I reckon I've got another 2-3 weeks of daily #SlowShakespeare entries; it'll be close to 400!)

Choose your weapons!🤺🤺 www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Not just foils here but rapier and dagger: Hamlet (Roger Rees, L) and Laertes (Kenneth Branagh, R) in the 1984 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet. (In the same season, they were Berowne & Navarre in Love's Labour's Lost, and Branagh was Henry V.)

Laertes: we've got unfinished business www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Branagh gives the build-up to the fencing match a prize-fight quality, with Laertes (Michael Maloney) & Hamlet (Branagh) in dressing gowns over rather odd fighting gear. Referencing German university duelling societies??

Hamlet: did I MEAN to hurt you, Laertes? no, no! www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... The moment before the formal beginning of the fencing contest is more interesting, but makes for a less striking composition: here, Laurence Olivier (R) and Terence Morgan prepare to fight in the 1948 film.

Ooof Measure for Measure @the-rsc.bsky.social is a LOT. High-stakes collaged text (Oth, HVIII, MAdo!) & I've always loathed Mrs Overdone etc plots, a welcome cut. Dark, daring, & brilliant debuts from Isis Hainsworth, Tom Mothersdale, Oli Higginson esp. (Macbeth too but that's still in preview so 🤐)

Hamlet asks pardon of Laertes - genuinely? www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Hamlet (Cush Jumbo) and Laertes (Jonathan Ajayi) shake hands, here instructed by Gertrude (Tara Fitzgerald) in the 2021 Young Vic production, dir. Greg Hersov.

I don't like linking to wretched Am*z*n but a sample of my book has just appeared (most of the introduction, it looks like, and the plates!) and, well, I hope you like it. Proper publication next month. EEEEEK. www.amazon.co.uk/Textile-Shak...

Hamlet: a sparrow falls... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Hamlet & Horatio have these little moments throughout the play, but this is one of the most intimate, Hamlet reassuring his friend with philosophy: here, Tessa Wong & Hiran Abeysekera @nationaltheatre.org.uk NOW see it it's good.

Horatio is anxious; Hamlet too, but says he's been practising, honest...🤺 www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Slightly later in the scene, but here's Maxine Peake at the Royal Exchange, Manchester in 2014, dir. Sarah Frankcom, looking cool, elegant, quizzical.

Gertrude to Hamlet, via Anon Lord: play nicely?? www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Gertrude wants Hamlet to apologise to Laertes before the beginning of the fencing match. A flashback to their relationship at the beginning of the play: Jane Lapotaire and Kenneth Branagh @the-rsc.bsky.social 1992

Osric!? who even WAS that?? www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Osric out & a transition as Hamlet & Horatio take stock. Here's David Warner @the-rsc.bsky.social 1965 (in soliloquy, earlier); he was v much the student prince (woolly scarf!) but what stands out here is his adolescent ungainliness.

Hamlet: I will do fencing OK www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Another slight fast forward, but, here's proper fencing in the current @nationaltheatre.org.uk Hamlet (earlier established as a Thing at the Danish court, when Claudius came from practice; they did have helmets earlier in the scene!)

Osric: so here's the deal... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... It's a fencing bout being set up not a duel; it helps if fencing is a thing at the Danish court (the @nationaltheatre.org.uk Hamlet does this v well). Here Hamlet (David Tennant) is zipped into his jacket by Horatio (Peter de Jersey)

Osric: luxury rapier accessories! Hamlet: what? Horatio: really!? www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Fast forward, spoiler, but this is a really nice poniard in Hamlet's left hand... Tom Hiddleston as Hamlet, Irfan Shamji as Laertes in the Rada production dir. Branagh, 2017.

Hamlet: so what's the weapon of choice for Laertes the amazing swordsman?? www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... What Friday morning could not be improved by Terence Morgan as Laertes in Olivier's 1948 Hamlet?