Tag Archives: Hamlet

“Never write from your head; write from your cock.” — Wystan Hugh Auden

Posted on February 21, 2025 by sheila

W.H. Auden was born on this day in York, England, 1907. I first encountered Auden in my “Humanities” class, senior year in high school. I got a lot out of that class, and I remember we analyzed Auden’s famous most-anthologized … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

My new column at Liberties magazine: First up: acting and film criticism and how the twain meet

Posted on April 10, 2024 by sheila

I have some exciting (to me) news. I’ll be writing a regular column for Liberties – the website for the quarterly magazine – host to a daunting lineup of writers! I launched my column with a piece about being a … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Personal, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Today in history, February 21, 1907

Posted on February 21, 2010 by sheila

W.H. Auden was born in York, England. Two pieces of advice for writers from Mr. Auden: To keep his errors down to a minimum, the internal Censor to whom a poet submits his work in progress should be a Censorate. … Continue reading →

Posted in On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The rehearsal for “Jack Crew’s Hamlet” at the New Burbage Theatre Festival

Posted on November 15, 2009 by sheila

Season 1 of Slings and Arrows (which we discussed, beautifully, here.) Yes, an obsessive post. Fun for me. Hopefully fun for all of you diehard fans of the show out there. What is so gorgeous to me about this TV … Continue reading →

Posted in Television | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

“Hamlet is a tragedy where there is a part left open”

Posted on October 11, 2009 by sheila

Excerpt from W.H. Auden’s lecture on Hamlet, February 12, 1947, at the New School for Social Research in NYC: If a work is quite perfect, it arouses less controversy and there is less to say about it. Curiously, everyone tries … Continue reading →

Posted in Theatre | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Acting Notebook

Posted on October 9, 2009 by sheila

A transcription of the notes I kept during one of my semesters in grad school. There were multi-pronged projects going on – and I kept myself organized by labeling them in the notebook. I had the dreaded “PD Unit”, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Images of Ophelia

Posted on November 10, 2008 by sheila

Here is a scene from the great Canadian television series Slings and Arrows. The company of actors is rehearsing Hamlet, and it is not going well. The actress playing Ophelia, Claire, is terrible and nobody knows what to do about … Continue reading →

Posted in Theatre | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

The Books: “The Story Of My Life” (Ellen Terry)

Posted on November 5, 2008 by sheila

Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir The Story of My Life, by Ellen Terry This is one of my favorite books in my entire collection, just in terms of it as an object. Second only to the first-edition Ulysses that my … Continue reading →

Posted in Actors, Books | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Books: “Ulysses” – the Scylla and Charybdis episode (James Joyce)

Posted on January 13, 2008 by sheila

Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction: Ulysses (The Gabler Edition)– by James Joyce. 1. (TELEMACHIA) Episode 1: The Telemachus Episode Episode 2: The Nestor Episode Episode 3: The Proteus episode 2. (THE ODYSSEY) Episode 4: The Calypso Episode Episode 5: The … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, James Joyce | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

For Hecuba!

Posted on May 8, 2004 by sheila

In this soliloquy, Hamlet ponders the meaning of acting, the mystery of belief – that an actor has to so completely believe the imaginary circumstances, that real tears will fall, etc. I know this soliloquy by heart. Most actors do. … Continue reading →

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