Shakespeare References in How To Be A Working Actor

How To Be A Working Actor: The Insider’s Guide To Finding Jobs In Theater, Film, And Television contains several Shakespeare references, which isn’t all that surprising. The first reference is to Hamlet. Regarding public transportation in Los Angeles, the authors, Mari Lyn Henry and Lynne Rogers, write, “You could memorize one or two of Hamlet’s soliloquies while waiting for the right bus to come along” (p. 29). The authors next mention Twelfth Night, and that comes on a page containing an example of an actor’s resume in New York. Under Stock, this actor lists Twelfth Night among the plays, her role being Olivia (p. 53). Then in the sample resume for Los Angeles, West Side Story is listed under theatre credits (p. 54). Hamlet is mentioned again on the next page, when quoting Gene Blythe, head of casting for MTM Enterprises: “If they carried a spear at Long Wharf, it means more to me than if they played Hamlet at Orange County, because I know the process to get to Long Wharf” (p. 55). Shakespeare is mentioned in the chapter on young actors: “Classes have been taught by Nicholas Pennell of the Stratford Ontario Shakespeare Festival” (p. 209). And then, about Nancy Niles Sexton, the authors write: “She has lectured and conducted workshops for the Stratford Ontario Shakespearean Festival Foundation, the Arts Councils of Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as resident theater training projects at Boston University School of the Theatre and the California Institute of the Arts. She produced the first Shakespeare festival by and for young people in the state of Kentucky and directed the AFTRA award-winning production of The Taming of the Shrew” (p. 209). In that same chapter, regarding Robert MacNaughton, they write, “He had performed in numerous stage productions including The Diviners at the Circle Repertory Theatre in New York and in Henry V with Kevin Kline for the New York Shakespeare Festival” (p. 213). And regarding Charles Sexton, they write, “He has recently received a degree in theater from Southern Methodist University, performed at the Dallas Shakespeare Festival, and served as a summer intern/teacher” (p. 218). There is also a reference to Romeo And Juliet: “At this point the actor must make another transition in mood to a relaxed, smiling, smooth-talking Romeo as he says, ‘And you never shall. Because you’re mine’” (p. 241). The book includes addresses of theaters and festivals, including Alabama Shakespeare Festival (p. 274), Berkeley Shakespeare Festival (p. 274), American Shakespeare Theatre (p. 276), Shakespeare and Company (p. 277), New Jersey Shakespeare Festival (p. 278), New York Shakespeare Festival (p. 279), and North Carolina Shakespeare Festival (p. 280). At the end of the book, there is a list of recommended books, including three whose titles are references to Hamlet: Advice to the Players, Method Or Madness, and Slings and Arrows, all three by Robert Lewis.

How To Be A Working Actor: The Insider’s Guide To Finding Jobs In Theater, Film, And Television was published in 1986.

Shakespeare Reference in Tales From The Red Sox Dugout

Tales From The Red Sox Dugout, written by Jim Prime with Bill Nowlin, contains a Shakespeare reference. Actually, it might contain more, but the copy I read, which is the one my dad owned, is missing several pages. Well, the pages are there, but the text is not. It's weird. Several pages are blank. I wish I'd looked through it more carefully before purchasing it for him. Pages 146, 147, 150, 151, 154, 155, 158 and 159 are all blank. But on page 152, there is a reference to Romeo And Juliet: "What's in a name? Carl Yastrzemski was so popular in Boston that Sherm Feller used to introduce him only by his number: 'Number 8!'" That is a reference to Juliet's famous line, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other word would smell as sweet."

Tales From The Red Sox Dugout was published in 2001.

Shakespeare References in At Fenway

No matter the subject, it seems nearly every book I read contains Shakespeare references. Dan Shaughnessy's At Fenway: Dispatches From Red Sox Nation contains two. Shaughnessy here quotes an earlier story he wrote: "Sox fans know better. They have seen this play before. The cast changes and new liberties are taken with an ancient script, but Hamlet always dies in the end" (p. 97). There is a similar idea expressed a few pages later, but this time it is King Lear, not Hamlet, that is used: "After the '86 Series, the Globe's Michael Blowen wrote, 'Like the generations of actors who played Lear - Barrymore, Olivier, Welles - the cast may change but the play's the same. It's the Red Sox. The Red Sox transcend the individuals who wear the uniforms, the various managers who direct the different casts each year, and even the game itself'" (p. 105).

At Fenway: Dispatches From Red Sox Nation was published in 1996.

Shakespeare References in The Crying Of Lot 49

Shakespeare references pop up in nearly every book I read. Thomas Pynchon's novel The Crying Of Lot 49 contains a few. The first is to Henry The Fifth, and it comes in a song by one of the characters: "As again we set hopeful to sea;/Once more unto the breach, for those boys on the beach" (p. 18). The reference is the Henry V's speech in which he says, "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,/Or close up the wall with our English dead." Then Pynchon mentions Shakespeare himself: "It isn't literature, it doesn't mean anything. Wharfinger was no Shakespeare" (p. 54). On that same page, Shakespeare is mentioned again in dialogue: "Who was Shakespeare. It was a long time ago." There is another mention of Shakespeare later in the book: "'The historical Shakespeare,' growled one of the grad students through a full beard, uncapping another bottle. 'The historical Marx. The historical Jesus'"' (p. 113).

The Crying Of Lot 49 was published in 1966. The copy I read was from the 17th printing, March 1980.