Shakespeare Reference in Day After Night

Anita Diamant’s Day After Night contains a Shakespeare reference, though not in the story itself. At the end of the book, there is a brief interview with Anita Diamant, and in that interview she is asked which book most influenced her life. She answers Virginia Woolf’s A Room Of One’s Own, and in her answer says, “In one passage, Woolf ponders the lives of the flesh-and-blood women who were Shakespeare’s contemporaries” (p. 306).

Day After Night was published in 2009. The First Scribner trade paperback was published in 2010.

Richard III (A Noise Within's 2026 Production) Theatre Review

The new production of Richard III at A Noise Within sets Shakespeare's play in the 1970s. There is always a risk in setting Shakespeare's plays in modern times, especially the histories, as those plays are about specific people from specific times. It sometimes feels like setting a play about Abraham Lincoln in, say, the 1950s. But it can work, and in fact the 1995 film version of Richard III, which gave the play a 1930s setting, succeeded brilliantly. And as any Ricardian will tell you, the play likely doesn't accurately represent the historical personage anyway. So what we are left with is a fascinating, captivating, twisted character that is not tied to its original historical period. The success of the play largely hinges upon the performance of Richard, and Ann Noble does an absolutely outstanding job in this production. She is riviting in the role, embodying the humor, the cruelty and, yes, the power of the character, and even making us feel for him in those more human moments. And because her Richard is so damn good at wooing the audience, we completely understand how other characters side with him. And Ann Noble isn't alone in turning in a phenomenal performance. This production features an excellent cast, including Erika Soto as Lady Anne, Trisha Miller as Queen Margaret, and Lynn Robert Berg as Buckingham. In addition to that, there are some incredible touches throughout the performance, both in the way the set is handled and the way light and sound cues punch up the emotional impact of a moment, and adding to the excitement of the production. Directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos, this ended up being one of the best productions of Richard III I've seen.

As folks enter the theatre, early 1970s rock and pop songs are playing, songs like Free's "All Right Now," Jethro Tull's "Aqualung," and David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World." The set features a pile of chairs center stage, a sort of sculpture on an otherwise empty black platform in front of a dark backdrop. As the performance begins, the cast appears on the other side of the backdrop, then lifts it to enter. There is an interesting moment where they stop before the pile of chairs, as if questioning how it got there and how they should proceed. A brief moment of hesitation before everyone springs into action, grabbing chairs and setting them up. And that sets the tone for this production, which increases in pace as it goes. Revealed by the removal of the final chair is the crown and sheets of paper, both red and white, which signify the roses of Lancaster and York. What an exciting and meaningful way to begin the performance, the crown being at the center of the disarray. 

Interestingly, the first lines spoken in this production are not the first lines of Richard The Third, but rather lines from Richard The Second: "This earth of majesty...This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England." A brief history lesson is enacted, with snippets from Shakespeare's plays, including a bit of the St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry The Fifth, as well as a few lines from that play's epilogue. Also spoken is that famous line from The Third Part Of King Henry The Sixth: "O, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide," for Queen Margaret plays an important role in this production. And there is Richard's line to Henry VI, "Die, prophet, in thy speech." It is a lot to take in, but helps set up the idea of how the crown traveled from king to king in a rather crooked line, leading to where this play begins. As Richard turns his back on us, there is actually a sense of celebration around him. The chairs, by the way, are used as percussion. And as the others disappear, Richard turns to the audience and delivers the first line of the text, "Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this son of York."

We in the audience are immediately taken in by Richard. He takes great pleasure in his speech, which is wonderful. Dressed in a suit, Richard keeps his right hand in his pants pocket, an interesting choice, for it shows an eagerness to keep his weakness hidden, yet also a person's hands in pockets demonstrates a certain nonchalance. The phrase "That dogs bark at me" is delivered with pride, almost like he is bragging, which is delightful. And after Clarence is led in, his hands bound behind him, Richard's line "when men are rul'd by women" receives a big laugh at least in part because this Richard is played by a woman. Richard's simple "Go" also gets a big laugh, as Clarence is led off into darkness. In such a brief time, Richard has managed to woo the audience, just as he will soon woo Lady Anne. That is part of what makes that difficult Lady Anne scene believable. Anyone taking on the challenge of playing Lady Anne must make an audience believe that she can go from wanting to kill Richard to agreeing to being his wife all in the span of one scene. Erika Soto is certainly up for that challenge, and is magnificent in the scene. Her reaction to Richard's "Your bed-chamber" is great, the way the line stops her cold. And then his "Your beauty" stops her in a different way, and we see she is caught a little by surprise by that. Richard uses different tactics to achieve his ends, Ann Noble raising her voice on "kill me with a living death," which captures Lady Anne's attention. And here Shakespeare lets Richard speak uninterrupted for a time, which shows that Anne is listening and considering what is being said. I love how torn Lady Anne is, and how she is as shocked as we in the audience are when she stops Richard's hand that holds the knife. It's an incredible scene, and after it, Richard has a new energy, taking great joy in learning the extent of his ability, which seems to have surprised even himself, to have successfully wooed a woman in front of the corpse of a man that he murdered. It is then that we see he feels capable of anything. It is a great and startling moment.

As I mentioned, Queen Margaret plays an important role in this production, and that is made clear from her first appearance on stage, the action freezing for her asides from above, giving her the complete focus of the audience. Played by Trisha Miller, who was outstanding as Goneril in the 2017 production of King Lear and wonderful as both Hippolyta and Titania in 2023's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Margaret commands our attention. She is excellent when addressing and confronting Queen Elizabeth (Lesley Fera), and then even more powerful when turning on Richard. Lynn Robert Berg is also excellent as Duke of Buckingham, particularly as he shows that he is conflicted at this early juncture as to where his allegiance lies, perhaps almost swayed by Margaret's words. He is last to exit, and casts a look to Richard before he leaves, a wonderful moment. Randolph Thompson is particularly good as Duke of Clarence in the scene in the Tower, captivating even as he describes his dream. And Alex Neher and Wes Guimaraes are excellent as the two Murderers. There is some delightful comedy to this scene, as when the Murderers pause waiting for the "passionate humor" of the Second Murderer to change. Clarence remains seated as he talks to them, showing no threat to them, and also no fear. It isn't until "for my brother, for his sake" that he stands. And he only becomes fearful when learning it is Richard who sent them. As the Murderers do their job, we see Margaret above watching like a spectre. As she will do throughout the play whenever there is talk of her curse falling on someone. She watches the workings of her curse unfold, making it feel inevitable. 

King Edward (Neill Fleming), after hearing the news of Clarence's death, has his speech punctuated by coughs, and is soon overtaken by a coughing fit. But it is his soft, thoughtful delivery of "poor soul" that really draws us to him. It's a nice moment. And it helps us to feel some of the anguish that Elizabeth feels when she next enters. It is when Buckingham enters with Richard that we are certain which camp he has chosen. Interestingly, Buckingham takes a certain joy in being a villain as well, showing how being in Richard's presence has rubbed off on his own character. It makes him seem almost like Richard's pet, that he's trying to impress Richard by being as dastardly as he. But soon we see that Buckingham doesn't quite have it in him, laughing at Richard's "Chop off his head" until realizing Richard is in earnest regarding Hastings' fate. And Samuel Garnett is really good as Hastings in the scene wherein he learns what his fate is to be. There is a particularly good moment with the young princes, when on "on your shoulders," the younger attempts to get on Richard's back and Richard reacts promptly, getting upset, displaying a weakness. But there is no weakness detected when he receives Hastings' head in a box. That box is dropped without any ceremony, and with a thud, on a chair, which is both chilling and darkly humorous. As is Ann Noble's fantastic delivery of "you know my mother lives."

Margaret's line "Bear with me; I am hungry for revenge" is plainly stated, which is great. Trisha Miller is fantastic in the scene with Elizabeth and the Duchess of York (Veralyn Jones, who was excellent as Olivia in last year's production of Twelfth Night by Antaeus Theatre Company). I especially love the change in Margaret's demeanor when Elizabeth asks for her help in learning to curse. In that moment, Margaret lets go of some of her animosity, some of her anger, as their woes align them. The women of this play face so much agony. And Veralyn Jones does a particularly good job in the scene where she confronts Richard. On "my most grievous curse," she manages to rise from her wheel chair, and both her anger and her pain are striking. The pain at coming to hate her own son, something that is probably unimaginable for most parents. Lesley Fera also shines as Elizabeth in that scene as she reacts to Richard's declaration that he wants to marry her daughter. 

In the scene where Richard and his cohorts manipulate others to make him king, Richard carries a copy of the Bible, holding it up in such a way that all can see it, using it as a prop much in the way a certain fascist in the White House did in recent times. This is a scene that really strikes home with us in the U.S., for in it the people are easily misled by Richard's feigning of a religious air, which is terribly familiar here. That 1995 film version of Richard III that I mentioned earlier addressed fascism, and now we are dealing with fascism in our own country, though of course the leader of that movement has none of the wit of Richard. There is something frighteningly delicious about Richard's delivery of "let us to our holy work again," for we know exactly what his sort of work entails. Tyrrell in this production is female, which somehow makes what she does all the worse, all the colder. There is also physical distance between us and that character, as she is as far upstage as possible and receives a phone call from Richard to find out whether the deed was done. The modern setting is felt largely in the costumes, but there are other elements at play regarding the period, such as the use of phones and when sirens blare before Richard asks, "What say the citizens?" And Catesby uses a megaphone to speak to the crowd from above. And when Richmond enters, it is to a heavy rock sound. 

The performance moves quickly, the action accelerating as it drives to its climax. Tony Pasqualini is excellent as Lord Stanley in the scene where Richard accuses him of betrayal. He raises his voice on "Most mighty sovereign," and that seems to work on Richard, but perhaps only to an extent, for Richard then demands that Lord Stanley leave behind his son. For at this point Richard can't trust anyone, and there is a great moment where he stands over the prone messenger, demanding, "bring better news." There is a wonderful use of images on a screen to depict the series of ghosts that appear to both Richard and Richmond in their sleep. And Richard's "Soft! I did but dream" speech upon waking is delivered while he remains supine on his cot. He sits up before "My conscience hath a thousand several tongues," and on "There is no creature loves me," Ann Noble allows a bit of humanity to show. Might we in the audience be again wooed to his side through that sign of humanity? It is interesting that just a bit later Richard says, "conscience is but a word that cowards use." For, having spoken the word himself upon waking, is he then admitting to some cowardice of his own? If so, it doesn't show, for the battle is fierce, upon sheets of white and red papers, Margaret then witness to one last result of her curse. This production is one hell of a great ride.

This production of Richard III runs through March 8, 2026. Visit the theatre's website for the complete schedule. There is one intermission, which comes at the end of Act III Scene v. A Noise Within is located at 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., in Pasadena, California. There is a free parking garage at 149 N. Halstead Street.

Shakespeare Reference in The Unspeakable People

The Unspeakable People is a collection of short horror stories from the late 1700s into the 1900s. One story, Ray Bradbury's "The Shape Of Things," contains a reference to Hamlet. The story is about a couple whose baby was born into another dimension and so appears and sounds strange to them. Bradbury writes: "Won't it be nice when he learns to talk later? We'll give him Hamlet's soliloquy to memorise and he'll say it but it'll come out, 'Wheely-roth-urll whee whistle wheet!'" (p. 175). The Unspeakable People was edited by Peter Haining, and was published in 1969.

Shakespeare Reference in Loud And Clear

Brian Anderson's Loud And Clear: The Grateful Dead's Wall Of Sound And The Quest For Audio Perfection contains a reference to Macbeth. And actually, it's to a phrase from my favorite speech in all of Shakespeare. Anderson writes, "As Lesh later put it, Grateful Dead feels rushed, 'hyper' even, like 'sound and fury buried in a cavern'" (p. 60). So, yes, the reference comes in a quote from Phil Lesh. The phrase "sound and fury" comes from this fantastic speech from Macbeth: "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow/Creeps in this petty pace from day to day/To the last syllable of recorded time,/And all our yesterdays have lighted fools/The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!/Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player/That struts and frets his hour upon the stage/And then is heard no more. It is a tale/Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/Signifying nothing."

Loud And Clear: The Grateful Dead's Wall Of Sound And The Quest For Audio Perfection was published in 2025. My copy is an uncorrected proof, so that page number could be incorrect.

Shakespeare Study: Revisiting A Few Plays

I've read nearly four hundred books related to Shakespeare, which of course is just a small fraction of the books that have been published. Here are the ones I've read in the last several weeks:

King Henry VIII, or All Is True by William Shakespeare - I think this was only the second time that I read this play. This time I read the Oxford World's Classics edition, edited by Jay L. Halio. The introduction gets into the historical sources, as well as the authorship question, regarding which parts John Fletcher might have written. Regarding the play's title, Halio writes, "The Folio editors evidently changed the title to make it consistent with those of the other English plays" (p. 17). That is, it was changed from its original title All Is True to The Life Of King Henry The Eighth. Regarding the play's themes, Halio writes: "Knowing oneself is another important theme and relates closely to the knowledge and use of power. For without knowing oneself, one is powerless" (p. 29). Halio also writes: "Though his presence is invoked by others talking about him, Henry does not appear in Act 4. As elsewhere in Shakespeare's plays - Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet, for example - when the protagonist remains off-stage for a considerable time, his absence prefigures a change" (p. 35). At the end of the introduction, Halio writes, regarding the undeserved neglect this play receives: "Every age is political, of course; but at a time when media seem to control the presentation of information, if not also its flow, and the availability of information has become essential to both the governed and the governing, Shakespeare's drama has particular relevance. What Henry knows or does not know, the means he uses to discover or confirm the truth, and finally the action he takes based on that truth, have an immediacy comparable to that of our morning newspaper or the evening telecast" (p. 61). All notes for the text are included at the bottom of each page. This book was published in 1999. It was first published as an Oxford World's Classics paperback in 2000, and was reissued in 2008.

The First Part Of King Henry The Fourth by William Shakespeare - I love this play. To me, it's the funniest of Shakespeare's plays. It's crazy that I have yet to see a live performance of it. I've seen productions that have combined this with the second part, and even this with the other three parts of the tetralogy, the Henriad, but never this play on its own. Anyway, this time I read the volume from The Kittredge Shakespeares, but the newer edition with the introduction and revisions by Irving Ribner. This volume is based on the Q1 text of 1598. Ribner writes, in the introduction: "Nor is Falstaff merely Vice. He also stands for the richness and variety of life, for the simple joys of the lower classes, and the common foibles of humanity - all of which Hal must learn to forego if he would assume the awful burden of kingship. It has often been suggested that in regjecting Falstaff, Hal must reject a portion of his own humanity as well. Falstaff serves also as comic commentary on the austere world of kings and nobles" (p. xvi). Ribler also writes, "Opposed to Falstaff is Hotspur, whose courage is foolhardiness and whose honour consists ultimately in reputation rather than true worth" (p. xvii). There are notes on the text at the bottom of each page. Regarding the letter that Hotspur is reading at the beginning of Act II Scene iii, a note reads: "Shakespeare does not inform us who was Hotspur's correspondent. The last few lines of the speech suggest that he was Dunbar, the Scottish Earl of March, for Holinshed says that he urged the King to attack the rebels before their forces should 'too much increase'" (p. 33). The note on Falstaff's "honour" speech (written by Kittredge) reads, "Here Falstaff begins to speak in the tone and manner of a person catechizing a boy; and, in the answers, he imitates the boy who speaks mechanically, having learned them by heart" (p. 102). The original edition of this book was published in 1940. The second edition was published in 1966, and renewed in 1968.

King Lear by William Shakespeare - If forced to choose, King Lear is my favorite play. I think I've read more editions of this one than of any other Shakespeare play. This time around I read the Plays In Performance edition, edited by J.S. Bratton. In the play's introduction, Bratton writes, "The conflict basic to drama, between order and disorder, is explored in it on levels from the intimately private and personal, through the domestic, the social and the political to the transcendental" (p. 3). Regarding the Fool, Bratton writes, "His jokes modulate and change with the audience's advancing relationship with Lear, from expressing indignation at Lear's deeds of cruelty and stupidity to the point where, when Lear gets the answer to his riddle - 'because they are not eight?' - the audience's relief and empathy rushes out to Lear as a fellow human being, understanding the same jokes" (p. 10). Notes on the text are located on the opposite page from the text itself, apart from a glossary, which is at the end of the play. What really sets this edition apart from others is that the notes focus on how particular scenes were acted in various productions throughout the years, what different productions cut, what was changed, and so on. The editor does not include notes on his own choices regarding the text. For example, he includes the line from the Quarto "If not, I'll ne'er trust poison," rather than the Folio's "If not, I'll ne'er trust medicine," without comment. So we just have to accept the text as given, for this volume is really about how the play was performed in different centuries. Regarding the first entrance of Edmund, Bratton notes: "In this introductory scene the figure of Edmond is clearly related to the Vice of the medieval stage, who was not only a boisterous source of mischief, but also a manager of events and mediator between audience and action, introducing himself and other figures" (p. 79). Regarding Lear's lines "Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are,/That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm..." in Act III Scene iv, Bratton writes: "When Queen Victoria went to see Macready's Lear in 1839, he deliberately pointed this speech at her, a fact of which she was uncomfortably aware. In doing so the actor was following a practice which, it has been suggested, was Shakespeare's intention, and a convention of the Elizabethan stage: the actor shifted the focus of his delivery from the scene to the spectators, where it was, as in this case, appropriate to generalise the comment he made" (p. 143). Regarding the moment where Edgar claims to have led Gloucester to a cliff, Bratton writes: "Derek Peat makes an interesting suggestion. Shakespeare, he says, is exploiting the expectation of his audience that scenery should be created by words of the actor, in order to set up tension through uncertainty: Edgar paints a scene, and Gloucester cannot confirm or deny it; the spectator must decide whether it exists" (p. 175). And regarding the stage direction "Enter Lear" in Act IV Scene vii, Bratton writes: "The folio direction ensures that this scene is visually an echo of the first, over which Lear presided from his throne; these powerful overtones are lost when he is discovered at the opening of the scene on a bed or couch, and conducts his reunion as if recovering from an more ordinary malaise. That arrangement underlines the pathos of the scene, and was normally preferred in the nineteenth century" (p. 189). This book was published in 1987.

The Second Part Of King Henry IV by William Shakespeare - I figured since I revisited The First Part Of King Henry The Fourth, I should also revisit the second part. This time I read The New Cambridge Shakespeare edition, the updated edition, edited by Giorgio Melchiori. In the introduction, he touches upon how several of the characters are different in this play than they were in the first part. Melchiori writes: "The extraordinary invention of Doll is the reason for the transformation of the character of the Hostess. Her name, Mistress Quickly, an allusion to professional briskness in Part One, is no longer appropriate for the pathetically gullible old bawd whose delusions of respectability are reflected in her new language" (p. 20). And regarding language, Melchiori writes: "Falstaff's language is affected by the change of his sparring partners: no longer the prince but by turns the Lord Chief Justice, the Hostess, Pistol, Doll, Justice Shallow, and even Sir John Colevile. His humorous conceits in Part One, which frequently took the form of paradoxical exercises in formal logic, with ample use of rhetorical questioning, are replaced by the practice of evasion through broad jokes, jocular self-commiseration, games with true or fictitious memories, and lengthy soliloquies in which the criticisms addressed to Justice Shallow or Prince John are in fact half-hearted attempts at self-justification or at keeping up a flagging morale" (p. 23). Regarding theme, Melchiori writes: "The redemption of time promised by the prince is the actual subject of the whole play. Hence the constant attention in it to 'the revolution of the times', from the moment Northumberland announces, in the first scene, that 'the times are wild' to the final rejection of Falstaff, of which we have already noted the significance on the temporal level. What must be underlined, though, is the constant association of the view of time in the play with images of sickness and disease" (p. 30). This edition is based on the 1600 Quarto. Notes are at the bottom of each page. Regarding Falstaff's line "My lord, I was born about three of the clock in the afternoon," Melchiori notes: "A detail omitted in F. Play performances began in the early afternoon: is this a metatheatrical hint, that Falstaff is merely a stage creation, born as he appears there?" (p. 99). This book was first published in 1989, the updated edition in 2007. My copy is from the 4th printing, in 2012.

And:

Two Tudor Tragedies edited and with an introduction by William Tydeman - This book contains Gorboduc by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville, and The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd. I read this book mainly because I had heard that Gorboduc was one of the sources Shakespeare used for King Lear, which is my favorite play. And, yes, there are similarities. Gorboduc is about a king who, while still living, divides his kingdom between his children (he has two boys, not three girls), and things go wrong. And, like King Lear, this one begins with a couple of characters having a private conversation before the king announces his decision. In Gorboduc, Arostus says, "First, when you shall unload your aged mind/Of heavy care and troubles manifold/And lay the same upon my lords your sons,/Whose growing years may bear the burden long" (p. 63). Those lines might remind us, as noted in this book, of Lear's "'tis our fast intent/To shake all cares and business from our age,/Conferring them on younger strengths, while we/Unburdened crawl toward death." And, as William Tydeman notes, Gorboduc's "But sith I see no cause to draw my mind/To fear the nature of my loving sons,/Or to misdeem that envy or disdain/Cant there work hate where Nature planteth love" (p. 72) might remind us of King Lear. Tydeman writes, "One might compare the complacency of King Lear in Act I Scene 1 in reposing his trust in the good faith of Goneril and Regan" (p. 275). But that's about it. Tydeman is able to find at least one similarity between King Lear and The Spanish Tragedy as well. Regarding Hieronomo's line "Tush, no, run after, catch me if you can" (p. 218), Tydeman notes, "cf. King Lear, IV. 6. 204-5: 'Nay, an you get it, you shall get it by running...' (both elderly men are 'running mad' at this point)" (p. 329). This book is a Penguin Classics edition, published in 1992.