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When we don’t know much about some genius playwright’s life, why not make up some things based on the contents of his plays? Maybe put Shakespearean dialogue right in character’s mouths, so the audience will say, “hey, I remember that line!”
Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al talk through the Chloe Zhao Oscar-bait historical drama, Hamnet, and its source, the 2020 novel by Maggie O’Farrell. We very thoroughly spoil the plot of the film (and book), but are convinced that this will not negatively affect your future experience of the film (much like Shakespeare’s plays themselves). Is the film great, or just “grief porn”?
We also touch on other attempts to (usually playfully) fill in the gaps of the bard’s life: Shakespeare in Love, All Is True, Bill, Upstart Crow, Anonymous, and more.
As a minor theme we’ll treat in more detail later, we share a few takes on Shakespeare adaptations, in particular the Ethan Cohen/Denzel Washington take on Macbeth.
Follow us @law_writes, @sarahlynbruck, @MarkLinsenmayer. Al qua Shakespeare nerd is too elite to use social media.
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