For better or for worse, the works of William Shakespeare are so deeply embedded into literary history that many of us encounter at least one of his narratives before we exit our teen years. Still, as much as the 16th-century playwright is revered and emulated, much of his work has remained beyond the reach of the average person. Now, almost 500 years after Shakespeare's birth, Joel Cohen, in his first solo directing effort, has offered up a stunning adaptation of The Tragedy of Macbeth without the overdone fillers and the exhausting reimaginings that have plagued recent adaptations.
Continue reading at Shadow and Act.
As a child, like most children I presume, I did not think of my parents as real people. They acted instead as my comforters and my providers, the people I stretched out my hands towards when I needed something. I was nearly out of the house before I considered what they might have given up; what dreams they may have sacrificed or brushed aside in the 60’s, the ’70s and ‘80s to provide my sister and myself with the best life that they could. For us, they moved through life often joyful but at times enraged; continually propping up a marriage that was long past its expiration date. Though I lived in their story with them, for the first part of my life, I observed as an outsider, labeling them as who they presented themselves to be instead of who they actually were. I, their eldest child, was guilty of not really seeing them in the full scope of their humanity.