Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet – The Juliet Trap
There is a particularly pernicious trap awaiting actresses cast as Juliet. A similar trap awaits Lady Macbeth, though of a different nature, as well as several of the more archetypal male roles. But none of them are as insidious as The Juliet Trap. Here’s how it...
EVE OF IDES: A Play Of Caesar And Brutus – Now Available!
Those who know my work will recognize my constant blending of Shakespeare and history. It entertains me to reconcile gaps in history with the characters and plots of Shakespeare's plays. I often use these to explore various quirks of history, as well as the growth of...
Nellie Bly Interviews Wives Of US Cabinet Secretaries
During the election of 1888, Nellie Bly spent a week interviewing the wives of the various candidates, then followed up by embarking on interviewing all the living former first ladies. This must have been well received, for here she is immediately following the...
Recent Posts
The Window Scene, or I Hate Balconies
You know what drives me consistently crazy? The preconceptions people have about Romeo & Juliet. So often after a student matinee a teacher or a parent will complain: “Why did you add all those sex jokes?” When we explain that we did not add...
Capulet Ball – To Mask, or not to Mask
Despite what Baz Luhrmann did in his film, the party in R&J is not a masked ball. It was common practice in Renaissance Italy to show up wearing a mask to a party one was not invited to. Which is exactly what the boys are doing. Mercutio is even delighted to don a...
Letters to Juliet
I know there are desperate people in the world, seeking advice on how to live their lives. Dear Abby, Oprah, and Mr. Blue (oh, how I do miss Mr. Blue!) are only a few examples of how authority figures have hundreds, even thousands of people seeking their counsel. I...
Cut the Prologue
I never enjoy productions of Romeo & Juliet that play the Tragedy from the beginning – probably because I don’t think it is a Tragedy at all (see here). But even if it were, this isn’t Hamlet or Macbeth. There’s no ghost, no three witches. The first half of the...
The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet?
I venture into the realm of the painfully obvious when I say that, since it was first penned somewhere around 1595, Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet has become timeless. As an actor, it’s been my good fortune to perform most of the male roles in the show – Romeo,...
Loving Lady Montague
Once upon a time, I had this nifty idea: explore the origin of the Capulet-Montague feud by placing it in the historical context for Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. They were real families, after all, mentioned by Dante in the Divine Comedy. And based on a...
12 Apostoli – A Star-Cross’d Christmas Short
Verona, Italy 8 December, 1328 One of the favourite haunts of the Rakehells was a tavern with exquisite fare known as La Pentola – ‘The Cookpot’. Through its narrow half-door and large interior portal were wide rooms with long...
The Many New Varnished Faces
There are still a few stories being edited. A few titles may change, a few may be added. But as it stands, here is the Table Of Contents for the new edition of VARNISHED FACES: A Poet's Nightmare - Part ISan Bonifacio's CurseIllyriaThe Daughters Of...
‘Varnished Faces’ and so much more
I've been hunkered down for weeks, scattered between four or five different writing projects. No, at least eight. Wait, that's not right - where am I? What day is it? No matter. Because I'm surfacing to announce the arrival of a long-promised project as a...
Theatrical Plagarism
“Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal.” — Igor Stravinsky A familiar quote, hilariously misattributed to Picasso by Steve Jobs. But Stravinsky, ever the great artist, was himself stealing. The line actually belongs to T.S. Eliot: "The...
