Chico State's University Film Series to Present Orson Welles's Macbeth on April 17

Orson Welles's Macbeth will be shown as part of Chico State's University Film Series on Tuesday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Ayres 106.

Using ideas developed for earlier stage productions, Orson Welles shot this film on the Republic Studios' back lot in twenty-three days, creating a kind of Dark-Ages surrealism to present Macbeth as a clash between Christianity and Celtic paganism. The studio later forced Welles to cut the film by twenty minutes and to have his actors redub their parts without Scottish accents. The Film Series will show Welles's original version, uncut, with the burrs intact.

Chico State's Humanities Center Will Host a Discussion of Orson Welles's Shakespeare Movies on April 12

On Thursday, April 12, at 4:00 in the Chico State Humanities Center (Trinity 100) Shakespeare professor Robert O'Brien will give a talk on "Orson Welles, Shakespeare, and Why Creative People Shouldn't Try to Make Movies." This thirty-minute talk will be followed by a discussion of Welles's Shakespeare movies, especially his 1952 Othello and 1948 Macbeth.

DISCUSSION: Roman Polanski's Macbeth

Which Shakespeare Plays Do Students Read in High School?

I surveyed the students in my upper-division college Shakespeare course to find out which plays they had read in high school.

Most had read Romeo and Juliet (70%) and Hamlet (68%); fewer than half had read Macbeth (39%) or Julius Caesar (36%). Three plays brought up the rear: Othello (31%), A Midsummer Night's Dream (24%), and—surprisingly—The Taming of the Shrew (21%).

The other thirty canonical plays were untouched or had been read by one or two students.

Colbert and Greenblatt Discuss Shakespeare and the Presidential Race

Stephen Colbert compares Beverly Hills Chihuahua to Troilus and Cressida, John McCain to Macbeth and Prospero, and Barack Obama to Hamlet and Puck.

Stephen Greenblatt answers a question in iambic pentameter, talks about McCain and Shakespeare's view of military heroism and leadership, and compares Sarah Palin to Bottom.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Shakespearean Candidates - Stephen Greenblatt

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