The Globe Theatre in London has just launched a new electronic service. The Globe Player.
It is part subscription service, partly an encyclopedia of reflection about Shakespeare and his work, but mainly it is a delight to discover the Bard whilst seated at your own screen and keyboard.
The service enables you, after registration, to rent or buy over 50 films of Shakespeare productions at The Globe Theatre.
You can also explore the Muse of Fire resource. This is a film in itself, but is made up of extracts from a wide variety of interviews with major Shakesperean actors of our day.
The interviews are available on the globeplayer.tv web site and offer fascinating insights into both the deep knowledge of the actors, but also their subtle and insightful take on the works they interpret.
One interesting part of the site content is access to performances of The Sonnets, but set in contemporary New York settings…
The project piece above is an interpretation of Sonnet 3, set in Sunny’s Bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn. A great way to listen to the language of Shakespeare, but framed by immediately recognisable modern contexts.
This service is truly ‘…a window of thine age…’.
Whether you are a long time resident in the world of Shakespeare, or just beginning to explore the universe of love, loss, drama and comedy that The Globe creates, then we think this is a wonderful resource.
William and the Web. Perfect partners in the 21st Century?