#SlowShakespeare
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oldfortunatus.bsky.social
Drum roll for #SlowShakespeare tomorrow….
starcrossed2018.bsky.social Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · Mar 21
Claudius is getting rattled...
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Adrian Dunbar as Claudius in the 2021 Young Vic Hamlet, dir. Greg Hersov.

165 posts in, and tomorrow #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare arrives at one of the biggies... 👀🤔
A photograph of a play in performance. On a dimly lit stage, with a partially mirrored panel behind, a middle-aged man stands in a spotlight with his hands by his sides, looking slightly anxious. He is wearing blue trousers, black shoes, and a pale blue shirt, its collar open, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows.
March 21, 2025 at 10:05 AM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Thanks to Jen our fab computer officer @cam-english-fac.bsky.social all my #SlowShakespeare blogs are back here www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... as 'projects' #StarCrossed #StormTossed #DaggerDrawn #KingedUnkinged #2Dudes1Dog #BurningBarge #InkyCloak #MoonMad. #ProdigalPrince begins 1 October!
Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare wearing a rather grubby shirt with an unnecessarily plunging neckline. He is looking quizzically/sultrily past the inky quill which he is holding in his ink-stained fingers.
September 25, 2026 at 4:36 PM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Yelling into the void on a sunny September Sunday afternoon: so, shall I do YET ANOTHER #SlowShakespeare daily blog? So far: R&J, Tempest, Macb, 2Gents, A&C, RII, Hamlet, Dream. Suggestions??
(Artist's impression of my process, not to scale)
September 6, 2026 at 12:09 PM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
I can't do a poll, but I can make an executive decision, so🥁🥁🥁
I'll be starting my EIGHTH #SlowShakespeare daily blog on 1 January: #MoonMad aka Midsummer Night's Dream. Because we could all do with some laughs & a bit more fairy-dust right now...
(Gwendoline Christie as Titania at the Bridge, 2019)
December 19, 2025 at 12:30 PM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Just to say that YES I will be doing another #SlowShakespeare & in the absence of STRENUOUS REPRESENTATIONS to the contrary it'll be 1 Henry IV #ProdigalPrince but we've just got a new faculty website so ALL blogs are *temporarily* inaccessible. Hoping to have them back soon & to start on 1 October!
starcrossed2018.bsky.social Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 20d
Yelling into the void on a sunny September Sunday afternoon: so, shall I do YET ANOTHER #SlowShakespeare daily blog? So far: R&J, Tempest, Macb, 2Gents, A&C, RII, Hamlet, Dream. Suggestions??
(Artist's impression of my process, not to scale)
September 11, 2026 at 10:31 AM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
5 sleeps until my next #SlowShakespeare blog, starting 1 January💫 #MoonMad 🌙 (how many times will I see Dream in 2026? one booked already; doubt that I'll pass 2025's 8 Hamlets or adaptations thereof though...) (why no donkey emoji why)
starcrossed2018.bsky.social Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · Dec 19
I can't do a poll, but I can make an executive decision, so🥁🥁🥁
I'll be starting my EIGHTH #SlowShakespeare daily blog on 1 January: #MoonMad aka Midsummer Night's Dream. Because we could all do with some laughs & a bit more fairy-dust right now...
(Gwendoline Christie as Titania at the Bridge, 2019)
December 27, 2025 at 11:09 AM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
all my endless, endless #SlowShakespeare blogs? Almost every day since 2018😱now on my 7th play...
February 12, 2025 at 9:17 AM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
The wall's stones, now with working link #MoonMad 🙄🙄
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
July 9, 2026 at 11:13 AM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
#InkyCloak a new #SlowShakespeare daily blog starts tomorrow, 1 October, reading HAMLET very slowly...
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
#InkyCloak a new #SlowShakespeare daily blog | Slow ShakespeareFaculty of English
www.english.cam.ac.uk
September 30, 2024 at 11:52 AM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
This sounds great... If anyone's interested, I did a previous #SlowShakespeare blog about Macbeth, #DaggerDrawn - it starts at the bottom of this page. I know that teachers have found it useful in the past.
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/dag...
Dagger Drawn | Page 22Faculty of English - Storm Tossed
www.english.cam.ac.uk
November 15, 2025 at 3:04 PM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Please be my friend here? I will attempt to copy daily links to the last bits of #BurningBarge my daily #SlowShakespeare Antony and Cleopatra blog...
September 24, 2023 at 4:00 PM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
This is the PENULTIMATE POST in #InkyCloak a #SlowShakespeare Hamlet blog which began on 1 October 2024 and has continued daily (with a week off at Christmas and one day in February when the server was playing up). The last lines of the play tomorrow; how will it all end?
starcrossed2018.bsky.social Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · Nov 8
Horatio: we'll do as you say, Fortinbras
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Fortinbras (Mbulelo Grootboom) looks at Hamlet (Vaneshran Arumugam); Claudius (John Kani) seated, Horatio (Adam Neill) on the right, in the 2006 Baxter Theatre Company production dir. Janet Suzman @the-rsc.bsky.social
A photograph of a play in performance. A young man wearing pale combat trousers and brown combat boots, with a white t-shirt, is looking down at a young man wearing dark jeans and black top, apparently dead on the floor. There is another young man apparently dead face down to the side, wearing blue, and an older man slumped in one of 2 seats on a small round dais, and a further body partly covered to one side. A young man is standing off to the side on the right, covering his mouth with his hand.
November 8, 2025 at 4:11 PM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
HAMLET as Christmas play🎄:
✅Scandi setting: think hygge!
✅tasty solutions for festive left-overs
✅tense disagreements over who gave whom what when
✅FAMILIES🙄
(actually there is a bit of an Advent thing going on)
The #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare blog will take a festive break from Christmas Eve🎄
December 20, 2024 at 1:47 PM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
SO. Shall I start another #SlowShakespeare blog in the new year?? the daily writing itch needs scratching, it turns out. It could be #MoonMad? #InArden? or whatever?? thoughts? interest??
A still from a film. A smouldering young man with a neat little beard wearing a floppy shirt showing lots of his chest, looking smoulderingly to his right as if thinking very hard, with a quill pen, its nib inky, poised by his smouldering red lips. His fingers are inky too.
December 7, 2025 at 11:08 AM
merylf.bsky.social
Yes, please! #SlowShakespeare was always a great way to start the day calmly.
December 7, 2025 at 2:53 PM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Hermia: Lysander would NEVER leave me, you have clearly KILLED him! #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hermia (Matti Houghton) in the 2011 @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream, dir. Nancy Meckler, dir. Katrina Lindsay
A photograph of a character in a play. Against a black background, a young woman with short hair. She's wearing a white slip-style petticoat, with thin straps; it's grubby down the front. She looks confused.
April 14, 2026 at 10:47 AM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Pressing pause for Christmas mid-speech (sorry Ghost, but you're taking your time). Happy Christmas to all faithful followers of #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare; back to my worm's eye view of this very excellent play on 1 January. And to all a good night...🎄😘
starcrossed2018.bsky.social Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · Dec 20
HAMLET as Christmas play🎄:
✅Scandi setting: think hygge!
✅tasty solutions for festive left-overs
✅tense disagreements over who gave whom what when
✅FAMILIES🙄
(actually there is a bit of an Advent thing going on)
The #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare blog will take a festive break from Christmas Eve🎄
December 24, 2024 at 3:32 PM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Hamlet: I hate my uncle! I will remember! #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
The brilliant Paapa Essiedu as Hamlet in the 2016/2018 RSC production, dir. Simon Godwin.
A photograph of a character in a play. Half length, a young man wearing a black jacket over a black top stands looking upwards, as if praying, his hands with palms together in front of him. There is a plume of blue-lit haze above him, against a dark background.
January 5, 2025 at 10:58 AM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Lots of new followers in the last 24 hours, thanks to kind people making starter packs🙂 At the moment I mostly link to my #SlowShakespeare #InkyCloak Hamlet blog, day 41 today, Hamlet's just met up with Horatio! but there will be odd snippets about Textile Shakespeare too (my almost-finished book!)
November 10, 2024 at 11:15 AM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Titania: lullaby time! #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
I love the fairy bower in the 1981 BBC Shakespeare Dream, dir. Elijah Moshinsky: Titania (Helen Mirren) & her child fairies are gloriously lit, like a Victorian painting. I'm particularly fond of hairbrush fairy.
A colour still from a television film. A beautiful woman in an off the shoulder white gown is lying on a bed, surrounded by children. One of them is showing her a book; another is brushing her long blonde hair. Some of them might have wings.
March 7, 2026 at 7:45 PM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Puck: fairy fall-out! #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
What the people need this Monday morning is Stanley Tucci as Puck, sitting on a giant tortoise, in the 1999 Michael Hoffman film of Dream.
A colour still from a film. A man with a shaved head, with pointy ears and small horns. He has shaggy legs or trousers, and a sparkly sash crosswise over his bare chest. He's eating a bunch of grapes and sitting on the back of an enormous tortoise. There are bushes in the background.
February 9, 2026 at 10:52 AM
jonfoster.bsky.social
Brilliant to see a new daily series of #SlowShakespeare by @starcrossed2018.bsky.social. And this time she's taking on Hamlet - it's going to be great!

bsky.app/profile/star...
starcrossed2018.bsky.social Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · Oct 1
Who's there?? #InkyCloak
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
This was the 1st Hamlet I could've seen but didn't; our parents thought it'd be too long & so left us brass-rubbing in Stratford instead. Truly a different age. RSC 1984, the beautiful & brilliant Roger Rees as Hamlet, dir. Ron Daniels
A poster for a theatrical production. A slightly stylised painting in dark, warm orange/red tones of a shirtless man, head and shoulders, holding a skull close to his left cheek. Text reads HAMLET in the upper left corner, with three small gold crowns below.
October 2, 2024 at 9:41 AM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Titania: everything's just so messed up, the weather, the seasons... #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Titania (Pippa Nixon), the changeling boy a babe in arms here, in the 2011 @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream, dir. Nancy Meckler, des. Katrina Lindsay.
A photograph of a play in performance. Half length, dimly lit, a woman with long dark hair is holding a small white bundle like a baby in her arms. She's wearing a dark sleeveless dress and has leaves in her hair. Beside her there's a thin upright with twining flowers and leaves around it, and there are branches silhouetted behind.
February 18, 2026 at 9:46 AM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Ghost: revenge! (but be nice to your mother, ok?) #InkyCloak #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Today's post delayed by a round-trip to see 12th Night in Stratford, with lovely, excellent Sam West. So here he is as Hamlet, RSC, 2001. Many ghosts on a winter trip to Stratford...
A black and white photograph of a character in a play. Half length, a young man with curly blond hair wearing a black leather jacket over a black ribbed crew-neck jumper. He is looking over his left shoulder at something out of shot.
January 2, 2025 at 9:50 PM
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Puck: I am NAUGHTY, I say BUM! look out fairy, here comes Oberon #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Richard McCabe as a punky Puck (school tie, tutu, pointy ears, fairy wings) in the 1989 @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream, dir. John Caird
A photograph of a character in a play. Black and white, a young man wearing a short jacket over a white shirt and messy school tie, with shorts and a short white tutu; he has fairy wings and is smiling in a manic way.
February 12, 2026 at 10:04 AM