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Hester L-J

@starcrossed2018.bsky.social

2.8K followers 1.1K following 2K posts

Shakespeare, slowly #SlowShakespeare; editing (2GV for Arden), introducing (R&J for Cambridge), writing (Textile Shakespeare, forthcoming from Oxford UP Nov 2025!) & Very Short Intro to the Histories (currently). Teaching in Cambridge (Catz) 🇳🇿

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · Aug 29

TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE has a COVER👀

(this is a late C16 embroidered coif - never in fact assembled - in the V&A. All the crazy scale with added big cats, like an acid trip As You Like It. I love that it is a bit stained and messy.)

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

The cover of a book. Text reads Textile Shakespeare. The lower part of the image is embroidery, black on white, with flowers, fruit, insects, and animals. it is discoloured with age.

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 18m

Osric, BAFFLED, but still hasn't delivered his message
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Please enjoy Osric in glorious technicolour (Peter Cushing in Olivier's 1948 film). (I sometimes have to remind myself that King Lear's Oswald is very much not Osric 2.0, but a properly nasty piece of work.)

A colour still of a character in a film. Three-quarter length, a young man with neat dark hair and a tiny moustache and beard; he has a supercilious expression on his face. Standing against a patterned tapestry, mostly blue and gold, he is wearing white tights and a very short tunic, white satin with a pattern of blue dots, big sleeves with yellow lining, and a yellow scarf draped around his chest. He has a hat with a big blue feather under his right arm, gloves in his right hand, a lace handkerchief in his left hand, and lots of rings.

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 30m

AND his palm AND his crozier; that is his emotional support tome...

Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 16h

only to say that I have rarely managed to write in termtime. Reading & thinking are harder; can manage editing/rewriting & eg writing commentary? So different *kinds* of writing? (But writing daily blog has helped; scratching itch but also keeping muscles warm, even if it's not proper research.)

Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 17h

oh that's really interesting to hear! the thing about the weird ones is that you can throw a LOT at them and very often get away with it, especially with what feels like a pretty fearless company! I think it makes a difference, too, that there's considerable depth of (Shakespeare) experience.

Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 22h

don't know, sorry... not a C19 architecture person, just live in a street and city that has lots of them; they're the sort of thing that's invisible and then you notice them everywhere!

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 22h

boot scraper!! really common on all sorts of buildings of that age.

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 22h

James Loxley did the new SH edition? (I have a LOT on SH in The Book.) I wonder if, because Dekker collaborates so much, expertise tends to be quite diffuse?

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 23h

but would he though (I think we know the answer...)

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 1d

Hamlet: I love Laertes too! SO incomparably amazing!
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hamlet (David Tennant) looking appropriately quizzical before mocking Osric (Ryan Gage); Horatio (Peter de Jersey) looks on, in the 2009 film of the @the-rsc.bsky.social production, dir. Greg Doran.

A still from a television film. Half length, on the right, a young man wearing an open-necked pale shirt, is standing with his hands behind his back against a large shattered mirror. Another young man wearing a dark shirt is standing next to him, and on the left, a young man wearing a dark suit has his back to the camera.

Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 1d

I was thinking about that!

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 1d

or bring their own little stool?

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 1d

John Woodvine gone... Such a beautiful cameo, in his 80th year, as the Player King in the 2008-9 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet, immaculate and old-school in the first scene, and then elaborately period in The Murder of Gonzago. But always, always Ralph Nickleby, in the epochal 1980 production.

A colour still from a television film. Dimly lit, a group of actors with a small informal audience; an older man, wearing chinos and a blue shirt, is delivering a speech; everyone else is rapt.

A black and white photograph of a play in performance. A man wearing elaborate Elizabethan-style costume, black and gold, with a crown over a black coif. Another actor wearing a woman's Elizabethan costume is standing behind his left shoulder, hand stretched out to him.

Head and shoulders, against a green background, a photograph of a man with very neat grey hair, wearing a velvet coat, a high white collar with a white cravat, and a cream brocade waistcoat.

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 2d

Osric: Laertes is amazing!😍
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Osric doesn't have to be a dandy; especially in modern dress, he can be an officious, supercilious functionary. Here Ryan Gage as Osric (back to camera) contrasted with casual Horatio (Peter de Jersey) & Hamlet (David Tennant), 2009.

A still from a film. Three young men standing in a dimly lit interior, with marble pillars, a latticed window, and an enormous smashed mirror. One young man is wearing a neat dark suit; his back is to the camera. The young man in the middle is wearing a casual dark shirt and trousers, his hands in his pocket. The third young man is lounging in front of the broken mirror, wearing trainers, jeans, and a white shirt.

Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 2d

Pics: Kaspar Hilton-Hille as Troilus, Samantha Spiro as Pandarus, Charlotte O'Leary as Cressida; Lucy McCormick as Helen, Matthew Spencer as Paris; Spiro as Pandarus; McCormick as Thersites; Oliver Alvin-Wilson as Hector.

Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 2d

Some brilliant, intentional doubling: Samantha Spiro as Pandarus/Nestor (of COURSE Pandarus can be a 40+ a day henna-haired auntie), the great Jodie McNee Ulysses/Cassandra, astonishing Lucy McCormick Thersites/Helen (in her showgirl era & then some). The Myrmidons a final, sly coup de theatre 2/2

A photograph of a play in performance. A woman with masses of blonde curly hair is singing at a microphone, her hands outstretched. She is wearing a sparkly body suit, with one sleeve and a tiny skirt. A man wearing singlet and jogging bottoms, in pale fawn with orange trim, is sitting in front of her, his back to the camera. An illuminated sign in the background reads TROY on a vertical arrow.

A photograph of a play in performance. The same TROY sign; in front, a woman with dyed red hair wearing a yellow coat over a gold top and floral skirt is singing, her hands held out above her head.

A photograph of a play in performance. A young woman with dark hair wearing a gold bra top, a cropped fur jacket, a gold skirt with a grubby suspender belt over the top and multiple straps around her legs, is standing on the toe of an enormous gold statue foot, which is broken. She has one hand behind her head and the other outstretched.

A photograph of a character in a a ply. A man with a shaved head wearing a classical superhero-type outfit, with a metallic copper muscle suit and skimpy gold Greek-style armour; he has a spear in his hands.

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 2d

I think the current Globe production of Troilus & Cressida is the pick of the season; cleverly shaped text (Emma Woodvine) directed with panache & substance by Owen Horsley, whose Cheek by Jowl/RSC roots show. The leads Charlotte O'Leary & especially young Kaspar Hilton-Hille ones to be watched. 1/2

A photograph of a play in performance: Two casually dressed young people are facing each other as if getting married. She has a short white veil over her long blonde hair. An older woman with bright red hair is in between them, her hands clasped, grinning.

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 3d

Osric: [no hat], hot; Hamlet: cold; Osric: [hat] OK, cold; Hamlet: actually, HOT; Osric: 😶
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hats are HARD in modern dress; elaborate military uniform, as if Osric's an aide de camp, can work. Or just cast Robin Williams, as Branagh did in his 1996 film.

A colour still from a film. Half length, a middle aged man with big moustache and sideburns, and a curl in the middle of his high forehead, is standing with an elaborate military style hat, with a plume, an insignia, and gold braid, under his left arm. He's wearing a fancy dark green uniform with lots of gold buttons and a gold-edged sash with insignias. He's standing in an elaborate room with book cases, ornate furniture etc.

Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 3d

🥰 that's so nice to hear! (in the death throes or almost of Hamlet, having started over a year ago!!)

Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 3d

Congratulations! I have just started reading! (and hope to be able to find a sentence or two to note in my Oxford Very Short Intro to the Histories...)

Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 3d

ha! very satisfying kitchen chemistry!

Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 3d

beautiful! We never did it with a thermometer, always a teaspoon of boiling juice in a glass of meths and then assessing the clot. Haven't thought of that for YEARS!

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 3d

hope you get an EXCELLENT set. Is there another jelly in which such colour variation is possible, from the palest flushed rose gold to deep carnelian?? a friend once described my mother's pantry as the amber room...

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 3d

Hamlet: might as well insult Osric for a bit, who IS he even.
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Peter Cushing as Osric in the 1948 film of Hamlet, dir. Laurence Olivier. That costume is a HOT MESS. (Thanks to @markculham.bsky.social) for reminding me.)

A black and white photograph of a character in a film. Three-quarter length, a young man with a moustache and tiny goatee beard. He is wearing a very short tunic in elaborately patterned fabric, with enormous sleeves decorated with bows, a high collar, fur cloak, and additional drapery around the neck. he has large rings on his left hand, which is holding a lace-edged handkerchief by his side, and is holding a hat with ostrich feathers on his right hip.

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Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 4d

😱the horror the horror

Hester L-J @starcrossed2018.bsky.social · 4d

I've so enjoyed following this; it's been like the good old days once more, expertises coming together and having fun along the way. (Please write it up. It feels like it could go quite a long way.)

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