Things I learned from @charliejane Anders's newsletter: "nothing" was slang for "vagina" in the time of #shakespeare, so "Much Ado About Nothing" meant, "lots of hubbub about a vagina". It's a reference to Hero's virginity, a key plot point (among other things, Shakespeare loved wordplay and complex references).
I've just booked tickets for this play at the Malthouse in July – looks great. I'm always a sucker for a production riffing on Macbeth (my favourite Shakespeare play - I was in it once at uni!).
5 May 1579: William Calverley enters Clare College #Cambridge#otd On 23 Apr 1605, he killed his 2 sons & tried to kill his wife & youngest son. Pressed to death at York Castle on his refusal to plead. A drama version was attributed to #Shakespeare, appears in 1664, 1685 Folios
Enjoy a bite-sized morsel of art and inspiration every week with my podcast Memory Muses! It's a short weekly arts almanac highlighting creatives in history. Plus a word of the week and a poem, all in about five minutes.
Looks like the first person to suggest Shakespeare was the pseudonym of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, was Francis Meres—in 1598. George Puttenham mentioned in 1589 rumors that de Vere wrote plays covertly.
Article has some interesting side observations such as de Vere being a "crossdresser", and that Oxfordians include several justices of the US Supreme Court. [Although the latter might militate against the theory, considering their recent rulings.]
Teaching can be a tough, joyless job sometimes, but on other days you get a Yr 8 student who reimagines Much Ado by having Disney-style talking cows for characters and calling it "Much A-Moo About Nothing" and you literally cry with laughter #MuchAMoo#Cows#Shakespeare#Education#Teaching#EduGlow@edutooters