National Theatre Live

I can't recommend this enough!

Britain's National Theatre regularly holds screenings around the world of theatre productions currently on in London. This weekend will be the screening of The Comedy of Errors with Lenny Henry playing the main character and one of my favourite British actresses, Claudie Blakley. This production had rave reviews from the Daily Mail as well as The Guardian. A chance to get a prime theatre seat at less than prime prices! It's $25 for Palace Club holders or $27 for adults. See the NT Live website for details of your nearest cinema. The National Theatre's official The Comedy of Errors website has links to the trailer and other resources.

They also have a Resources page relating to other current and past productions, as well as the opportunity to purchase Digital Programmes of NT Live productions.

The National Theatre has been doing an excellent job in selecting its most entertaining, challenging and thought-provoking productions to share with us (many of which have been recently nominated for prestigious Olivier Awards), including:

• A new adaptation of Frankenstein by Nick Dear, in which Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch alternated the roles of the Doctor and the Monster on successive evenings, highlighting the duality of the characters
• The crowd-pleasing modern take on commedia dell'arte and the classic gender-bending mistaken identity Shakespearesque scenario - One Man, Two Guvnors
• The imaginative The Collaborators by Trainspotting writer John Hodge,  which creatively re-creates 1930s Moscow and the interactions between dissident playwright Mikahil Bulgakov and Joseph Stalin, for whom he has been asked to write a celebratory play or see his friends "disappear"

You can see a full list of previous NT Live productions here. Unfortunately, the NT has no plans at this stage to release these recordings for purchase.

NT Live is one of a number of exciting digital initiatives allowing people around the world access to performances and exhibitions they may not otherwise be able to see unless prepared to travel. Other similar schemes include The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD and the recent screening of a walk-through of the "Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan" exhibition from the National Gallery, London (which, sadly, I missed).

BBC "On this Day"

I hope the BBC wins lots of awards for their websites, because they make for fantastic resources. Check out BBC Bitesize if you haven't already. It's a shame, though, that we can't access the TV programs on BBC iPlayer (however apparently we can access the radio programs).

Another fantastic BBC site I just stumbled across is their "On this Day" page, which is great for teaching history because it lists some significant historical events for that particular day. For example, March 13, 1996, was the day of the terrible Dunblane massacre, and the day in 1961 on which 5 Britons were tried for allegedly passing secrets to the Russians (McCarthyism? The Crucible?).  You can even get it RSSd to your desktop for easy access.

Obviously as you can see the events are quite Anglo-centric, but interesting, nevertheless. Could make for good classroom discussion, especially considering so many of what we consider to be historically significant events happened before this current lot of students was even born.

"Reader, I...did not marry him"?

A new competition by Britain's The Times newspaper which which should appeal to feminist literary critics everywhere - "What Jane did next".

This competition allows you to re-write the ending of this novel by editing the most famous line (read "understatement") of the novel: "Reader, I married him". The challenge is to do it as a tweet, i.e. in 140 characters or less. This is a bit like the website "Summarise a Novel in 25 Words" (warning: some undesirable language on this site!). You could, for example, decide that Jane in fact does not marry Rochester, or that she decides to run away and start her life again, a wealthy woman, or...?

First prize is a night in Yorkshire staying in "the room of Amos Ingham, Charlotte and Patrick Brontë’s physician". Runners up receive a copy of the most recent Jane Eyre DVD. Sadly, this competition is only open to residents of the UK or Republic of Ireland!

Happy 200th Birthday Charles Dickens!

Yes, the late great Charles Dickens, Victorian novelist and social commentator extraordinaire, turned the ripe old age of 200 on February 7 this year. He's looking good for his age - there are a number of events being held worldwide to commemorate this milestone (and to coincide with the London Olympics and increased tourist traffic - but this is not a bad thing!).

You can find information about events, exhibitions, etc. at the official Dickens 2012 site.

The Picks
These are the highlights, AKA my own personal wishlist if I had a private jet and carte blanche:

• The actor Simon Callow, who is releasing his own book about Dickens (Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World) and has performed a one man Dickens show (The Mystery of Charles Dickens), will be speaking on Wednesday, February29, at the Museum of London
• UCL will be hosting a Dickens's London evening at their Bloomsbury campuse on March 15
• My good friend, Ben Winyard, will see his hard work come to fruition when the University of Buckingham officially launches the ambitious but amazing Dickens Journals Online digital project from March 28-31
• Some place called Simpich, Colorado Springs, USA is hosting a "lavish two-part" Dickens Festival from June 26-December 31 (whew!)
• Charles Dickens: Legacy and Life exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London (my favourite gallery ever!), until April 22
• The Dickens and London exhibition at the Museum of London until June 10

I'm sure there are many more which I have neglected to mention.

Miriam Margolyes' Dicken's Women touring Australia
Most excitingly (if that's a word), Miriam Margolyes is currently touring her much-lauded one woman Dickens' Women show around Australia as part of the Dickens's birthday festivities. Make sure you get along if you can - I've got tickets and can't wait! To whet your appetitie, here is a sneak preview on YouTube - Margolyes is delightful.

"The Best of Times..."

...to start blogging again! Yes, the new school year is up and running and, as I have not blogged here since May last year (!), I felt it was high time that I did.

Twenty Twelve is shaping up to be an exciting year for Anglophiles (as well as English and History teachers), as it is London's year to host the Olympics, the Queen's diamond jubilee and Charles Dickens's 200th birthday.

It is also the first year of implementation of the new Australian Curriculum, and it will be interesting to hear how Australian teachers have been rising to the challenges of change, something which we all do so well!

So stay tuned for more posts on great events and resources for teachers this year. And, to echo the great Dickens, may 2012 be the best of times, not the worst of times, the age of wisdom, the season of Light and the spring of hope.*

* from A Tale of Two Cities, of course!

Time 100

It's that time of the year again, when Time releases their list of the top 100 Most Influential People of the last year or so.

Some of the entries this year are no surprise - Mark Zuckerberg, Colin Firth, Julian Assange, a racy picture of "Tiger Mom" Amy Chua...

Some more surprising include: Angry Birds creator Peter Vesterbacka, Glee's Chris Colfer, Aussie actress Mia Wasikowska, PBS's Rebecca Eaton (who has had a hand in producing many of the acclaimed period dramas of recent years), and Pastor Rob Bell, of Nooma fame. Justin Bieber has replaced Lady Gaga as the headline influential pop artist, reflecting current trends.

This could make for interesting class discussion. You might even compile a class list of the people considered by the class to be the most influential.

Fox News Gaffe

Proofreading is an extremely important aspect of producing good written work. I was just teaching this concept to students this week.

Unfortunately, someone needs to teach this to Fox News. They made the rather embarrassing gaffe this week of having their banner at the bottom of the screen proclaim to the world "Obama Bin Laden Dead", which apparently prompted mass panic.

I shall show this to my students next week to further reinforce my point, methinks.