Two of the most lasting and influential phenomena in Western culture are the plays of Shakespeare and the science fiction series Star Trek. The science fiction series touches Shakespeare at many levels, over and over again. Some of Shakespeare’s plays look as though they could be episodes of the series and some of the episodes of Star Trek draw on Shakespeares stories. We immediately think “Macbeth” when in the episode Catspaw the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise beams down to the surface of the planet Pyris V11 and are confronted by three witches who chant:

‘Winds shall rise

And fog descend

So leave here all

And fog descend

So leave here all

Or meet your end’

Characters in the series quote Shakespeare, episodes are titled after his works, and stories are adapted to fit the futuristic space arena. The Klingons quote Hamlet, both in English and in their own fictional language, into which language Shakespeare has been translated.

Captain James Kirk is Macbeth, Hamlet, Ferdinand, and Petruchio at different times. As he is always the winning hero, though, he has the ability to defeat the villain, even when the Shakespearean characters could not. For example, in the episode ‘Catspaw’, Kirk is essentially Macbeth, but, unlike Macbeth, here he has the ability to resist the evil pressure of the Lady Macbeth figure of Sylvia.

Within the framework of the original series, The Next Generation series and the films, Shakespeare has become an integral part of the universe that Star Trek inhabits. The series uses Shakespeare as a major reference to introduce new ideas and to maintain a connection with the future and the past.

The original series alone uses these Shakespeare quotations as episode titles.

Dagger of the Mind
The title is a reference to Macbeth.

The Conscience of the King
The title is a reference to Hamlet. There is more in this episode as the main plot concerns a travelling troupe of Shakespearean actors.

All Our Yesterdays
The title refers to Macbeth.

By Any Other Name
The title is a loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Kirk makes additional reference while talking with a woman as he holds out a rose-like flower and says, “As the Earth poet Shakespeare wrote, ‘That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’

Whom Gods Destroy
The character of Marta quotes Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18.

Elaan of Troyius
Here the plot is lifted straight from The Taming of the Shrew with Kirk playing the part of Petruchio.

Catspaw
The plot of this episode borrows parts of Macbeth.

The connection between Shakespeare and Star Trek are numerous. Both William Shatner and Patrick Stewart were trained as Shakespearean actors. Some say that Shatner never made the transition in style from stage acting to television acting. His overacting and wild gestures are more suited to the stage than the TV set, where the camera picks up every move.

Patrick Stewart worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company for several years, and has also done productions of Shakespeare He also appeared in a number of the BBC productions, including The Merchant of Venice and Hamlet. He has also appeared for several summers on the UC Santa Cruz campus with the Shakespeare Santa Cruz group.

Gene Roddenberry was a Shakespeare fan.

General Chang, the Shakespeare-quoting Klingon from Star Trek VI, was played by Christopher Plummer. Plummer is an accomplished Shakespearean actor. He played Macbeth in a 1988 Broadway production of the play.

And so it goes on….where no Bard has been before!!

Shakespeare has been quoted in many places for many reasons before now, but plans by  London Underground to use Shakespeare quotes on tube trains may yet be the most outlandish!

Bosses at London Underground have asked tube drivers to mix quotes from various authors, philosophers and great thinkers with their usual announcements. The initiative is being introduced on the Piccadilly line where drivers and station staff have been issued with a booklet of quotations.

So if you want to brush up on your Shakespeare skills, one way would be to buy a travelcard and ride the tube for the day!! Alternativley, you could study this great Shakespearen tube map, created by the Royal Shakespeare Company, which shows what the tube would look like if Shakespeare was in charge…

Shakespeare Tube Map

The conflicts and emotions currently raging in Shakespeare’s hometown would make an intriquing drama.

Romeo & Juliet’s Adult Boutique opens this week in Shakespeare’s Stratford-on-Avon. The new mayor said it could destroy the town’s image and put tourists off. Several business persons welcome it as an interesting addition to Stratford’s shopping streets, with its colourful stock of sex toys, porn movies and sexy lingerie. A vicar has weighed in with the opinion that it’s a “seedy” kind of shop and entirely inapporpriate as it is next to a bus stop used by children.

The owner of the shop, Kathy Gilbert, said that Shakespeare would be proud of such a shop in his town because his plays and poems are saturated with sexual overtones. He would have taken a mature and realistic view of it. Ms Gilbert, a 33 year-old mother added that her new shop would honour the Bard by selling candy in the shape of Romeo and Juliet having sex, dressed in jesters’ costumes. She says that she’s been surprised by the reaction of some of the Stratford people – the mayor and the vicar and other dignitaries should come along to the shop and see for themselves.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is more relaxed. Their spokeswoman pointed out that all kinds of businesses capitalise on Shakespeare’s name to sell their products. That is what happens in Stratford. And why not?

Ms Gilbert insists that it’s a good move regarding sexual health and sexual health education.
“We have worked very hard with the NHS to promote sexual health,” she said.

There’s an exciting summer ahead for New Yorkers. Daniel Sullivan’s new production of Twelfth Night opens at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park on June 25.

The cast is headed by a host of award winners in theatre, television and film. Oscar nominated Ann Hathaway plays Viola. Four-time Tony winner Audra McDonald takes the role of Olivia. Other Tony nominated actors are: Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed) as Maria, Raúl Esparza (Company, Speed-the-Plow) as Orsino and David Pittu (What’s That Smell?) as Feste.

The staging will feature an original score by the popular Brooklyn-based folk-rock band Hem, with vocalist Sally Ellyson, pianist Dan Messe, and guitarists Gary Maurer and Steve Curtis.

Something to look forward to stateside.

The debate about what Shakespeare looked like has taken a new turn with the discovery of a new portrait by Cobbe. This is one of those things about the Bard that will probably never be resolved. There are some who insist on the Sanders Portrait, but there are quite a few problems with that. The most serious is that the picture was painted when Shakespeare was almost forty but it’s an image of a much younger man.

Sanders Portrait

The latest candidate is more credible. It is the Cobbe portrait, which has been in the Cobbe family since it was part of a marriage settlement when a member of the family married a great-granddaughter of Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton, who was Shakespeare’s patron. He was believed to have commissioned the portrait by an artist whose identity has, sadly, been lost.

It’s an exciting discovery because it has that direct link with Shakespeare’s friend and patron – the young man of the sonnets. What’s more, the picture has been dated to about 1610, six years before Shakespeare’s death. Shakespeare would have been forty-six, a man in his prime and at the height of his fame and wealth. The portrait seems to show just such a man. As a successful businessman and playwright, already the equivalent of a modern-day millionaire, Shakespeare would have presented himself just like that. And it looks more like a successful forty-six year old than some of the other candidates.

Cobb Portrait

We all have the same mental picture when we think about Shakespeare. It is an iconic picture – more like a logo or symbol than a picture of a living person. It’s an image of a high-domed, stern, wooden presence presented on a black and white woodcut. That’s the short-cut image that anyone wanting to refer us instantly to the Bard produces.

Droeshout Portrait

It’s the engraving by Martin Droeshout, an important portrait because Droeshout was 15 when Shakespeare died and 22 when he did the engraving. It’s unlikely that he ever saw Shakespeare but he is thought to have worked from an authentic portrait, which either hasn’t survived or hasn’t been identified. Scholars are getting excited now because a consensus seems to be growing that the Cobbe portrait is that painting.

The Cobbe portrait went on display at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-Upon-Avon on 23rd April, Shakespeare’s birthday, and continues until 6th September, in the exhibition “Shakespeare Found: A Life Portrait.”