Book review: ‘Shakespeare and the Resistance’ is a tale of a real-life Elizabethan plot: until I read this review about another linking of Shakespeare to covert politics I’d never heard of Clare Asquith. I gather from sniffing around the web that her previous book on Shakespeare’s coded commentaries on Elizabeth I’s regime is lauded in some circles and virulently ridiculed in others. I don’t know enough to judge either way, so I just present this as “interesting” in the same spirit as Shakespeare’s mooted connections to Dee and Kelley’s possible spying in Bohemia.
Not-So-Silent Cinema presents “Häxan”, Witchcraft Through the Ages: if you can get to the Mütter Museum for Halloween, this looks like a fun way to spend it (depending on your definition of “fun”. I’d be all in).
Spellbound: Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft: if you’re in Oxford UK between now and January you might want to check this out at the Ashmolean Museum. The rest of us will have to make do with the website photos, including one of John Dee’s famous shewstones.