There is just something about the way David Tennant says The Bard’s words that makes my stomach flutter. So you can imagine my delight when Entertainment Weekly announced that Tennant would be hosting the new Android app that the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is launching called RE:Shakespeare.
The free app is a collaboration between Samsung and RSC with Tennant lending his dulcet tones and many years of stage experience with Shakespeare’s lines at the tip of his tongue as a host and guide with the goal of bringing the Bard to a new generation of audience members. Can you just imagine this man teaching you about Shakespeare?
AnyWho, the app looks like it will be absolutely awesome with games, quizzes and close examinations of Shakespeare’s work through a modern, hip-hop lens. There will be discussions and dissections of thumb biting and standing under balconies gazing longingly at the object of your affection, or rather, a look at the insults and courtship rituals that Shakespeare’s work is overflowing with.
There will also be quizzes that test both your knowledge of Shakespeare and your knowledge of hip-hop lyrics. To top it all off, there’s access to 360-degree footage of a Royal Shakespeare production of “Much Ado About Nothing“.
The only downside I could find in all the press coverage is that it will only be an Android app. As an iPhone user, I’m stuck in the back alley of some Elizabethan backwater for all that an Android app will help me (but I know that this is not usually the case so I’m not going to complain too much). I truly hope that all of you Android users will rush over to the Google Play store as soon as possible and download this beauty. Please report back and tell me how jealous I should be that David Tennant’s accent is talking about hip-hop and Shakespeare in your head while I’m stuck with my dumb iPhone.
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HT: EW