Here is a purr of fortune’s, sir, or of fortune’s
— Clown, All’s Well That Ends Well
cat — but not a musk-cat — that has fallen into the
unclean fishpond of her displeasure, and, as he
says, is muddied withal: pray you, sir, use the
carp as you may; for he looks like a poor, decayed,
ingenious, foolish, rascally knave. I do pity his
distress in my similes of comfort and leave him to
your lordship.
It has truly been a fortunate year. From my brother’s wedding to a brilliant research trip tp the Huntington Library, not to mention a relatively dry and warm fall and winter in Portland, I am sure I’m at the zenith of Fortune’s Wheel, and so steady myself for rougher waters ahead. In reflection on a great deal of good news and satisfying work, this post cobbles together a few year-end notes.

While I may have taken a bit of a break from the blog in order to focus on revisions of my book manuscript this fall, that didn’t stop me from seeing a range of performances. To end the year, I am back at Artists Repertory Theatre for a third time (first, second) observing and blogging about their production of Mike Lew’s Teenage Dick, a West Coast premiere. Check back here for the latest installments.
- Part 1, “Green and yet ungovern’d”: or, verdant villain Richard
- Part 2, On the Mat(ter) of Mixed Martial Metaphors
- Part 3, Over the Break, Unto the Breach
- Part 4, A Night at the Mirror Globe
- Part 5, Young Richard in the city of Roses
A number of other reviews went into print this year as well. This was a particularly special bunch as I was lucky to be in on the development of many of these projects by brilliant colleagues and friends before they went public.
- Review of Pericles Wet (Portland Shakespeare Project 2017), Shakespeare Bulletin 36, no. 3: 555–58.
- Review of Romeo & Juliet / Layla & Majnun (Bag & Baggage 2017), Shakespeare Bulletin 36, no. 2: 340–45.
- Review of The Taming of the Shrew (Original Practice Shakespeare Festival 2016), Scene: The Journal of the Internet Shakespeare Editions 2: 66–72.
- Review of Shakespeare’s Lost Playhouse: Eleven Days at Newington Butts by Laurie Johnson (Routledge 2017), Shakespeare 14, no. 2: 197-98.
Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! See you in 2019,
— Elizabeth