Download Shakespeare has been my “friend” and companion

Shakespeare has been my “friend” and companion, through out everything. I
have performed, read, watched and studied his works all my life.
I have a chance now to share with you my love of William Shakespeare
(26/04/1564 23/04/1616).
It is through his Love Sonnets to the so called “Dark Lady”, nobody knows and
probably never will, if the Dark Lady was a man or a woman ; this just makes
them more universal and for everybody, and so I will be doing readings of
some of my favorite Sonnets.
With a great cellist, Vincent Segal, to give you my passion for Shakespeare.
Marianne Faithfull
The Sonnets by Shakespeare have inspired controversial comments upon the
autobiographical meaning and the nature of the relations between the poet, the
young beloved aristocrat and a dark and perverse lady.
The sonnets express, in a lyrical way, all the aspects of passionate love, and
are written for a man most of the time.
Indeed, though 26 of the sonnets are love poetry for a married woman (aka «
dark lady »), 126 are for a young man (aka « fair lord »).
All this was believed to be the proof of Shakespeare’s bisexuality though for
some it only deals implies a strong friendship, a platonic love.
MARIANNE FAITHFULL
Few artists can create such intimacy as Marianne Faithfull. Like the greatest song
interpreters, she has a rare ability to transform any lyric into something compelling
and utterly personal. Her music has the texture of autobiography, as though every
song has been informed by Marianne’s own experiences.
Before The Poison, released in September 2004, is Marianne last album.
Her story, of course, has been well documented, not least in the Faithfull
autobiography published in 1994. Marianne was introduced to the Rolling Stones’
manager Andrew Loog Oldham at a London party in 1964. She was then 17-yearsold and still at school. Oldham, captivated by the way she looked, offered to make a
record with her. A few months later Marianne launched her music career with As
Tears Go By, the first song ever written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richard. It was a
Top 10 UK hit in August 1964.
As Tears Go By was the first of four hit singles. She also recorded two Top 20
albums, both reflecting an impressive balance between plaintive folk influences – with
material by such writers as Bert Jansch and Tim Hardin – and rock. Marianne also
embarked on a parallel career as an actress, appearing in the film Girl on a
Motorcycle and on stage in Chekhov’s Three Sisters (with Glenda Jackson) and
Hamlet, directed by Tony Richardson and co-starring Anthony Hopkins and Nicol
Williamson.
By the end of the Sixties, however, it was Marianne’s personal life – and her
relationship with Mick Jagger - which primarily occupied the media. She withdrew
from the public eye, emerging only briefly in the mid-Seventies with a country-tinged
album called Dreamin’ My Dreams recorded with the Grease Band. The album
attracted little attention in the UK although it was a huge hit in Ireland, where she
resumed touring for the first time in a decade. It wasn’t until 1979, however, that
Marianne Faithfull properly rekindled her career with the groundbreaking Broken
English.
That once-innocent voice had been transformed into a dark and husky instrument,
the signature for all her subsequent work. It was a revelatory moment, the folk
themes of her early career replaced by the biting incisiveness of such tracks as Why
Do‘Ya Do It?, Working Class Hero and the title track. The album also included Shel
Silverstein’s The Ballad of Lucy Jordan, a song originally recorded by Dr. Hook but
now utterly owned by Marianne Faithfull.
Broken English was followed by such albums as Dangerous Acquaintances, A
Child’s Adventure and, in 1987, Strange Weather. By the time of the latter album,
Marianne was increasingly fascinated by the dramatic feel and mood of Kurt Weill’s
music from the Twenties and Thirties. Although none of the tracks on Strange
Weather were by Weill, his pervading influence was clearly etched across the timbre
of the album.
Marianne’s interest in Kurt Weill and the music of the Weimar Republic was
consummated in 1996 with the release of 20th Century Blues. It was followed, in
1998, by Marianne’s recording of the Kurt Weill / Bertolt Brecht opera, The Seven
Deadly Sins, an album which received its live premiere at the Salzburg Festival in
Austria. Indeed, such was the response to The Seven Deadly Sins that the album hit
the upper reaches of the classical charts throughout the world.
During all this time Marianne’s mainstream musical career was virtually put on hold,
although she was involved in various collaborative projects. Marianne, for instance,
wrote a television theme called Hang It to Your Heart with Blur’s Alex James – a
precursor to the collaborations with Damon Albarn on both Kissin Time and Before
The Poison.
Since then, she’s appeared as a guest in Absolutely Fabulous, was directed by
Patrice Chéreau, dans Intimacy and The Girl on the Bridge. She has also played the
part of Marie-Thérèse from Austria in the Sofia Coppola movie, Marie-Antoinette in
2006.
She has recently also portraid Irina Palm a grand mother who does whatever it takes
to save her grandson.
Music:
* Marianne Faithfull (1965)
* Go Away From My World (1966)
* North Country Maid (1966)
* Faithfull Forever (1966)
* Love in a Mist (1967)
* The World of Marianne Faithfull (1969)
* Dreamin' My Dreams (1977)
* Faithless (1978)
* Broken English (1979)
* As Tears Go By (1980)
* Dangerous Aquaintances (1981)
* A Child's Adventure (1983)
* Rich Kid Blues (1985)
* The Very Best of Marianne Faithfull (1987)
* Strange Weather (1987)
* Marianne faithfull's Greatest Hits (1987)
* Blazing Away (1990)
* This Little Bird (1993)
* Faithfull: A Collection of Her Best Recordings (1994)
* A Secret Life (1995)
* 20th Century Blues (1997)
* A Perfect Stranger (1998)
* Vagabond Ways (1999)
* The Best of Marianne Faithfull (1999)
* It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (2000)
* True - The Collection (2000)
* Stranger On Earth: An Introduction to Marianne Faithfull
(2001)
* Kissin' Time (2002)
* The Best of Marianne Faithfull: The Millenium Collection
(2003)
* Before the Poison (2005)
Movies:
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1966
1967
1967
1968
1969
1971
1972
1974
1975
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Zomercarrousel
Anna (TV)
I'll Never Forget What's'isname
La Motocyclette (The Girl on a Motorcycle)
Hamlet : Ophelia
The Stronger (TV)
Lucifer Rising
Ghost Story
Assault on Agathon
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1990
1991
1993
1994
1994
1995
1996
2001
2001
2003
2004
2006
2006
2007
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The Wall: Live in Berlin (TV)
Dreaming (TV)
When Pigs Fly
The Turn of the Screw
Shopping
Moondance
Crimetime
Intimité (Intimacy)
Far from China
Alone in the Dark
Nord-Plage
Paris, je t'aime
Marie Antoinette
Irina Palm