iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Cover reveal 💅 Super job by the people @yalebooks.bsky.social @yalepress.bsky.social Out 27 April 2027. yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

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Literature Works @literatureworks.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

This week, we launched new resources from the Page of Plymouth project, made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. We hope this Elizabethan story will continue to inspire others: to explore their local archives and their own creativity. 👉🏻 pageofplymouth.org.uk

pageofplymouth.org.uk

Page of Plymouth | Ben Jonson’s Lost Plymouth Play

Discover Page of Plymouth, a heritage project exploring Ben Jonson and Thomas Dekker’s lost 1599 play and the stories, people and history behind it.

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The Rose Playhouse @roseplayhouse.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This Saturday, it's our annual play reading fundraiser. This is your chance to act where Shakespeare once performed. Or sit back and watch the fun! Six plays, each cut to 1 hour. Roles drawn from a hat. Come for one or as many as you like. More info & book: www.trybooking.com/uk/event/117804

ROSE-A-THON 2026, Saturday 19 September.

A poster, with the titles of six Elizabethan plays in old fashioned typefaces taken from original quartos arranged in a slight jumble, plus, in modern type, times and ticket prices:
12 noon – Twelfth Night, or What You Will.
1.30 pm – Doctor Faustus.
3.00 pm – A Midsummer Night's Dream.
4.30 pm – Titus Andronicus.
6.00 pm – The Alchemist.
7.30 pm – Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
Tickets per play:
watch – £5
take part – £10.

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I tried to sign up but didn’t get the confirmation email

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I played the Chorus & so got to speak the opening prologue to start it all off. Anton Lesser & David Bradley were of course both brilliant. I really remember David’s first entrance, coming out of the darkness from the back of the site & wading to the centre of the flooded remains to speak - eerie!

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

… and close to Pie Corner, appropriately enough, labelled at the south entrance to Smithfield.

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

4K discs are region free (with only a handful of incredibly rare exceptions, like one or two from Italy). Confirmation that this specific 4K release is region free is here, and this site is the go-to place for this kind of info. www.blu-ray.com/movies/Stop-...

blu-ray.com

Stop Making Sense 4K Blu-ray (A24 Shop Exclusive DigiBook)

Stop Making Sense 4K Blu-ray Release Date May 8, 2024. Blu-ray reviews, news, specs, ratings, screenshots. Cheap Blu-ray movies and deals.

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The blu ray with extras will be region B though…

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Shameless/ Cult Films recently released it in the UK, with an Argento approved colour grade that’s different to Synapse’s but closer to the original. (They used too thin a blu ray case though, so if you buy it expect the outer cardboard box to get a bit creased.) cultfilms.co.uk/product/susp...

cultfilms.co.uk

SUSPIRIA UHD-HDR

Experience Suspiria like never before in this definitive 4K HDR Dolby Vision collector’s edition, personally introduced by Dario Argento.

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The Rose Playhouse @roseplayhouse.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Monday 22 June @ 6.30pm online MARLOWE'S SUDDENNESS Join Stephen Greenblatt as he talks with Paul Edmondson from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust about Christopher Marlowe and his new book about him, Dark Renaissance. £8 / £5 students & Friends More info & book: www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/whats-on

Infographic with photos of Professor Stephen Greenblatt and Rev. Dr Paul Edmondson looking at the camera.

It reads:
Researching The Rose, Monday evening online talks.
Marlowe's Suddenness:
A Conversation with Professor Stephen Greenblatt & Rev. Dr Paul Edmondson.
6.30pm (BST) online, Monday 22 June.

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Those portraits include Captain John’s mum & nephew. I think they came up with Sir Robert Dudley back in 2021 too, even though another portrait of him shows he had dark brown hair. But I guess that identification would make it more attractive to a potential buyer…

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

The Pink Admiral! No, my guess was it’s Captain John Grenville (1566-95), just before he sailed with Raleigh to find El Dorado. The shield’s satyr & ship’s red & gold colours are part of Grenville heraldry, his brother ancestor to the Duke of Sutherland, owner of this & other Grenville portraits.

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Mathew ends his great review of this exhibition with a puzzle contained within the Hampden Portrait of Elizabeth I. What’s with that foot poking out at the bottom of the wall tapestry behind her? Also, is that an eye looking out from the foliage? Maybe there’s a solution to the mystery… 1/15👇

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

I do admit though, now that I’ve seen it, I can’t unsee it. In the end, whatever the actual meaning of that visible foot may have been, at the very least the painter has made us look at the detail and workmanship of the rest of the tapestry more closely - and maybe that’s all he wanted… 15/ END

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

And this concealed emblem would also fit with the possible theme of the portrait - open to marriage, but behind it all remaining watchful and cautious. I’m not claiming any certainty here, just offering up a possibility. You can expand this photo to see the whole of the tapestry. 14/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

So, while not being in any way as clear cut as Arcimboldo’s paintings, all the elements - the standing foot, watchful eye, head, beak, neck, body, wing, the raised foot holding the stone - are there and placed where they ought to be. If you want to see it, you can. If you don’t, you won’t. 13/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Because I definitely can - in that reversed white flower, which would represent the stone, and in the green sepals of its calyx, representing the grasping foot. Maybe the right-angle formed by the stem(s) to the right even sketches the crook of the leg. 12/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

… is something that would refer to the other significant part of the heraldry - the stone grasped by the crane’s raised foot. Here’s the larger picture again, and another version of the heraldic crane - can you see anything that matches that in the tapestry, below the body and above the foot? 11/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Is that its body outlined in that bunch of dark red grapes? Maybe those two green leaves sticking up above that are its wings? Or perhaps that middle, dark green vine leaf is a single wing folded next to the body? But what an observer would really need to be sure of what they’re looking at… 10/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Tracing the rest of the body is harder, less obvious, more subjective. But with this sort of cryptic puzzle, surely that’s all part of the game? And the first clue - the foot - is clear, which invites you to look closely for the rest. Here’s the bottom half of the tapestry. Can you see it? 9/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

In her catalogue essay (p22), Christina Faraday suggests this is a reference to a specific piece of animal heraldry: The Crane in its Vigilance You can download a PDF of the whole catalogue here: philipmould.com/usr/library/... 8/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

The head is placed quite high up. So it’s a tall bird, standing on one foot, with an open eye. That’s already enough to make a guess as to what it might be. And it’s also embroidered on her dress in another portrait of Elizabeth in the exhibition, from the 1590s. A crane. 7/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Not as exactly defined, but enough to create a figure if you wanted to look for one. In which case, around the eye should be a head, beak & neck. Can you see a bird’s head? I can. In fact, the way those leaves above and below the eye seem deliberately painted to create that possible outline. 6/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

So I wonder if the rest of the bird isn’t hiding within or behind the foliage, fruit and fauna, but is actually made up of it? A bit like those wonderful composite heads painted by Giussepe Arcimboldo (1527-93), made up of vegetables or sea creatures or books? 5/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

And that eye Mathew saw in the foliage? Several people think it’s a snail. I agree. But my suggestion is: what if it’s meant to be BOTH? In a reply on Substack, June Girvin thought so too: “That is most certainly an eye. How intriguing. But on closer inspection it is most certainly a snail.” 4/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Several people have suggested that foot might belong to a falcon, referencing the heraldry of Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn. Maybe. A slightly strange place to put it though. But for now, whatever the species, let’s accept it’s a single bird’s foot. 3/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Here’s the whole portrait, and Mathew explains the circumstances in which it was painted, when the need for an heir - and therefore a possible marriage - had renewed urgency. 2/

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Can you fall in love with an essay?

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Can I ask how this AI image was generated? Because if it’s *purely* an extrapolation from the Holbein sketch labelled as AB, it means the sitter does actually look enough like the woman in the later, cruder AB portrait for me to believe that they are indeed both representations of the same person.

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Read Lauren’s fascinating thread about her new book 👇

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The Rose Playhouse @roseplayhouse.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Monday 11 May @ 6.30pm online BEFORE THE ROSE: MARLOWE AT THE CURTAIN Dr Callan Davies takes you back to the years around 1587, when The Rose is being built on Bankside and Christopher Marlowe is living up in Shoreditch, close by to The Curtain Playhouse. £8 / £5 www.roseplayhouse.org.uk/whats-on

Infographic, with a photo of Dr Callan Davies.
It reads:
Researching The Rose, Monday evening online talks.
Dr Callan Davies,
Before The Rose: Marlowe at The Curtain.
6.30pm (BST) online, Monday 11 May.

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The Rose Playhouse @roseplayhouse.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

We're in this! (As well as lots of other fine folk...) THE DEATH AND LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Written & presented by Professor Jerry Brotton On BBC Radio 3 & BBC Sounds – ten 14 minute episodes, releasing 20 April - 1 May, at 9.45pm www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002v6z8

Promotional BBC Radio 3 & BBC Sounds flyer for "The Essay: The Death and Life of Christopher Marlowe", written and presented by Professor Jerry Brotton.
Mon-Fri at 21.45, Radio 3. 20th April – 1st May.
Produced by Melissa FitzGerald.
Christopher Marlowe read by Justice Ritchie.
Other voices read by Tonderai Munyevu.
The image shows Professor Brotton standing with his arms folded, looking up at a Tudor portrait of a man with arms folded.

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Prof Laurie Johnson @lostplayhouse.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Not sure about going to the open casket funeral. Remains to be seen.

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Lucy Munro @lucycmunro.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

As a supplement to the piece in The Times Literary Supplement (@thetls.bsky.social), www.the-tls.com/regular-feat..., here’s a (rather long!) thread on Shakespeare’s house in the Blackfriars, what we knew, and what we now know, with some links to key documents. (1/20)

the-tls.com

A man of property

Just outside the City of London, in the secluded streets once occupied by the monastic precinct of the Black Friars, is an unassuming warehouse building

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James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

An extraordinary actor, and I’ve loved all four of his films that @filmsradiance.bsky.social have released so far - fingers crossed for more…

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Callan Davies @callanjd.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

This travelogue post shares some of my new playhouse research, on the back of a very insightful trip to see some 400-year-old Spanish playhouses. It’s helped me understand the Shakespearen theatre scene more keenly. open.substack.com/pub/shakespe...

open.substack.com

A Visit to the Spanish Playhouses

Golden Age Spain's 'corrales de comedias' as a guide to Shakespearean London's playhouses...

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The Rose Playhouse @roseplayhouse.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Monday 23 March 7.30pm (GMT) online LOST PLAYS & THE ROSE Professor David McInnis The vast majority of plays once performed at The Rose are now lost, but what can they still reveal about the business of Elizabethan play-making? Tickets: £8 / £5 students & Friends Book: www.trybooking.com/uk/GEID

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Illuminations @illuminations.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Pleased to have reviewed Shakespeare on the Radio: A Century of BBC Plays by Andrea Smith, published by Edinburgh University Press, for HJFRT. First 50 clicks can download a free .pdf www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DGUTG...

tandfonline.com

Shakespeare on the Radio: A Century of BBC Plays

Published in Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (Ahead of Print, 2026)

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Emma Smith @oldfortunatus.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

This 👇

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