Saturday, June 1, 2013

Shakespeare Profiteers Make Out Like Bandits!

Have you checked out these suits who are making a killing marketing "corporate" Shakespeare? To be accurate, some business types are only trying to cash in, while some actually are profiting, big time. Google "Shakespeare in business" and you'll find a slew of "Get rich the Shakespeare way" books, including Paul Corrigan's Shakespeare on Management and Jay Shafritz's no less (or more) originally titled Shakespeare on Management. (Book description: "William Shakespeare's vast and important contributions to literature have long been acknowledged, but his shrewd insights into business and management have been all but ignored -- until now.") Even some folks with an actual interest in theater are sucking up to the corporations, a trend which, hilariously spoofed in one episode of the Canadian TV series Slings and Arrows, turns out to be perversely real. The Nashville Shakespeare Festival now offers "Business Workshops for Professional Development" ("Making your world a stage, all year round!"). If you want to spend the rest of your day in a state of shock and depression, watch their promotional video:  http://www.nashvilleshakes.org/BusinessWorkshops.htm.

No one can deny that Shakespeare himself was a shrewd businessman. He knew enough to buy stock in his own theater company, the most successful in England,