Watch, enjoy and learn: Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest

May 7, 2020 Chris T

Some news about upcoming screenings of fantastic stage productions, as well as webcasts and live Shakespeare classes!

It’s a tough time for learners and teachers all over the world. Call it ‘school at home’, call it ‘online learning’, call it ‘emergency remote teaching’ ... call it what you will, it’s just not the same as being in a classroom together. In South Africa, Grade 12 learners are in an especially difficult position as they wait to find out what the rest of this (their FINAL!) school year entails. At Shakespeare ZA, we know that awesome teachers across the country are doing their best - and we hope that some of the resources on this site are proving helpful too.

**But Shakespeare’s work belongs on the stage and the screen, and shouldn’t remain in the classroom anyway! So here are some fun things to watch - not just for education but for leisure too:**

This year’s Shakespeare set work for Grade 12 learners writing the IEB exams is Antony and Cleopatra. TONIGHT, 7 MAY, and every night over the next week, you can watch this 2018 National Theatre production starring Sophie Okonedo and Ralph Fiennes (8pm SA time).

Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo are Shakespeare's fated lovers in Antony & Cleopatra, streaming from 7pm UK time on Thursday 7 May for one week.

romeo-and-juliet-production-photos_-2018-_2018_photo-by-topher-mcgrillis-rsc_248900ea8562ee74f76138967eff00002337f7.tmb-gal-1340.jpg

Then on Saturday 9 May, Marquee TV is premiering the RSC’s 2018 production of Romeo and Juliet (you can sign up to Marquee TV for a free 14-day trial).

Our friends at CN&CO have organised a watchalong party so that viewers can share the experience together! Join them at 8pm on Saturday and post your comments using the hashtag #MarqueeWatchAlong.

Later this month, the English Experience will be hosting a live webcast for IEB students in Grades 11 and 12. This event will take place on Tuesday 26 May, and will include presentations on prescribed works for 2020-21, including Anthony and Cleopatra and The Tempest (as well as Craig Higginson’s novel The Dream House), together with advice on the future of careers and work, and on how to manage stress and anxiety in uncertain times.

Chris Thurman, president of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa, will present on Antony and Cleopatra and The Tempest. Each member of the audience will also be sent a complimentary official programme for the event, full of content related to the prescribed works and presentations.

The cost is R100 per student (there is no charge for educators). Email info@englishexperience.co.za to book your tickets.

Lastly, make sure you check in on &SCENE throughout the month of May to catch Ashleigh Harvey’s Monday evening classes on Antony and Cleopatra. We missed the first class this week (SAD FACE SAD FACE) but will be keeping an eye on the &SCENELive Facebook page for part two.

Ashleigh is one of SA’s best performers of Shakespeare and her insights are invaluable! Have a look at some of her short videos for #lockdownshakespeare:

Ashleigh Harvey as Viola

Ashleigh Harvey as Emilia

Ashleigh Harvey as Angelo (Measure for Measure)

A whole HAMLET (and a bonus scene) for #lockdownshakespeare

April 23, 2020 Chris T

At Shakespeare ZA, we’re not big on the whole “Bard’s Birthday” thing, but 23 April seems an auspicious day on which to share with our readers/viewers some exciting news.

Fred Abrahamse and Marcel Meyer of Abrahamse and Meyer Productions (AMP) have decided to make their production of Hamlet available online for theatre lovers - and, especially, for Grade 12 learners who have the play as a set work - in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

They have even offered to let us bask in some reflected glory and consider this a contribution to our #lockdownshakespeare campaign!

You can watch the production on YouTube:

Abrahamse & Meyer Production in association with Artscape present The Tragedy of HAMLET Prince of Denmark, as performed by the crew, aboard the Red Dragon of...

You can also download the souvenir programme, which includes lots of useful information about the play.

But wait - there’s more!

In a stroke of good luck, Hamlet and Ophelia from ThinkTheatre’s touring production of the play happen to be locked down together - which means that in addition to the many wonderful monologues that have been performed for #lockdownshakespeare, we now also have a dialogue:

Cara Roberts as Ophelia and Bryan Hiles as Hamlet

Many thanks to Bryan Hiles and Cara Roberts for sharing this with us!

You can see more of Bryan and Cara - both in character and offering some insights into playing their parts - in our previous post, Behind the scenes of #lockdownshakespeare.

Behind the scenes of #lockdownshakespeare

April 16, 2020 Chris T

In our previous post, we launched #lockdownshakespeare, an initiative seeking to promote the work of South African theatre makers during the difficult Coronavirus lockdown period and to provide some modest financial support.

Video submissions of monologue performances have come flooding in, and we have been delighted to include many of them in our Resources pages. You can watch a selection of the videos in the What’s On section or on this dedicated #lockdownshakespeare YouTube channel.

We also asked actors to give us some insight into their approaches to the speeches and the roles they chose, or to share some more general thoughts on performing Shakespeare.

Here Luntu Masiza, who chose Caliban’s “This island’s mine…” from The Tempest, tells us what the character and the play mean to him.

Don’t forget that you can contribute to the #lockdownshakespeare campaign by scanning the QR code above or clicking through to BUSQR!

Luntu Masiza as Caliban

"Behind the scenes" is a short series that gives viewers insight into why and how actors prepared their speeches for Shakespeare ZA's #lockdownshakespeare

Anele Nene as Mark Antony

Anele Nene performed Mark Antony’s famous “Friends, Romans, Countrymen…” funeral oration from Julius Caesar. He set the scene at night, but also sent a video from earlier in the day sharing his rehearsal space.

Nomthandazo Shandu as Juliet

Nomthandazo Shandu chose Juliet’s speech from 3.2, “Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?”

She writes:

“With Juliet being such a vibrant and rebellious young teenager I chose to approach this monologue showing rage, pain and confusion, especially because Juliet is speaking to the Nurse here - the one person she confides in. The Nurse has just told her about Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment, asking how Juliet can defend Romeo for killing her own cousin. Juliet feels betrayed and is also scared of losing the love of her life.”

Anele Situlweni performed a speech by Romeo that comes earlier in the play - at a much happier moment. But he also found that current circumstances cast a shadow over his Romeo’s delight:

Anele Situlweni as Romeo

“My particular angle was that of LOVE IN LOCKDOWN: Romeo admires Juliet from afar, which resonates with social distancing imposed upon us as a curbing measure for COVID-19.

The beautiful extended metaphors in this speech gave me an opportunity to draw parallels between our present circumstances and the text. One stark example is Romeo referring to the moon: ‘her vestal livery is but sick and green’. That image to me conjured up the horrid nature of the illness that can be caused by the Coronavirus.”

Bryan Hiles and Cara Roberts, who play Hamlet and Ophelia in Think Theatre’s traveling production of Hamlet, discuss their respective approaches to these roles - and to “doing Shakespeare” generally.

"Behind the scenes" is a short series that gives viewers insight into why and how actors prepared their speeches for Shakespeare ZA's #lockdownshakespeare

Soyiso Ndaba situated the conversation between Cassius and Brutus in the opening act of Julius Caesar inside a car, cleverly filming his Cassius in the rear-view mirror. He notes:

Soyiso Ndaba as Cassius

“Cassius’s main objective in this scene is to get Brutus to think about his own interests and to remind him that Caesar is not a god who should be all-powerful. Cassius tells Brutus that he is as good as Caesar, referring to an incident in the past when Caesar challenged him to a swimming race, then almost drowned and asked Cassius to help him. Cassius knows that Brutus is a man of honour, so he uses that to get Brutus`s attention (‘Well, honour is subject of my story’). Caesar’s sudden rise to power annoys Cassius because they have been equals for most of their lives. What Cassius is doing is exactly what politicians do when they want power or want someone close to them to be in power. They conspire, lobby and use anything to win.”

Amanda Seome’s KaMadonsela / Lady Macbeth is “a very strong character, ambitious and ruthless. She is also very manipulative - she knows her own strengths and uses them to persuade Macbeth into killing Duncan. But later in the play, she is unable to cope with the legacy of their crimes and she ends up killing herself. Hungry for power, there’s nothing she wants more than being the Queen. So her ambition is driven by her hunger for this position …

Amanda Seome as KaMadonsela / Lady Macbeth

… In this scene (1.5) we see how cruel she is, when she sacrifices her soul to evil. She wishes she were a man, asking dark forces to give her the strength of a man so she can do her evil plotting without feeling guilty or being scared. My approach to the scene is that she goes into a complete trance/transition: the audience don’t only see her but they also see how she gets possessed by the dark forces of the unseen world. I want viewers to feel and see the power of the dark from just looking into her eyes, how they change to red, a symbol of blood and evil. Then it goes down through every inch of her body; we see that she is not alone anymore, but there’s a bigger power.

My translation of this piece was inspired by Welcome Msomi’s uMabatha, an adaptation of Macbeth into a tribal Zulu culture.”

Leatile Mohale chose the same speech from Lady Macbeth. She took a slightly different approach:

“Lady M is getting ready for a dinner party (with King Duncan). She's a person of high status and needs to show it. Her make-up suggests that she wants to be charming to the King. Bold eyes and thick red lips. Long flowing dress. She hears of her main guest's arrival and instructs that he be attended to accordingly. In the mean time, she will perform a ritual to invoke dark spirits to help her and the knife do the deed (something which she has done many times before). Artaudian approaches came to mind...

Liatile Mohale as Lady Macbeth

… There is darkness and candle light. The red light represents the evil motif that runs through the speech. The knife (which will later haunt Macbeth), the instrument of the deadly deed, is uncovered and infused with evil too. I chose to have her cut her hand/wrist and block the blood from gushing out so as to portray her not wanting to feel pain or see anything that might stir up feelings of shame, which might hinder her plans. She runs her cut ‘unhurt’ wrist over her breasts and sprays more ‘muti’ over her to further numb her from the horrors of it all. She finishes by speaking to the knife and then conceals it again. (She will come to collect it shortly.) After the ritual, she puts on her lipstick and proceeds to go and charm her guests.”

Sarah Richard as Lady Macbeth

Sarah Richard says Lady Macbeth is “the greatest female character that Shakespeare ever wrote (and should be in any actor's list of Top 5 favourite characters of all time)”:

“I really love the character of Lady Macbeth - to me it seems as though she is the engine that drives the action. When I performed it a few years ago, I loved the strength of the woman, despite her living in an era where she would have had less societal power than a woman today. As a performer, I enjoyed it because she never just takes one road to get what she wants; she explores all her paths before making a decision, which I feel is prevalent in the monologue I performed. She quickly adapts from one tactic to the next in order to get what she desires from Macbeth - no easy feat!”

Phumelele Majola chose Lady Macbeth in her final moments - the “Out, damned spot” speech. She recalls how,

Phumelele Majola as Lady Macbeth

“In high school, Macbeth was always my favourite Shakespeare text; maybe because it was my English teacher's favorite text and she always had a way of making us all fall in love with Shakespeare, or perhaps it was because it's a classic tale of ambition - in all its guts and gore, kind of like an early modern version of Tarantino. Finally, however, I've come to realise that it appeals to me really because of Lady Macbeth: an ambitious woman who knows what she wants and goes after it. We see a woman who is the key to the success of the mighty Macbeth. My approach to this speech in particular was to showcase a woman who, as much as she has ‘lost it’ and the guilt has overcome her, remains calculating, almost as if still trying to be in control of the situation. I also chose this particular monologue because I wanted to show, in the same breath, her vulnerability as a woman.“

"Behind the scenes" is a short series that gives viewers insight into why and how actors prepared their speeches for Shakespeare ZA's #lockdownshakespeare

Lee Roodt as Mark Antony

Lee Roodt, who performed Antony’s “Cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war” speech - delivered standing over the body of the assassinated Julius Caesar - describes in this video how he sees and hears the language of Shakespeare all around him: from kids busting rhymes on street corners to elderly uncles offering advice!

Finally, and fittingly, Inge Crafford-Lazarus tells us about Prospero’s (Shakespeare’s) valediction in The Tempest:

Inge Crafford-Lazarus as Prospero

“This speech comes as Prospero has to cut short his daughter’s wedding celebration. He has more urgent matters to attend to (a plot against his life), and the festivities come to an abrupt end. He reminds his new son-in-law not only that all good things must come to an end, but of the temporal nature of all earthly things. Prospero tells Ferdinand to be cheerful, even though the party is over. It was not going to last forever, as Ferdinand might have wished. Prospero and his spirits were merely putting on a show, and the entertainment disappeared without a trace.

What remains after any ritual, celebration or play has been performed? The participants and spectators’ memories of it, and whatever meaning they found in it, perhaps. Events and stories live on in the invisible files that are our thoughts and dreams. So do monuments, even when they have crumbled. So do people, after they have died. Shakespeare’s description of everything dissolving is not unlike the biblical image in Ecclesiastes 12:7, ‘Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.’ The physical remnants return to dust and the spirits ‘[melt] into air, into thin air’.

Prospero knows to value that which lives on in the invisible (spiritual) realm, where we can no longer perceive with earthly senses, but are conscious of that which matters. He believes we all belong to that realm. We are of its stuff. Our life is short and bookended by this realm. Therefore we must be made cheerful by everything that enriches it, expands our knowledge and feeds our souls, so to speak. We can be glad of all such experiences, however brief they may be. Nothing lasts forever ... except that we might ... and so might all the knowledge we'll take with us into the invisible place some call Paradise.”

Lockdown Shakespeare: Calling all theatre makers!

April 6, 2020 Chris T

In South Africa, as around the world, the necessary measures taken to limit the spread of COVID-19 have hit artists hard - performing artists in particular. At Shakespeare ZA, we’d like to do our bit to keep the arts economy going by promoting theatre makers and helping to provide some financial support. So we are pleased to announce:

#lockdownshakespeare

How does it work?

Actors, we invite you to record yourself performing a monologue from a Shakespeare play of your choice (between 90 seconds and 3 minutes in length). Or maybe a sonnet? It can take any form and can be in any language!

Post it on the social media platforms you use, with the hashtag #lockdownshakespeare (don’t forget to tag Shakespeare ZA on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram). Then …
Email us on lockdownshakespeare@gmail.com so that we can follow up with you. We’ll set up a file-sharing option, ask you to tell us a bit more about your performance choices and ensure that …
The videos are added to Shakespeare ZA’s resources pages for other theatre makers, teachers, learners and members of the public to enjoy!

What about the money?

The Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa (SSoSA) has established a small fund to kick-start this initiative, committing to paying 20 actors R1000 each for their recorded performances and for a short explanatory text or accompanying video.

We are also pleased to announce that Shakespeare ZA readers and viewers can donate via BUSQR. If you’re able to contribute to the campaign, please do!

(Actors who are in the fortunate position of being externally funded or whose employment hasn’t been affected by the Coronavirus outbreak are encouraged to contribute their videos pro bono so that more people can benefit! If so, please let us know when you send us your email.)

So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get those monologues memorised and those cameras rolling!

Hamlet today: “To be or not to be”

March 30, 2020 Chris T

by Eddie de Waal

Teachers and learners doing Hamlet may find it useful to consult this line-by-line paraphrase of “To be or not to be” (Act 3, Scene 3, lines 56 - 88).

HAMLET To live or to die, these are my choices – Is it better for me to grin and bear The unfair knocks and blows that life deals out, Or do I fight the torrent of troubles And so end it all? To die is to sleep, Only to sleep. Just think, with sleep we halt The heart-ache and the thousand shocking things We all must suffer: death is a finale We can pray for, even. To die, to sleep; Yes, sleep. Perhaps to dream – and there's the snag: For in this sleep of death what nightmares wait When we have rid ourselves of all this fuss? It stops us in our tracks, this nightmare fear, And so we stretch our lives out far too long. The world torments and snubs us; we put up With the bully's abuse, with arrogance, With unrequited love, endless law-suits, With rude bureaucrats, with all the insults Riffraff give the decent folk to swallow. So why do we not skip right to the end? A sharp knife does the job. Why bear the load? Why strain and sweat, why tire yourself out? Because you dread what happens when you die – It's unexplored terrain – no-one comes back To tell you what it's like. Your courage fails. And so you choose the trouble that you know Rather than rush to trouble that you don't. All fear God’s punishment for suicide. My inborn inclination to take charge Is weakened when I start to think it through. I long to do a great, important thing But then become too cautious and too slack, And end up doing nothing.

In March 2020, I put my English translation of Hamlet's "To be or not to be" on this page, and now follow it up with Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 1.

July 13, 2020

Notes

1. A few years ago, Chris Thurman, as keynote speaker at an IEB conference, made the point that audiences who see Shakespeare performed in, say, German, easily understand him because the translation is in the vernacular. It is with this remark in mind that I offer this translation – or paraphrase, if you will. It has been my purpose to remove difficulties in the language while retaining the richness of dramatic construction and effect.

2. I have attempted a line-by-line rendition, in pentameter (though not always iambic pentameter). This means that the content of each translated line is meant to represent the content of its original.

3. My numbering of the lines may confuse readers if they compare it to numbered editions of the original text. Editors seem to decide for themselves how they are going to go about the numbering business, and I have done the same. The numbers here are like numbers on a Google map on which some zooming-in can still be done.

4. Comments are welcome, as well as suggested improvements to my interpretation.

Eddie de Waal

Hamlet Act 1 Scene 1 - Today’s English

ACT I SCENE I. Elsinore. A platform before the castle.

FRANCISCO at his post. BERNARDO enters.

BERNARDO Who's there?

FRANCISCO No. You answer first. Halt and show yourself.

BERNARDO Long live the king!

FRANCISCO Bernardo?

BERNARDO Yes. 5

FRANCISCO You're right on time for standing guard tonight.

BERNARDO Yip. Midnight sharp. Francisco, go to bed.

FRANCISCO Thanks for being punctual. It's bitter cold And I'm fed up.

BERNARDO Has your beat been quiet?

FRANCISCO Not a mouse stirring.

BERNARDO Well okay, good night. 10 And if you see Horatio and Marcellus, Tell them to hurry. They stand guard with me.

FRANCISCO I think they're here. Halt! Who goes there?

Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS

HORATIO Friends of Denmark.

MARCELLUS And loyal to the King.

FRANCISCO Good night to you.

MARCELLUS Oh, go well, good soldier. 15 So, who's on guard?

FRANCISCO Bernardo's in my place. Good night to you.

Exit

MARCELLUS Hello! Bernardo!

BERNARDO Say, Hi, is Horatio there?

HORATIO Yes, here I am.

BERNARDO Welcome, Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus.

MARCELLUS And? Has that thing appeared again tonight? 20

BERNARDO I have seen nothing.

MARCELLUS Horatio says we're only dreaming things And flatly does not buy a single word About this horror that we've now seen twice. And so I have invited him to come 25 With us to be on guard the whole night through. Then, if the ghost appears to us again He may believe us then, and speak to it.

HORATIO Oh bosh. It will not come.

BERNARDO Hold on a bit And give us time to tell you once again, 30 While you so strongly doubt the thing we say For two nights we have seen.

HORATIO Well then I'll wait And let Bernardo tell it once again.

BERNARDO Only last night, When that star over there, just west of north 35 Had moved along the sky to that same spot Where it shines now, Marcellus and myself, Just as the bell struck one, –

Enter GHOST

MARCELLUS Hush. Quiet now. Look, there it comes again! 40

BERNARDO Our late king's spitting image, once again!

MARCELLUS Horatio, you know Latin. Speak to it.

BERNARDO It does look like the king, Horatio?

HORATIO Indeed. It frightens and amazes me.

BERNARDO It wants to talk.

MARCELLUS Ask it, Horatio. 45

HORATIO Why do you barge in here, this time of night, And in the selfsame shining battle dress The sovereign of Denmark, who has died, Would wear to war? I order you to speak!

MARCELLUS It is displeased.

BERNARDO Yes, it's leaving quickly! 50

HORATIO Stop! Speak to me! I order you to speak!

Exit GHOST

MARCELLUS It's gone. It will not answer you.

BERNARDO Horatio, what now? You're trembling and pale: Is this imagination, or much more? What d'you say now?

HORATIO God knows, I would not have believed this thing, 55 Without my having seen it plain and clear With my own eyes.

MARCELLUS It resembles the king?

HORATIO As you do you: It's clothed exactly as the king for war Against that king of Norway with his claims. 60 It glares like him when in a hot dispute He killed the Polack soldiers on the ice. So strange!

MARCELLUS So twice before, precisely at this time, While we were standing guard he has marched by.

HORATIO What all this means I can't begin to think. 65 Perhaps, but this may be a guess of mine, It means great danger threatens our land.

MARCELLUS Please stay a while and tell me, if you know The reason why we are on high alert With all our citizens on night patrols, 70 And why they're making cannons all day long And buying armaments from foreign lands; Call-ups swarm to come build ships; then they slave For seven days a week without a break; What's going on with all the stressful haste, 75 That everybody works by day and night – Can you explain the setup here?

HORATIO I can, At least, this is what I've heard. Our last king, Whose ghostly lookalike we saw just now, Got, as you know, from Norway's Fortinbras – 80 Whose pushy ego drove him to the brink – A challenge to a duel. Heroic Hamlet – As all the nations known to us name him – Killed King Fortinbras, who had made a deal, A lawful one, signed, sealed and delivered, 85 Which cost him, with his life, all territory He owned. The winner in the duel took all. Of course, a tract of land as large as his Our own king wagered on his part, to go To Fortinbras, totally to be his, 90 Should he win the showdown, as in the end, According to the guidelines of the deal, Hamlet got his land. But now young Fortinbras, Who is a hothead with no discipline, In outlying parts of Norway, here and there, 95 Has gathered bands of hell-bent criminals, Feeding and training them to undertake A venture needing all their skill; which is – According to the best reports we have – To invade our land and take back, by force 100 And terrorism, all the land I've told of That his father lost. This, I understand, Is mainly why we are so vigilant, The reason we're on guard, the key idea Behind this hurry scurry in the land. 105

BERNARDO I daresay it's exactly as you think: It then makes sense that such a doomy ghost Comes past our watch, armed so much like the king Who was and is the reason for these wars.

HORATIO My mind is stuck on something very small: 110 When Rome was prosperous and at its height, And just before the greatest Caesar died, The dead rose from the graves and in their shrouds Wandered through Rome, shrieking and babbling. Then fiery comets came, and dew like blood. 115 The star-signs spelled calamity. The moon, That causes all the oceans' ebbs and tides, Was almost wiped out in a great eclipse: And selfsame pointers to calamities, Like delegates of doomsday bringing news, 120 Or countdowns to a looming cataclysm, Have on the earth and in the sky been seen In our regions by our compatriots – Hold it, look sharp! See there, it comes again!

Re-enter GHOST

Come what may, I'll challenge it. Stop, false thing! 125 If you can make a sound or use your voice, Speak to me: If there is any good thing I can do To give you rest, while not incurring guilt, Then tell me:

A cock crows

Or if you know our land is under threat, 130 Which we may stop if warned in time, then speak! Or maybe when you lived you hoarded up In caves treasure that did not belong to you And which, they say, can agitate a ghost, Then say so. Stop, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus. 135

MARCELLUS D'you think that I can stab it with my spear?

HORATIO Yes, if it does not stop.

BERNARDO It's here!

HORATIO It's here!

MARCELLUS It's gone!

Exit GHOST

This is not right. It is so dignified That we should not be violent with it. 140 And we can just as well attack the air, Than try to sham a silly fight with ghosts.

BERNARDO It almost spoke, but then it heard the cock.

HORATIO And then it flinched, just as a culprit does When someone calls his name. For I have heard 145 That cocks, who always know when daybreak comes, When they crow long so everyone can hear, Awake the god of light; and, at the sound, No matter where they're wandering about, The ghosts, who roam where they should not, rush back 150 Into their prison. So then it must be true For we have seen the proof of it just now.

MARCELLUS It vanished at the crowing of the cock. When Christmas Eve comes round, some people say, While we are celebrating Jesus' birth, 155 The cock crows all night long, not just at dawn: And then, they say, no spirits dare to haunt; So safe's that night that star signs do no harm, Fairies can't steal babies, witches are weak – God's goodness leaves no room for evil things. 160

HORATIO I've heard it too, and partly I believe it. But, look, daybreak is here. Its soft red light Shines on the dew of that high, eastward hill: We can stop standing guard. And I think, now, Let us go tell what we have seen to-night 165 To young Prince Hamlet. Of this I am sure, This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. Do you agree that we should fill him in, Because we're friends with him, and as we must?