With Shakespeare’s plays remaining staples of classic literature for many centuries, it is hard to think of any original retellings of his works that haven’t been done yet. But Bards of Birmingham’s The Merchant of Venice does exactly this, reimagining the classic Shakespeare play as though it were set in fascist Italy. The characters fit right into this premise in a way that seems purposeful rather than gimmicky. In the hands of a different group, this performance would have been hard to pull off, but the dedicated talent of the actors and director is able to execute the play perfectly.
Denim Day is a fantastic event that raises awareness for rape and sexual assault victim blaming that is ridiculously easy to participate in. Wear jeans. Here's the introduction from the website: "For the past 17 years, Peace Over Violence has run its Denim Day campaign on a Wednesday in April in honor of Sexual Violence Awareness Month. The campaign was originally triggered by a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped her rapist remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. Peace Over Violence developed the Denim Day campaign in response to this case and the activism surrounding it. Since then, wearing jeans on Denim Day has become a symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault. In this rape prevention education campaign we ask community members, elected officials, businesses and students to make a social statement with their fashion by wearing jeans on this day as a visible means of protest against the misconceptions that surround sexual assault. This year’s Denim Day is April 27, 2016." If you want to participate on Wednesday, all you have to do is wear jeans and make a social media post if you like. Hope to see plenty of you doing just that!
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