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Hooo, doggies! It’s backwoods Bard

By Bill Varble
Mail Tribune

Sandy McCallum was puttering in his garden one day when the words started coming.

"I hum to myself," the actor says. "Suddenly I was saying: ‘Now back in mythic England was this king, the name o’ Lear ...’ "

Sort of a Shakespeare-meets-the- Beverly-Hillbillies thing.

Thinking maybe he’d write a few verses for his grandchildren, McCallum mentioned the idea to fellow Oregon Shakespeare Festival actor Andrea Frye.

"You have to do the whole thing," Frye said.

The result became the "Jaw Jabberin’ with Shakespeare"  series, a sort of hip-hick version of Shakespeare’s plays about human frailty, ambition, morals, and foolishness.
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Sandy's versions cover the entire story of each play with all major characters and all scenes in chronological order, all in McCallum’s rich baritone.

McCallum’s version of Shakespeare's plays brims with homey metaphors like "twisted as a pretzel" and "vicious as a rabid wolverine." Lear faces "a doozy of a storm" and "them weasel daughters." When the hurricane torments him, it’s "roarin’ like a bear." As Lear rages at the storm, "Half his clothes is blowed away/and the rest ain’t fit to wear."

To be dead is "to be sleepin' in a marble orchard." To be buried is "wrapped in a gravel overcoat." Sneaky is "crafty as a local county fair."

What's being said about Jaw Jabberin' with Shakespeare

"Our fastest moving CDs."
-Tudor Guild Gift Shop

"Like a grizzled mountaineer re-telling some fabulous old yarn in a mix of folksy vernacular, modern slang and capricious invention, the charming McCallum succeeds in creating a whimsical and disarmingly droll rendering of Shakespeare's plays."
-Laird Williamson
Denver Center Theater Company and American Conservatory Theater.


"With wit and joy, Sandy brings a special lifetime knowledge of Shakespeare to his completely fresh and enjoyable CDs."
-Libby Appel
Artistic Director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

"McCallum's Fractured verses capture the essence and nuances of the original in a down-home delivery that would hold Jed Clampett's attention and anyone else's for that matter."
-Richard Moeschl
Ashland Daily Tidings

"I have always been captivated by joy. Sandy McCallum's obvious joy at
interpreting Shakespeare will capture others as well. And, more importantly, spark a lifelong interest in the stories, words and ideas of Shakespeare and the theater. Exactly what is needed. More! More!"
-Lew Fredrick
Public Information Director, Department of communications and community involvement, Portland Public Schools

"Sandy McCallum provides a learning experience like no other. An incredibly helpful and hilarious piece of work."
-Charles R. Schmuck
Educator, Fulbright scholar and former Cultural Minister, Oakland, California.

"Sandy McCallum has done it again. In a style all his own he takes us on the fateful journey of William Shakespeare's  Julius Caesar ... His approach is irreverent, witty, scholarly and just plain filled with down-home humor that is sure to make any listener smile and keep them wanting more...."
-David A. Dreyfoos
O.S.F. Producing Director

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