Forum Topic

Will's Birthday

It's April 23rd, and Shakespeare's (assumed) birthday again! What play would be most suited to these troubled times? I suggest 'All's Well That Ends Well', if you're an optimist, but Mr Brown might prefer 'Much Ado about Nothing'. Which is your favourite play? I'm marked for life by the three I studied for Higher School Certificate, back in the 1940s - Lear, Much Ado and Henry IV part 2. Such a wonderful experience. Poor kids today seem to be limited to 'Romeo and Juliet' (teenage lovers) or 'Macbeth' (serial killers) - such a shame, I think.

Arnold Saxton ● 2387d23 Comments

Favourite has to Midsummer Night's Dream. Full of jokes, and nobody dies.

Ken Munn ● 2387d

I agree with what you say, Arnold, about the limitations of today's Shakespeare curriculum. Many schools seem to limit themselves to 'Romeo & Juliet' because it's seen as 'relevant' to teenagers' experience. I think it can be argued, however, that far from celebrating the teenage experience, it's actually a play about how daft and fickle teenagers can be. Imagine how the two of them would have got on if they'd had mobile phones. One other thought: if your surname were 'Capulet', who in their right mind would call their daughter 'Juliet'? Happy Shakespeare and St. George's Day!

Colin Jordan ● 2387d

I think most of us were 'marked for life' although not necessarily in a negative way, by this Shakespeare plays that we studied at school.  In my case they were for GCE and included Julius Ceasar, Macbeth and Henry V.  I remember best, Henry V and the comedy elements of it with the Welsh corporal and the clumsy attempts of Henry to speak French to Katherine.Irrespective of what anyone's views are on Shakespeare he certainly enhanced the English vocabulary, significantly.  Hard work to study and fully understand but rewarding for later life.  I suspect Shakespeare is very much persona non grate with current day teachers.

J. F. Bingham ● 2387d

I wish we had done Romeo and Juliet when I was at school instead of Henry 4th Part 1, which held little interest for adolescent larrikins with short attention spans except when it came to girls,football and music .We did do Midsummer Night's Dream the year before, that was far more fun.Happy days, within certain parameters.

Keith Iddon ● 2387d

I studied The Tempest for O’’level (remember those?). It was an odd play then and still is but some very famous lines.

Stewart Jones ● 2387d

We were lucky in having a fantastic English teacher who instilled a love and appreciation of Shakespeare into (most of) us.We studied Henry VI, part 1 for O.level and King Lear for A.level - we went to the cinema to see a film of King Lear, it was fantastic!We also studied A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Othello and Macbeth - all exciting plays, so maybe we were lucky because my husband said they had the most dull teacher and all he can remember is Julius Caesar, which he hated.

Delilah Hall ● 2387d

Agh.. mistake in my Roman Numerals! We studied Henry IV pt 1, not Henry VI.

Delilah Hall ● 2387d

"mistake in my Roman Numerals!"What have the Romans ever done for us?

Robin Cox ● 2387d

Just a reminder - the National Theatre production of Twelfth Night is being streamed on YouTube this evening at 7pm. It’s good but not quits as good as the RSC production in 2018. Imo.

Stewart Jones ● 2387d

Ha! Sanitation for a start!

Delilah Hall ● 2387d

Like Delilah I was lucky to read a lot of the plays with passionate and inspiring teachers from GCSE through to A' Level including Othello, Macbeth, R&J (remember writing an essay postulating pretentiously that it is a satire), Hamlet amongst others and spent most time on Antony and Cleopatra and a Midsummer Night's Dream for A' Level exams. We had lots of trips to the theatre in London to bring the text to life and we staged our own productions. But then I was even luckier to have a whole module devoted to Will for my degree where my interest in the History plays grew and my love for the Tempest and King Lear was sealed. Not to mention the sonnets of course.Shakespeare and Chaucer - short-term toil for life-long rewards.

Paul Campbell ● 2387d

I'm reminded of some doggerel. Where it came from I've no idea, but it's lodged. Anybody help? (I may have got it slightly wrong)Now I'm studying LatinIt's as dull as dull can beIt killed the ancient RomansAnd now it's killing me.

Ken Munn ● 2387d

Lear in the tragedies (did it for A level); 12th Night in the comedies.Looking forward to the streaming of 12th Night by the NT on YouTube for the next week. Starring Tamsin Greig as 'Malvolia'.

Susan Kelly ● 2387d

Great play Twelfth Night.  The darkest of his comedies.  More Dundee cake than Victoria sponge.  Full of wonderful lines and images like Feste's “whirligig of time”.The Tempest is another favourite.  I remember seeing Jacobi as Prospero at Stratford when he was virtually the only actor on stage you could hear.  Most the others were deep doing TV/film mumble acting - as if they were Marlon Brando and the camera was six inches away from their lips.  Whilst Jacobi, speaking very softy and a theatre actor to his boots – you could hear every word like droplets of gold dust....  “We are such stuff as dreams are made on and our little life is rounded with a sleep”......

Stuart Kerr ● 2386d

ODE TO LATIN.My girl's school did not teach latin - I picked bits up from my brother (and much later my sons) - I have regrets not learning latin as so much English has latin as the basis - I would have loved to learn it.Latin’s a dead language,As dead as dead can be;It’s killed the ancient RomansAnd now it’s killing me.All are dead who wrote it;All are dead who spoke it;All die who learn it;Blessed death, they earn it!

Delilah Hall ● 2386d

Many thanks - that's what I failed to remember correctly. For some reason I associate with Kipling, but where that idea came from I've no idea.

Ken Munn ● 2386d

My friend used to live with such a very very difficult lady. If she answered the phone his mates would ask if they could speak to St George!Wrong thread? Well it is the 23rd April!

Jim Lawes ● 2386d

I saw Lenny Henry do a very creditable version of Othello at the Strand Theatre a few years ago. I agree with everyone that encountering a wide selection of Shakespeare's plays while at school pays great rewards in later life, even if it can seem a bit of a trudge when you're 14 or 15. I can still remember standing on a desk waving an imaginary sword and shouting, 'Once more unto the breach, dear friends...' and a school production of 'Julius Caesar' where the 'blood', contained in a plastic bag, spurted past the body and all over the front row.  Great fun!

Colin Jordan ● 2386d

Probably invented but I remember reading a couple of years ago that an English lecturer said that In order to understand Milton it really helped to know the Bible and Latin. And one hapless student commented that he didn’t know they had ballroom dancing in those days.

Stewart Jones ● 2386d

I'm glad 'Othello' was mentioned, as it's the one of the Bard's plays I really dislike (though 'Timon of Athens' is pretty dull).I just can't believe that Desdemona, who stood up to her father and the authority of Venice to marry Othello, would let his suspicions and brutality once in Cyprus, go by without a protest. And the whole 'handkerchief' business doesn't convince me either. Why doesn't Emilia speak up? Like some other posters, I had lots of Shakespeare from Year 1 onwards, starting with 'the Merchant of Venice', going on to 'The Tempest' for School Cert., at the rate of one per term. Those were the days! I dare't give you the list of all the set works for my Higher SC, starting with  2 Chaucers, and ending with 'An Anthology of Modern Verse' ie p to 1918ish. All still treasured, except for Scott's 'Old Mortality', a crashing bore. Never picked up a Scott novel since.

Arnold Saxton ● 2386d

I know what you mean about Othello. It was one of my A’ level plays, The plot is ridiculous but aren’t most of them?  I think As You Like It  is my least favourite and not  helped but seeing  the recent RSC production where you felt that some of the cast wanted to be somewhere else.

Stewart Jones ● 2386d

I think it always was and still is the case that the books studied are largely determined by the exam boards.

Anne England ● 2386d

Shakespeare isn't easy to act.  And it sure isn't easy to stage.  So it's little wonder so many have been put off some of it (or even the whole lot) having sat through various lousy productions.  Especially at school.  Many teachers are great.  Many others have a lot to answer for when it comes to Shakespeare...Years ago I was in Stewart's camp about “As You Like It” being boring.  But I can assure you it 'aint.  Not in the right hands.  I've seen all of TWO wonderful productions in the last half century.So the odds aren't that good...

Stuart Kerr ● 2386d