Shakespeare

I love Shakespeare. I love the struggle of Shakespeare. I love his elevated language. Even though I rarely understand more than half of what I hear at a Shakespeare play, I love it. There is something so otherworldly about it—something so raw and true, at least that's what I felt when I watched The Tempest on Wednesday night.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival truly is a rarity (they received an Tony award for regional theatre back in 2000). Every summer they produce six plays, generally three Shakespearean and three not, and they have a green show and backstage tours and other activities (my kids love the gift shop and the treats). I'm sure there are other regional Shakespeare festivals that do similar things, but there aren't any near us. I've done research, and the Shakespearean festivals near us generally produce just one play for the summer.

Just one.

I got to see all six plays this year. I'll be honest and say that I didn't like Anything Goes. I found it offensive at times and boring. Zero plot. And the music was very repetitive. (Here's a picture from the website).

Shakespeare's Love's Labours Lost  was next, which I also found a little bit boring. It is one of Shakespeare's "lyrical" plays, and there are a lot of speeches which I could not follow. But I still enjoyed it and my girls did too.


The boringness ended there. We saw Peter and the Starcatcher next, based on a super exciting children's book by Dave Barry. If you live anywhere near Utah, you need to get yourself down to Cedar City to see this play (it's running through October). I don't think I've ever laughed so hard during a performance. It was hilarious and magical and fantastic. We took everyone but Flannery to this one, and they all LOVED it.


Next was King John which was surprisingly fascinating. I'm not into kingdoms and rulers, until I go to a Shakespearean play, and then I am.

12 Angry Men was a standout. I love that movie (rent it if you haven't seen it), and the actors in this production were so good. The themes of mercy and justice and civic responsibility are so moving. I knew what was going to happen, but I was still worried until the very, very end that right would not prevail.

We (everyone but Flannery! Even Shaemus!) saw The Tempest last.


Tempest is not my favorite Shakespearean play, but it has some really interesting story lines and fabulous characters. It's the themes in The Tempest that I love. Particularly the theme of forgiveness. The last speech in the play, the speech by Prospero, so moved me, I'd like to quote some of it now. (After forgiving his brother, who does not deserve forgiveness, and seeing his daughter betrothed to her love, Prospero decides to give up his very powerful magic. This speech is given to the audience. I especially love the last two lines.

Now my charms are all o'erthrown,

And what strength I have's mine own,

Which is most faint. Now 'tis true

I must be here confined by you

Or sent to Naples. Let me not,

Since I have my dukedom got,

And pardoned the deceiver, dwell

In this bare island by your spell;

But release me from my bands

With the help of your good hands.

Gentle breath of yours my sails

Must fill, or else my project fails,

Which was to please. Now I want

Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;

And my ending is despair

Unless I be relieved by prayer,

Which pierces so, that it assaults

Mercy itself, and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardoned be,

Let your indulgence set me free 

Prospero is not blameless in this play, and I think this speech acknowledges that. Just as we want to be forgiven for our mistakes, Prospero's asking us to forgive him. He's literally saying, I can't get off this island and be free of the curse of living here the past twelve years until you applaud and end the play. 

Brilliant. And my kids loved it too. Even Shaemus. There is something about Shakespeare so captivating, even our kids get it. Sometimes underestimate them when we assume they can't!

Shakespeare

I love Shakespeare. I really do. I'm not just saying that to be cool. I'm not sure that's even a cool thing to say. I know very little about cool. Someone will have to fill me in.

I attribute my love of Shakespeare solely to one source: my mom. Our family trips every single year were to the Utah Shakespearean Festival (which is awesome). I was eight when I went to my first plays—I saw A Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, and Richard III. I loved them. I absolutely loved it—not surprising, all three of those are fabulous plays. To this day, creepy Richard III is my favorite of them all.

Every year after that I saw every Shakespeare play I could, both at the festival and at local theatre companies. I liked Shakespeare. I was comfortable with Shakespeare. It had become a part of my identity, so when I got to high school and read, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Hamlet, I enjoyed myself (for the most part—okay, I really didn't enjoy myself much during Julius Caesar). Again, it was comfortable. Even when I didn't understand things, I wasn't worried. I was a person who was well-aquainted with Shakespeare, and I can say, without hesitation, that gave me a measure of self-confidence.

Like helping our children appreciate and feel comfortable with poetry and art and classical music and ballet and opera, we really should help them appreciate and feel comfortable with Shakespeare, even if we don't feel comfortable with it ourselves. It will give them a measure of self-confidence. It is an achievement, one not to be sneezed at. (Especially during a play...)

How can you do this with your kids?

Well, first of all, take them to plays whenever you can. The comedies can be watched, I think, as early as eight or nine or ten. Same with the really exciting dramas, like Macbeth and Richard III. 

But you can't just go to these plays and not know the story ahead of time. That is the key with Shakespeare—knowing the story ahead of time. Then the words, on their own confusing, somehow make sense, even when spoken quickly amidst the regular, Shakespearean chaos. The emotions of the actors make sense when you know the story: the tears, the laughter, the anger, the madness.

Here are some great retellings of Shakespeare's tales. These are volumes to buy, not just check from the library, because hopefully your kids will reread them and reread them. Shakespeare is exciting. It is intriguing. It is wonderful. These are stories that will captivate if given the chance.


These are graphic novels from Marcia Williams. My kids love them. Even Flannery.


The Usborne Illustrated Stories from Shakespeare—also great. I frequently catch someone with this open, rereading one of their favorites.






















Tales from Shakespeare by Tina Packer. I love this version. Love it. The illustrations are awesome—the illustrators who contributed are phenomenal. If you had to just pick one, this is it.


Shakespeare Stories One and Two by Leon Garfield. Great retellings of the most famous plays.

And you can generally find this series, Shakespeare Can Be Fun, at the library. (It's not my favorite, but good introductions to the plays—especially if you are taking your kids to see something.)


And remember, "If music be the food of love, play on." !!!