Learn to Love: Shakespeare

It’s the bane of high school freshman existence: the inevitable reading out-loud of Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth. It’s scarring, trudging through such archaic language. When a character waxes poetic for 30-plus lines, what does she actually mean? It’s kind of a bummer that so many English-speakers have an aversion to Shakespeare; he did, after all, invent a number of the words we use today, as well as many of our sayings, such as “you can’t make a leopard change his spots.”

Lots of professional actors agree that the way Shakespeare is taught in school is doing it, and the students, a disservice. The plays, after all, weren’t meant to be read; they were meant to be performed and watched. Heck, the actors themselves didn’t even have full copies of the script–they only got their own lines! This means that the best way to experience Shakespeare is to go see a really good production.

Poorly performed Shakespeare is, well, really awful, but high-quality productions–and there are several amazing theatre companies and Shakespearean festivals around the country–can bring to life these old texts, helping audiences appreciate the poignancy, timelessness, and really dirty humor in the plays. So if you want to love Shakespeare but just never could, go find a great production. Maybe start with a comedy. You could read a plot synopsis beforehand, but well-performed Shakespeare will leave no room for confusion. Get ready: lots of Shakespeare plays are not set during the Elizabethan era. Directors love to place the plays all throughout the 20th and 21st centuries and the world. They also experiment a lot with gender, sexual orientation, and race–highlighting the universality and timelessness of the plays. If the setting doesn’t jive with you, try to see past it to the play itself, and, remember, these plays have been done thousands of times, so it is an artist’s prerogative to try something new with them.

If you just want to get a little more familiar with the stories, so you can understand cultural references and such, listen to a podcast while you’re on a drive. There are several podcasts out there dedicated to helping laypeople make sense of Shakespeare. Sometimes they’re simply plotting synopses; sometimes they’re about some element of the Elizabethan/Jacobean world.

And if you’re ready to pick up the plays again, prep yourself to really read. You might give yourself small goals, such as an act or just a few scenes a day. Remember, it’s okay to move through the play slowly. Professional Shakespearean actors go through the script and define every single word for themselves, so it’s definitely acceptable for a layperson to take time to let things make sense. You might read a synopsis of each act so that you don’t get too stuck in the really dense sections. Find somewhere beautiful, such as traveling to a new part of the country, and read in lovely surroundings. Lots of these plays are set in beautiful landscapes or bustling cities, so it’s helpful to surround yourself with an inspiring atmosphere. Not all Shakespearean plays are equal. Some plays are particularly difficult to read, while others are a breeze. A few great plays to start out with are A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, and Richard III. (Believe it or not, most of the histories are really action-packed and among some of his best plays.) Remember, the more you do it, the easier it will become.

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