If I had a penny for every time someone stood by this statue for a photograph I reckon I'd be pretty wealthy. In the middle of Stratford-upon-Avon, of course...
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| Shakespeare&admirers, Stratford, 2022. I wonder that the pointing girl is saying - 'Move over that way a bit', perhaps. OM4ti with probably a 35mm Zuiko f/2.8, HP5+ on Ilford MG Classic paper. |
We did Shakespeare at school, of course - and I never read another word of his afterwards. How do they manage to do that, I wonder? And the worst of it is, we had (I thought) an absolutely fantastic English teacher who I really liked. In junior years we did Richard II - you know, the one where John of Gaunt says This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle... and that's about the only thing I remember about the whole thing. Then a few years later we did...wait for it, A Midsummer Night's Dream - the one with all the fairies dancing in the forest and what have you - perfect for an all boy's school. I jest, of course - most of us hated A Midsummer Night's Dream, I just didn't understand what the heck was going on. In fact, I didn't really get Richard II either, truth be told. And I was an avid reader - still am. Looking back, I think it was because it was never explained to us how to read a play - I had no idea how to get to grips with all the characters and how to extract the plot from the dialog. So, that was my experience of "the greatest writer in the English Language".
We did Romeo and Juliet in high school. The best part was watching the film version with the bit of nudity in it. Franco Zeffirelli's version? I remember classmate Paula G–ing freaking out when the lovers jumped out of bed. I didn't think much of Romeo and Juliet, to be honest, but I loved Shakespeare's other plays I studied in university.
ReplyDeleteThat would stick in one's mind, for sure :)
DeleteI think I would like his work now. It would help if we were close to a good theatre, as I'm sure it comes alive on stage.