Happy Birthday, Mr Shakespeare!
Yes, I am that person who is sat here writing a post about all things Shakes for his birthday. Did you expect ANYTHING else?!
So for today’s post, I thought I’d go with my reasons that everyone should be able to find something to enjoy in the works of Shakespeare!
1. A load of his plays are basically YA novels in disguise. I mean, come on. Hamlet is about growing up and figuring out who you are when the world sucks, just aged up because they didn’t really think teens were a thing 500 years ago. As You Like It and Much Ado both involve witty sparring between people that fancy each other - and Laura Wood actually did adapt Much Ado in to a YA novel called UNDER A DANCING STAR which is so joyous and delightful my heart melts just thinking about it. And I will continue to bang the drum of Twelfth Night being Shakespeare’s queerest play. It renders gender practically irrelevant and I’m sorry, someone convince me that Antonio is not INFATUATED with Sebastian. Someone, please, write me a Twelfth Night queer YA retelling.
2. The content of the stories is still relevant even today. Shakespeare wrote about what it was like to be human, and so it’s no wonder educators across the globe keep banging on about his plays. Sure, it’s based in a world with very different values to us (Taming of the Shrew, anyone?) but Macbeth shows how ambition corrupts; Much Ado explores not only comic pride-before-a-fall, but also explores attitudes to women (that are perhaps more distressingly pertinent than we’d like in 2020…); Henry V looks at responsibility and taking on the role of leader; Romeo and Juliet takes us through the ups and downs of first love. Although, let’s hope nobody’s first loves are taking quite the bonkers turn it does for R&J…
3. His female characters are actually some of my favourite characters. And yes, I may be talking almost exclusively about Beatrice from Much Ado, but she’s just SO GOOD. I wish I had Beatrice’s wit. And I also love Rosalind from As You Like It, who has absolutely no qualms, upon finding that the guy she fancies lives in the forest as well, making friends with him while dressed as a man and coaching him on how to actually be a decent boyfriend and not just think a few lines of sweet-talking is going to get him anywhere.
4. There are so many good adaptations, you don’t even have to read them if you don’t want to. Shakespeare was meant to be watched, and there are so many good films and recorded theatre productions out there, that you can simply watch the canon (boom!) and enjoy all of Shakespeare that way. Also, there’s plenty of modern adaptations too! I particularly enjoyed watching 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU before diving in to The Taming Of The Shrew for the first time, for example!
I also found an old video I recorded all about Shakespeare films and adaptations (for an old project that sadly fell by the wayside) so I’ve uploaded it and you can view it here:
5. And if films aren’t your thing, SURELY podcasts are? Anyone who willingly listens to me banging on about Shakes must also know that I am a massive, massive fan of the NO HOLDS BARD podcast. Hello, bardflies! Flippancy, sports analogies, plus Shakespeare jokes and also content I can use to help teach my classes about Shakespeare? Count me in! If you want something lighthearted and literary in this whole… situation, then NHB is definitely one to turn to.
