News Flash - Reading Shakespeare kills puppies and small children!
Well, not really. But close. I realized this emerging national health crisis while attending the annual Shakespeare in the Park festival here in St. Louis. TL, I, and my parental units went on June 1st. I now have gone 7 out of the 9 seasons. It is always a good time sitting in Forest Park, out under the stars, relaxing and watching Shakespeare.
And that is the important word - watching. I'm convinced now more than ever that the only way to appreciate Shakespeare is to watch it (hopefully live on stage but movies are OK too). Just reading the dry words on the page is not enough. For example, during this year's production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, a character says the exact same line twice. But the actor's changes in inflection, action, and emphasis made the two lines completely different - and hence comedic.
I will say one thing about Shakespeare that is a bit of a downer - I think that language, culture, and slang changes over 400 years have stripped his comedies of some (though not all) of its crowd-pleasing nature. Which is why I personally like watching the tragedies over the comedies - I think they hold up better.
Though, I must say, watching a big fat guy dress up as a woman to escape an irate husband - now that is timeless.
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