Stratford Upon Avon

Just declaim a few lines from "Othella"
And they think you're a heckuva fella.
If your blonde won't respond when you flatter 'er
Tell her what Tony told Cleopaterer,
And if still, to be shocked, she pretends well,
Just remind her that "All's Well That Ends Well."
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kowtow.

--Cole Porter

I had to make a slight change in my weekend plans Friday morning when reports from the BBC showed people lined up all the way to Birmingham trying to get on their outbound flights from London after the alert level was raised. Ryan Air, desperate to contain this chaos, was more than happy to postpone my flight to Dublin one week at no extra charge.

Having a ticket for four more attractions at Stratford to cash in on, I immediately made plans to return for a second dose of Shakespeare. This time I visited the Nash House/New Place. The building that remains is the former home of Shakespeare’s granddaughter. However, the site holds more significance as the grounds on which Shakespeare’s home once stood (before being torn down by one of its owners who didn’t want to pay taxes on it). The thing that impressed me the most about this visit was learning that at the age of 30, Shakespeare was a multimillionaire (by today’s standards) when he built the New Place. Of course it’s not the fact that he was wealthy at such an early age that impresses me. It’s the realization that this guy was probably younger than me when he penned verses like: “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!” I can pretty much guarantee that if you read all of my publications in their entirety you won’t come across anything that even remotely resembles this kind of beauty. And this in spite of the fact that I’ve probably spent twice as many years in school as Shakespeare did. Clearly the man was a genius.

I spent the remainder of the day enjoying two more performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company. There is truly nothing that can compare to hearing history’s best use of the English language read by members of the world’s most prestigious acting company (having produced the likes of Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh, Dustin Hoffman, Ian McKellen, and Alan Rickman). I think the best part about Shakespeare is how real his characters are. When you go see a Hollywood production, what you usually get is a protagonist character played by someone like Kevin Costner whose character combines the charisma of Henry V, the sense of humor of Falstaff, the thoughtfulness of Hamlet, and the courage of Julius Ceasar. With Shakespeare, you see humanity revealed in its truest form. Henry VI is a character that portrays unquestioned moral virtue. But Shakespeare reminds us that in the real world, this quality is not a free pass for never-ending happiness. Queen Margaret (played spectacularly by Katy Stephens) is one of the clearest examples of evil that the stage has ever seen. But I can tell you that in comparison to some of the women I’ve dated, she’s pretty normal by today’s standards. It is this complexity that makes his work so brilliant and keeps me coming back for more.