Celebrating 400 Years of Shakespeare!
Shakespeare is by far one of the most influential thinkers in the English world. His works have shaped our language, giving us phrases that we now use in our everyday discourse, such as: "a wild goose chase" (Romeo and Juliet 2.4), "it's Greek to me" (Julius Caesar 1.2), "love is blind" (The Merchant of Venice 2.6) and "kill with kindness" (The Taming of the Shrew 4.1). They have shaped, of course, the theater and performing arts -- try imagining a modern family drama without Hamlet and King Lear or a Romance without Romeo and Juliet. His works have also played a role influencing philosophy, politics, and a whole host of other areas (one of his plays was even quoted by US Senator Byron Dorgan when the nation was grieving after the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedies: "Greif hath changed me since you saw me last." Comedy of Errors 5.1). Needless to say, Shakespeare's works have been prized and celebrated for many years by a vast array of people. Check out the resources below to celebrate the Bard who died 400 years ago (allegedly on April 23, 1616 -- most see the year as accurate, but question the day given that it is also the day that St. George, the patron saint of England, died).
Shakespeare's Plays
There are 37 plays that most widely agree were written by Shakespeare. One from each of the categories provided in the First Folio is given below.
Comedy
A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare
When fairies, gods and actors meet one night in a supernatural woodland, all heaven breaks loose in this classic comedy drama.
Tragedy
The Tragedy of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
This work is Shakespeare's most popular, and most puzzling, play. It follows the form of a "revenge tragedy," in which the hero, Hamlet, seeks vengeance against his father's murderer, his uncle Claudius, now the king of Denmark. Much of its fascination, however, lies in its uncertainties.
History
The Tragedy of Richard III, by William Shakespeare
In Richard III, Shakespeare invites us on a moral holiday. The play draws us to identify with Richard and his fantasy of total control of self and domination of others.
One of the difficulties in reading Shakespeare is that some of the language he uses can be challenging to understand. The Folger Shakespeare Library has provided excellent volumes that address this issue by having extensive notes on the pages facing the text of the play where words and phrases that are obscure are explained. Our collection has 18 volumes in this series, which can be found by following the link above.
Secondary Sources on Shakespeare and His Plays
Living with Shakespeare: Essays by Writers, Actors, and Directors, edited by Susannah Carson
Why Shakespeare? What explains our continued fascination with his poems and plays? In this work Susannah Carson invites forty actors, directors, scholars and writers to reflect on why his work is still such a vital part of our culture.
Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, by Stephen Greenblatt
Greenblatt has written a biography that enables us to see, hear and feel how an acutely senstive and talented boy, surrounded by the rich tapestry of Elizabethan life -- full of drama and pageantry, and also cruelty and danger -- could have become the world's greatest playwright.
Women of Will: Following the Feminine in Shakespeare's Plays, by Tina Packer
Packer offers an exploration -- fierce, funny, fearless -- of the women of Shakespeare's plays. A profound, and profoundly illuminating, book that gives us the playwright's changing understanding of the feminine and reveals some of his deepest insights.
The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, by James Shapiro
Shapiro shows how the tumultuous events in England in 1606 affected Shakespeare and shaped the three great tragedies he wrote that year -- King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra.
Events and Websites of Interest
Performance of Julius Caesar at the Springfield Art Museum Amphitheatre on July 21-23 and 29-30. See the Actors Theatre of Missouri website and their Facebook page for more information.
Performance of the Twelfth Night at Southmoreland Park in Kansas City running Tuesdays through Sundays June 14 to July 3, put on by the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival.
The First Folio -- the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays published in 1623 -- on exhibit from June 6-28 at the Kansas City Public Library.
The Folger Shakespeare Library - a website that has many resources, including some for teaching Shakespeare. You can also find a tour of the library in Washington, D.C. on C-SPAN.
Find this article at http://thelibrary.org/blogs/article.cfm?aid=4378&lid=0