Best Way to Experience Shakespeare

Hey, I think I’ve finally found the formula to experience Shakespeare!

What you’ll need:

A library card.

Good. My card allows me access to over eighty libraries in my county. I can go online and search the county library card catalog, so I always know where to go to find the book I need. And if it’s too far or at a library I’m not familiar with, I can order it sent to my town library in a few days.

Anyway, with that in mind, here’s the formula to experience and – most importantly – enjoy Shakespeare, for free.

1. Start with Shakespeare’s shorter comedies or romances.

So far I’ve read The Tempest (2,275 lines) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2,165 lines). For reference, Shakespeare’s longest play is Hamlet at 4,024 lines, or almost double these two works.

2. Pick either the Folger’s Library or Arden editions of the play.

I did some quick research, perusing some Shakespeare aficionado forums and found a slight majority consensus on these two series. Personally, I like the Folger’s better. The play itself is on the right page, with definitions and explanatory notes on the left. The book is physically small with large print, so it’s a page turner. It works for me.

3. Read through the play once.

I read through Tempest in three days, an hour a day, and Midsummer Night’s Dream in two days, ninety minutes a day. PS – Dream made me laugh out loud.

4. Go back to the library and get the BBC / Time Life DVD of the play.

5. Watch the play while simultaneously reading along with your Folger’s edition.

It is absolutely, phenomenally amazing how much better you will appreciate the play doing this. It comes to life, literally and quite obviously. You’ll understand things you didn’t, you’ll see things you’ve overlooked. You’ll be drawn into it. Most importantly, you’ll now have a strong emotional connection to some of the greatest works of English literature ever produced.

I believe this step is where most potential Shakespearean fans go astray and shortchange themselves.

6. Re-watch the DVD without the play.

Congratulations. You have now bonded with the summit of English drama, thought, prose, and poetry. You are now a One-Percenter, by my reckoning. Pat yourself on the back.

Because of this step, the final scene of The Tempest, the epilogue, still brings goosebumps to my arms.

7. Watch a different DVD for a different interpretation.

I have not yet done this, but it’s on my list. This will, no doubt, take your Shakespeare experience to a whole ’nother level.

8. Get your family and / or significant others involved.

I did see Macbeth with the wife about a decade ago in New York City. Since then, she’s really not expressed any interest, but I’m working on cracking that egg.

My six-year-old expressed interest in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, especially once she found out two of its characters, Oberon and Titania, are in her first-grade level Daisy Meadow’s fairy book. She’s still a bit too young, for Shakespeare can contain much innuendo and in-yer-face violence, but I can envision watching a BBC play with her in the next couple of years. Knowing her natural inclination to drama, who knows? I may be watching her on a Shakespearean stage in a decade or two.