How To ACTUALLY Understand Shakespeare

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[malmtobias]

Every book is just a blueprint for the performance in your mind.

[rkosurvivor]

performing your fav parts of a play in the park by yourself is a vibe

[susiebrighouse]

I remember hearing a method historian talk about her experience of watching a Shakespeare play after spending 3 months living a 16th century lifestyle as part of her research. She said she found she was laughing twice as often as the rest of the audience, and realised it was because so many of the lines referred to small daily things like household chores and daily inconveniences that his audiences would've known well (and she had come to experience), but have since been so lost in time that our 21st century ears don't even register them as a point we're missing. I thought that was super interesting, and also kind of love the thought of a line being picked apart and analysed that is actually a 16th century poop joke, eluding academics for centuries to come.

[ralph]

I used to work for a theatre and you'd always have 'school performances' where high school students studying the play would come. The switch in engagement was amazing. You'd have teenagers who hate reading and hate Shakespeare just have their eyes light up, laugh aloud and understand everything. Even if a school is on a tight budget... I highly recommend splurging to see a LIVE Shakespeare play if you can! The actors breathe so much life into their characters. The atmosphere is incredible - the lighting, the sounds, the costumes, the sets, the props. I remember seeing Macbeth and the whole theatre plunged in and out of total darkness. Even the ones with a modern spin like by Queensland Theatre are terrific.

[joelv]

*How a normal literature student looks like:*

[writeitdown]

I think I agree with this. Shakespeare is for actors to inhabit his characters and directors to imagine his worlds. We see so many great actors tackle Shakespeare, and so many directors alter the original settings of his plays. That's when Shakespeare really comes alive for me

[miztenacioust]

This is true with poetry, too! It's meant to be heard!

[jules.s-treehouse]

I really agree. My class was reading Julius Caesar in class before decidedly switching over to watch the Globe theatre production on Youtube (which is great), and use our books just to follow along. The difference in my understanding and enjoyment was staggering. There were jokes that I certainly would have missed when reading, but found hilarious when they were performed. The drama of Brutus's betrayal hadn't really stuck in my mind until I heard Caesar say "Et tu, Brutus?" aloud. As you said, Shakespeare's plays are meant to be performed. We can sit on our high horses and complain about teenage stupidity while reading Romeo and Juliet, but it's not about that. It's about the drama, and excitement, and the thrill of being young and feeling emotions you've never felt before.

[jememe]

In year 12 I studied King Lear in depth, and, boy! The deeper you go the better it gets. That play will stick with me forever.

[IsThereAnyMore]

I always hated reading Shakespeare in high school, but last summer I actually went saw it performed. It’s crazy how different it is when acted out, much more enjoyable

[alpertroncp]

Actors on a stage, not words on a page - that's what my English teacher used to tell us.

[skye]

but for those of us who really like to analyze the heck out of things, Shakespeare can't be beat! I wish I had the guts to perform Hamlet's soliloquy in a park!

[manifold.curiosity]

Recently I've been working on Shakespeare with some students and reading through the script can be quite bewildering - not only does it sound flat but it's hard to know what's going on a lot of the time - you've inspired me to change up my method and use a video of a performance instead!

[blueberry]

Hey! nice set up and still great audio quality :) -Diane

[aaryapurii]

I have merchant of Venice for my finals so this was damn helpful
Thank you so much:)
P.S: if you like the storyline of the merchant of Venice do read the Jew of Malta . Personally I found it more interesting.

[THFLCNx]

Yeah, plays are definitely a different reading experience than normal prose literature. Modern plays are slightly easier, since most playwrights nowadays use more than just basic stage directions such as "Enter" and "Exit" to describe action. Shakespeare was pretty spartan when it came to that. Eventually I kinda just learned to follow the flow of emotions rather than trying to focus so hard on what's physically happening. I think I would recommend Othello as a good starting point if you wanna read Shakespeare. For some reason I always found that play easier to grasp; the language isn't quite so airy and the emotions are more raw and easy to grasp. I think, at least.

[TylerJMacDonald]

Shakespeare is great! Also a good place to take lines from for D&D sessions.

[therealsabey]

I actually just wanted to search up how to read a hard book faster but somehow ended up on your video and oh boy I didn't even know these things would be so interesting to me. You make great videos and I love the aesthetic (just the forest and the way you write the journal stories) and I just subscribed

[jennyneon]

I enjoy Shakespeare like I enjoy watching R.C Waldun,
*which i enjoy a lot.*

[amagiordi]

I've been reading theatrical texts for quite a few years now and must say that during covid it's fun on a Friday night to get into bed a read a shakespeare play, pretend you can go the theater for a while, surprisingly it's true that if you act like reading shakes. is like watching a movie it becomes really fun