I’m at that point now in life where I’m nearly 30 and realising that I have not really done much or gone anywhere. I think I have literally spent my 20’s hacking away at the coal face to make a crust and too much of life has passed me by in the meantime.
Now, to be fair, since I hit my 20’s in 2003, I have become a wife and a mother – the two most important things I would ever want to achieve in my life (two boxes ticked right there).
But if I’m being self-pitying (all woe is me!!) and selfish for a moment whilst I rummage through the box in my head that’s labelled ‘Things To Do Before I’m 30’, I find myself lacking in some areas.
One of the things in there is the lazy wish to get back into reading Shakespeare. To be honest, I have shunned the Bard shamefully over the past few years as I overdosed on his work during my formal education. All of his plays were dissected and discussed in such minute detail, that the sheer joy and pleasure of simply reading his work was lost somehow in the process. In my mind, Shakespeare became too quickly associated with ‘work’ and hours of tiring, tedious reading.
Now that it’s been a few years since the last time I read one of his plays, I’ve decided to get back into reading him. Back ‘onto the breach once more dear friends’ – and all that.
I have a few to choose from in my collection, but I think I’ll go with Richard III. It’s the only one that hasn’t been annotated to death and besides, it’s the one I’m most unacquainted with.
Considered one of William Shakespeare’s earlier plays, certainly one of his earlier histories, I have, alas, not yet seen it performed or read it with any interest before.
I’m a fan of only two of his plays – Othello and The Tempest and I have seen the latter performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, much to my delight. They are just wonderful but in different ways.
Othello offers one of the absolute best ever bad guys ever– Iago. That guy is just the pits and yet you can’t help but be entranced by the character as he goes about his plotting and scheming.
Then there is The Tempest, so rich and wonderful in theme and form; a veritable delight to read and engage with.
Yet the history plays have never tickled my fancy or stirred my imagination. Perhaps that makes me a philistine. Perhaps I’m ignorant. Well, on my ‘Things To Do Before I’m 30’ list, it’s right up there to get some Shakespeare read, so I am going to get reading.
Why do I offer this nuance of information with you? Why am I of the belief that you need to know any of this? Because I think it’s important to read widely and revisit things.
Even the things you did to death at school, college or University. Even if you think there is nothing more you can get out of them – be mindful that one thing you should always derive from reading is the simple pleasure of it. Even if the language is archaic and flowery, something like Shakespeare can still rock your world.
Be bold! Be brave with your reading choices! Revisit To Kill a Mockingbird and Seamus Heaney! School can sometimes fool you into thinking that the work of these writers was done specifically for schools and stuffy academics when, in fact, they were written for everyone.
From a writing perspective, it helps to read widely too. You never know when something you’ve read can inspire you or assist you out of a particularly stubborn bout of the dreaded writers block.
I’ll let you know how I get on with Bill’s play and get back to you (as I’m sure you are desperate to find out and utterly riveted by what I have already written).
LimebirdCat
