Today is William Shakespeare's birthday. It is also about two
months into the Corona crisis miss in my country and, frankly, I'm having
difficulty concentrating on writing a blog. I thought about writing about
Shakespeare, I thought about writing about Corona. Finally I decided to on the
subject that touches both a little bit.
The glory of Shakespeare is that his work has lasted so very long.
I don't think in his lifetime he imagined that centuries later his works would
still be performed all over the world in different languages in different
formats. If not, in my home state of Oregon. There's a festival that runs from
roughly March to October every year performing his plays as well as other
works. The whole town of Ashland is almost completely devoted to the festival
and to Shakespeare. You can go into any restaurant and the waitstaff will have
an opinion on the current plays and on the actors in them for that season. In
Shakespeare's time there were occasions when the theaters had to be shut down
because of plague. The people in that time didn't have all the access to
entertainment that we have now.
We’re lucky. We have our books. Most of the people in his time
were illiterate. We have audiobooks, we have movies streaming on I don't even
how many services. But if living through this time doesn't teach us anything
else, it teaches us the value of the arts, of storytelling. I've had people
reach out to me and tell me that my books are among some of things that help
them get through another day of staying at home. For myself, I look to other
authors to help me find an escape from the worries of today. And oh yes, by the
way, you can stream many Shakespeare plays for free, including the David
Tennant version of Richard the second.
And a friend of mine realized that the lines Lady Macbeth’s
sleepwalking scene can be used to time the CDC-recommended handwashing method.
Stay safe out there, friends.
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