On to The Winter’s Tale

Two weeks ago I went snowshoeing with my husband, and later this week we’re off to Colorado for some skiing! Between that and all the snow we’ve been bombarded with, I’m thinking it’s time to grab The Winter’s Tale. I remember being in total disbelief at the ending last time I read it–we’ll see if it strikes me any differently this time around.

 

Hello world!

When I was in London in 2004, I caught a performance of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare–Abridged” by the Reduced Shakespeare Co. Three performers condensed all 38 plays into a few hours, and it was hilarious.

Before the show started, the performers shouted out the titles of plays, and audience members raised their hands if they had read it.

Only one person—one of the performers—raised his hand for King John. (At the time, fresh off my college Shakespeare class, I was convinced this was a joke and there was no Shakespeare play about King John. But I’m betrayed by the table of contents in my Complete Works of Shakespeare…It’s right there under the histories—The Life and Death of King John.)

That show, or that moment before the show, made me wonder what it would be like to have read all Shakespeare’s plays.

When I started this blog on February 2, I’d read 15 plays and a handful of sonnets. It’s not exactly something to sneeze at, but it’s hardly 40% of the plays, even less of the sonnets, and hardly an introduction to the narrative poems.

So I’m going deeper, to dust off what I once knew and to introduce myself to a whole lot more. Welcome to the adventure, and feel free to read along.

Christina