A Back to School Plea

As the new school term starts and teachers dust off their ancient Shakespeare books, I have a plea: Don’t read it, perform it.

Sure, Shakespeare’s language is beautiful, complex and often needs to be analyzed on the page, but the written text itself is only the start of a fantastic journey. Don’t think of his plays as literary works; think of them as blueprints for performance. After all, this is why he wrote them.

In truth, I had real problems with Shakespeare at school. I remember sitting at my desk trying to mumble this foreign language under my breath. Sometimes we had to read aloud, which was worse. I couldn’t get my tongue around the words, and because I was worrying about how I should pronounce each word in class, I completely missed what the character was saying – Does this sound familiar?

What changed for me was when someone told me that Shakespeare uses punctuation as a visual cue to help his actors deliver their lines. It’s easy: Take a breath when there’s a comma, pause and then follow on when there’s a semicolon, and carry straight on without stopping if there’s no punctuation at the end of a line. Suddenly I found that I could read Shakespeare.

When you start your Shakespeare play studies this year, why not get up and perform some scenes? If you read them aloud as they were meant to be read, you’ll soon discover that they are not difficult or complex; they’re just well-written and enjoyable plays.

This academic year, let’s help more people than ever enjoy Shakespeare. Have you got any tips for students who find Shakespeare difficult? What made you realize that reading Shakespeare is easier than it seems?