Shakespeare week

William Shakespeare died this week. Four hundred years ago in 1616.

I was trying to remember the first Shakespeare work I saw. I think it was "Romeo and Juliet" in high school. We'd read part of the play, and the teacher showed part of the movie. I liked the play - the movie, not as much. It's always hard to see someone else's version of what you've already seen in your head. Or maybe that's just me.

The first live production I saw was "The Twelfth Night," I think. That's a fun story to begin with, and when your two main characters really do look alike, that adds to the enjoyment. That would have been Thanksgiving of my freshman year in college. I think the spring performance was "Richard III," and Dr. DeWitt Jones was unbelievable in the title role.

But the production that has stayed with me more than any other was "King Lear," which was the Thanksgiving play my sophomore year. Dr. Lonnie Polson was Lear, and Danny Brooks was the jester. The relationship between the two characters, as portrayed by those two actors, was seared into my brain. I cried when the jester died. Yes, I cried during a live performance. It's not really a big surprise. I'm a bit of a softy when it comes to death scenes. So sue me.

The Classic Players at Bob Jones University present two plays each school year. Usually they're Shakespeare, but I think they do other plays every once in a awhile. I was lucky enough to see 14 plays, including "Romeo and Juliet," "Much Ado About Nothing," "Macbeth" and "The Taming of the Shrew." I looked forward to them far more than I did the spring operas.

I've seen quite a few movies based on Shakespeare's plays since then. In looking through my collection, I have five different Hamlets, two Henry Vs, two A Midsummer Night's Dreams, three Romeo and Juliets and two Much Ado About Nothings, in addition to single copies of several others. I think my favorite films have come from Kenneth Branagh, who seems to "get" Shakespeare. Plus he's a fantastic actor. But it's hard to be bad when you have such words as Shakespeare's to inspire you. That's not to say it can't be done, but it's hard.

And then there's Reduced Shakespeare, which makes me laugh every time I watch it. The first time I saw this, um, send-up of the Bard, I was in a hotel in Iowa on my way to a weekend journalism workshop. I almost fell off the bed, I was laughing so hard. It doesn't get a whole lot better than Shakespeare's histories combined into a football game. Unless it's Othello as a rap. Or Hamlet backwards. Yeah, I know.

So thank you, Mr. Shakespeare, for providing so many opportunities to improve my vocabulary, expand my view and challenge my understanding.