Me and William: My Brief History with the Bard

There is a post circulating among English teachers this year, the 450th year of the birth of William Shakespeare. The prompt asks, "When did you learn to love Shakespeare?"

Thinking back, I was introduced to him in junior high school when we were given parts to Romeo and Juliet to study. Classmates trudged to the front of the classroom to perform the famous balcony scene (Act II Scene II) to a giggling crowd of classmates. The girls gamely tried to put life into the fair damsel, but most of the boys stood fixed like part of the balcony and recited lines in a hurried sign-song. I gave the exercise a little more effort and somewhere between "But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" (line 2) and "Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast" (line 139), I found my calling and began an extra-curricular love of the Bard and of performing.

In college, I was cast in a production of The Merchant of Venice. I was the lone freshman among juniors, seniors and grad students, energetically playing multiple crowd roles of a Magnifico, Officer of the Court, and Reveler in the streets of Venice. The UW-Madison production at the Union Theater was far above my talent or previous high school experience. The grad students who played Shylock and Portia in particular were amazing. And, during the first dress rehearsal, this small town boy was introduced to an eye-opening lack of modesty as cast members of both sexes changed from one costume to the next just off stage without bothering with a dressing room. The Bard opens many doors.

After college, I became an audience member, not a performer and was rarely disappointed. Fortunately, I have access each summer to a nationally acclaimed Shakespeare troupe only hours away: American Players Theater in Spring Green, just west of Madison. Last year as a treat, we saw back-to-back same-day productions of first Hamlet and then Rosecrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard using the same cast for both shows. Again, amazing. The juxtaposition of Shakespeare and Stoppard told the story of the Hamlet's tortured soul from shifting front stage and back stage points of view.

Each time I see a new production or return to favorite lines, I am surprised and delighted by the simplicity and complexity of the words and phrases. It is remarkable that a man who wrote 37-plays in a 25-year stage career is still able to touch audiences with a remarkable clarity of human experience. The reason the plays are still relevant is that our central human experience hasn't changed all that much in 450 years. Whether you are a middle school student, a college freshman or a theater-goer with a lifetime of experience, the stories of Shakespeare ring true at whatever level you need at the time. That is the test of artistic genius and that is why we continue to love his words.