Much Ado About A Midsummer Night

Quotes of the Week

"When I read Shakespeare I am struck with wonder
That such trivial people should muse and thunder
In such lovely language."

~D. H. Lawrence

"We shall never overestimate Shakespeare, because we can not."

~William A. Quayle

"He was not of an age, but for all time!"

~Ben Jonson

Songs of the Week

1. Pirates by Francois-Paul Aiche and H. Scott Salinas

2. Paradise by Coldplay

3. Remembering You by Steven Curtis Chapman

 

When I was little, I wanted nothing more than to be a princess just like Elizabeth I of England. (It was also in the works to be a fantastic queen, as well.) Then, somebody saw fit to approach me and tell me just how disgusting medieval life truly was, which promptly trumped all dreams of going back in time to cavort in the Elizabethan court. Life went on, surprisingly, and I eventually ended up as an eighth grade student who had rather forgotten how to cavort at all. Then, that summer, my cousin and I went to see a production of Much Ado About Nothing.  Modernized to Cuba post-WWI, this play began my long standing love affair with the Bard. The following summer, we returned to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Every summer since, we’ve gone to see a Shakespeare production at the Chautauqua Theatre Company, sitting enthralled through A Winter’s Tale, Macbeth, and, most recently, Love’s Labour’s Lost.  Never once have I walked out of that theatre remotely disappointed.

Why am I so attached to dear old William? I think in part, these plays allow me to escape to a dream that hasn’t been crushed. Yes, I’m aware that it’s a tad unrealistic to expect a glorious, magical band of fairies to come tripping through my life. I’m also fully conscious of the fact that the odds of me and three of my best friends stumbling upon four royal gentlemen not only well versed in politics, but unusually dedicated to their studies is highly unlikely. I know for a fact that I’m not going to find out that the boy I’m in love with is actually a prince from another country. But what is there to stop me from living these whimsical dreams while I sleep or daydream? When I drift off in midwinter, imagining the far off summer nights that await me, if there’s suddenly an explosion of glitter and Puck tumbles onto my front porch, all that’s doing is allowing my rusty imagination to go for a much needed spin around the block. Because in the small room of my crowded brain reserved for Shakespeare, those things can and sure will happen. And when life gets too real too quickly, it’s nice to be able to retreat to that room where I can sit back and watch three witches concoct potions (or deadly martinis, as per Chautauqua’s show) in the dead of night and listen to Beatrice and Benedict flirt madly via arguments. Somehow, Shakespeare has the ability to completely captivate and entrance me.

And though I abuse him to avoid reality at times, Shakespeare’s works are incredibly relatable. Though it sounds foolish, I can really connect to these fictional characters through ages of time, and in some cases, across the boundaries of worlds. I thought Helena was the whiniest brat in all of the kingdom, I like (and relate to) her a lot more now that I’ve been dumped by someone…for my best friend. Her monologue, which I’m already partial to, it being my first audition piece, became my life story, and I can to this day recite it, most specifically the line: “Oh teach me how you look and with what art you sway the motion of Demetrius’ heart.” I learned how not to make a fool out of myself just because the course to true love wasn’t smooth. Watching Much Ado About Nothing made me think fondly of my own troupe of friends, always picking at each other with affection, always making bets and encouraging friendly competition. The same went for the play within a play scene from Love’s Labour’s Lost. Though time and a different dialect stand between the characters in my life today and the characters in Shakespeare’s plays, I can’t help but identify with the colorful casts.

The biggest reason I jump at the chance to sit and watch Shakespeare, though, is that he makes me believe in magic. Sure, I’ve given up on Hogwarts, moving to Avonlea, and meeting a sparkling vampire boy (just kidding), I refuse to give up on the ideas that he presents in the plays that have been my favorite: Midsummer and Love’s Labour’s Lost. The little girl who wanted to be a princess can live again through the whimsical worlds of utopia that Shakespeare created. The timelessness of both works sweep me up into a Forbidden Forest where fairies sweep by, causing mischief and giving me goosebumps with Puckish monologues, bumbling players trip over tree roots dressed as girls, and boys court girls by dressing as traveling gypsies. That’s the pure reason for my love, because I still believe that one day, I’ll find the magic that Shakespeare saw in the world. And until then, I can glimpse it through his brilliant plays.