My love of Shakespeare

In 9th grade I was exposed to the world of William Shakespeare. We studied the play Romeo and Juliet and I was a gonner. I mean, I became completely hooked on the creative work of William. I LOVED reading that first play and learning the strange new language of William Shakespeare. I received an A+ on my final exam in Romeo and Juliet and I was on my way. I can still quote many lines from that play and I can remember most of the names of the characters.

The study of that play lead to greater things. I learned about the different types of stories he wrote - the tragedies, the love stories, the English history stories and of course the comedies. I grew to love his creative mind and the images he created in his work and the wonderful stories that he told. After studying Romeo and Juliet I decided to take a Shakespeare class from Mrs. Stevenson and study Shakespeare for a whole year. Some memorable plays that we studied were Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, a Midsummer's Night Dream and the Taming of the Shrew. Because of our love of Shakespeare, Rick and I have traveled to Cedar City over the years to watch the Shakespeare plays. We've probably seen more than a dozen and we've loved every one that we have seen. The acting is always superb.

About that same time that I was exposed to that first play, a Romeo and Juliet movie was released in 1968 starring Oliva Hussey and Leonard Whiting. I was smitten with Leonard's good looks and I thought Olivia was the most beautiful Juliet I could have ever imagined. One Saturday I went to the Wilson theater in Rupert and watched the 2:00 show of the movie. Oh, and also the 4:00 show, the 6:00 show, the 8:00 show and finished up with the 10:00 show. All in the same day. Yes, I packed a lunch as I recall and I ate a ton of popcorn. I also cried each time that Romeo and Juliet died so tragically. If only the message boy would have arrived in time, none of it would have happened! I have my own copy of the move and would be happy to watch it with anyone who is interested in feasting on the words of Shakespeare.

When we went to England to visit Mom and David about 8 years ago, we were very very fortunate to visit the birth place of William Shakespeare at Statford-on-Avon and to also visit the beautiful cottage of his wife Anne Hathaway, complete with English gardens. It was a day to always remember.

I'll be forever grateful to W. S. for expanding my imagination and elevating my thinking.

To be or not to be? That is the question.