First of all, I should inform you that I have had a mad love affair with Shakespeare for many years and I am aware that my zest for his work is a bit of an anomally (I was even a Shakespearean Studies Major in college). That said I will admit that when I have not picked up one of his works in a while the language does not flow as readily and it takes a little time to adjust. I would assume that if you have made it through high school and half way through college you have at some point read some Shakespeare so you must at least have a sense of early modern English (not old English as many people think). The language can be tough as it is centuries old, but let’s think about this for a minute. Why if language has continued to evolve is Shakespeare still so highly regarded today? His stories are still relevent, and his characters still speak to us. Once you can understand this, the language begins to flow more easily and you can see how beautiful it is as well. There are many resourses out there to make Shakespeare more accessible to the modern reader/actor. I cannot remember the publisher off hand, but there is a series out which shows Shakespeare’s text on the left and a modern text on the right. I think most of these modern texts do not do the works justice, but they work as a good learning tool. As you become more advanced, the series put out by Arden has fantastic notes which can be extremely valuable. I would also highly recommend seeing “Looking For Richard.” It is a documentary about putting on a production of Richard the Third but it also questions why Shakespeare is still relevant and shows that even highly admired actors can struggle with the text. There are other good films out and I would recommend quite a few of the festivals around the country as well. I think the key is really to follow your dream and know that you can do anything if you keep your eye on the prize.

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