Free Shakespeare?

So I've been having an internal struggle with what to post on next. I've got a lot of ideas, most still in the works, but some are a little more fleshed out. ANYWAY, I realized I should at least just post a couple of my most recent Shakespearean encounters.

First I am reading "The Prairie: A Tale" by James Cooper in my American Lit class and he starts off every chapter with a very applicable quote from a variety of Shakespeare's plays. I even recognized a lot of them, a fact that I am a little proud of. I was not impressed when I began reading this book, but after awhile I started to see the influence that Shakespeare had in his writing. He has a sort of verbose and descriptive way of writing and I picked up a little of a Shakespearean vibe. In fact, there was one paragraph where I was dead certain that I had read something very similar in one of Shakespeare's plays. (Unfortunately I lost the spot where that was...I think I marked it in black ink and didn't bookmark the page as I should have...) I will definitely try to pin point some more, but just being able to recognize Shakespeare within his work made reading it much more enjoyable.

Second I was just doing some thinking about my favorite play write when out of the blue I remembered Utah's Shakespeare in the Park. Free performances of Shakespeare, and occasionally other play writes, that go on during the warm months of Utah. I know a lot of the people who have performed with this company and they all impress me, so the performances are something you don't want to miss if you love Shakespeare and Free together. They are a little different than a lot of Shakespeare because they don't wear elaborate costumes or have amazing sets, they are performed around BYU campus and like the name says in parks around Provo/Orem. The next one coming up this summer is Hamlet, I think.

Thirdly, I listened to the first half of the Merchant of Venice online and I really enjoyed it. It was very interesting to hear it and read along. I found myself even more involved as I listened to the actors inflections and vocal choices. It really enhanced what I was understanding and reading.


Fourthly, yes I know how random this is but I must share these little tidbits of joy. These are nothing more than Shakespeare reformed for the entertainment of the masses, but I do enjoy a good little Shakespeare inspired video. It still amazes me how many people like and use Shakespeare all the time. (cation there is a little language)