Like most people, I was turned off to Shakespeare by well meaning, but inept teachers in high school. I became a Shakespeare fan as an adult after visiting a wonderful traveling Shakespeare exhibit from the Folger Library collection. The Folger Library, located in Washington DC, houses the best and most extensive collection of Shakespeare-associated materials in the world. The exhibit made the point that Shakespeare and his works are not esoteric or only for the highly refined student of English literature. In fact his plays were written to appeal to the common man and woman of London -- the "groundlings" who paid a few pence to stand in the open air and hiss the villain and cheer the hero. Today the plays require a little effort to appreciate because the English language has changed over the ensuing 400 years. But, no effort pays off in more enjoyment, for no author before or since has had a deeper understanding of the human condition or created characters so filled with the comedy and tragedy of that condition.
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." Prospero in "The Tempest"
I hope to expand this part of my Web site in the future. For now here are two Shakespeare Web sites that provide a great deal of information about "The Bard of Avon." Following them is a link to the Web site of what many consider the finest Shakespeare company in North America and it's right next door to Mount Shasta.