Shakespeare Meme

I stole this from Jackets and Covers...

1. What was your first introduction to William Shakespeare? Was it love or hate?

I was introduced to Shakespeare through the 1996 film Romeo and Juliet; it was the movie to see when I was in middle school. Then, our drama teacher had us read out the play in class, which was fun. But my love of Shakespeare’s works goes back to reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 8th grade.

2. Which Shakespeare plays have you been required to read?

In grade school: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing.
In college: Henry V (for a British history course), then for a course on Shakespeare I was required to read A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Twelfth Night, and a few others which I can’t remember at the moment. I also had to read “The Rape of Lucrece” (the poem) for a class on unruly women in the Renaissance.

3. Do you think Shakespeare is important? Do you feel you are a “better” person for having read the bard?

I definitely think Shakespeare is important; in college I wrote my senior thesis on the clowns and fools in his comedies. He’s definitely one of my favorite Elizabethan playwrights. But I don’t think he’s the be-all and and-all of everything; I think that, with Shakespeare, you either love his work or hate it. I happen to be lucky enough to fall into the former camp.

4. Do you have a favorite Shakespeare play?

It’s a tie between A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, and Twelfth Night.

5. How do you feel about contemporary takes on Shakespeare? Adaptations of Shakespeare’s works with a more modern feel? (For example, the new line of Manga Shakespeare graphic novels, or novels like Something Rotten, Something Wicked, Enter Three Witches, Ophelia, etc.) Do you have a favorite you’d recommend?

There are some adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays that are fun to watch, and I think that if a Shakespeare play is presented in a way that makes sense to the viewer/ reader, then I’m all for modern adaptations.

6. What’s your favorite movie version of a Shakespeare play?

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (the late-90s version with Kevin Kline, Callista Flockhart, Michelle Pfeiffer, and others).