Recommendations for Shakespeare

[Helga]

Here on the ice the version used for first time readers is 'New Swan Shakespeare advanced series' I bought and read when I was 16 Hamlet from that version and they have a long introduction and the play on one side and notes and explanations on the other so I found it a very easy read. I still think Midsummer's night dream is the funniest but I saw Richard II on stage in London once and that was awesome!.

On a side note Joss Whedon made 'Much Ado About Nothing' and I think it will be premiered in September, I can't wait.

[Charles Darnay]

It's opening at the Toronto Film Festival next month. I am so excited: Shakespeare and Joss should make a wonderful mix.

[hellsapoppin]

It's great to see that Shakespeare is making a comeback socially and in the theaters. For too long now people have missed out on the great merits of his works. Let's make his works mandatory reading in schools as they are very expansive and enlightening.

[JuniperWoolf]

I loved the BBC's Hamlet, but I'd watch Bananas in Pajamas if David Tennant was starring. Seriously though, he does a great job, the best Hamlet I've ever seen or could imagine. *insert glowing recommendation here*

On a side note Joss Whedon made 'Much Ado About Nothing' and I think it will be premiered in September, I can't wait.

Ooo, I didn't know that.

[kelby_lake]

If you're a real beginner, the Cambridge School Editions of the plays are very useful. Not only do they gloss words but they tell you what is going on on each page of the play and point out any interesting conflicts in the scene.

As for which plays to start with, Macbeth's quite easy. My personal favourite to begin with would be Julius Caesar, as it's one of the more exiciting plays, very accessible and also very modern and politically relevant. A Midsummer Night's Dream really needs to be seen but it's probably the easiest of the comedies. Beware with the comedies: many of his comedies aren't as straightforward as A Midsummer Night's Dream, and some aren't comedies in the way that we'd understand them. A good example would be Measure for Measure, which tackles themes about power, corruption and hypocrisy. It's one of Shakey's most underrated plays and that is also quite modern.

[kelby_lake]

On a side note Joss Whedon made 'Much Ado About Nothing' and I think it will be premiered in September, I can't wait.

I remember hearing about that. It was a low budget thing he shot sometime last year in a few weeks. Sounds awful to me.

[Alan_M]

I haven't read Shakespeare in years ,but I still remember Hamlet - this one I enjoyed. I find it amusing how everyone dies in the end.

I've also read The Tempest A Midsummer Night's Dream.

[bluosean]

"I find it amusing how everyone dies in the end."

This was my reason for rejecting some of the books of the plays online. The first footnote in one reads something like "1. This play covers events from the war.... to the time of Caesar's death in..., where his is killed by..."

Haha, I'm sure it's a great book for a second reading. But on a first reading I really don't want to know what happens in the end until then. In the case of Julius Caesar, I know the story, so there was no harm done, but many of the stories in Shakespeare I do not know.

[Mugs]

Good choice to start with Julius Caesar. I find that some of his works I can follow easily, while others the language trips me up and I can't understand what is going on. Julius Caesar is one I found pleasurable and easy... also Othello, and Henry the IV part one.