How popular is Shakespear today in US-UK?

Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:35 am GMT
Is Shakespear still popular in America and Britian today? How many people are reading his works, particularly youngsters?
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:58 am GMT
Children are forced to read it at school, although I would say a lot of them don't read it 'properly'. When I was at school we had 'plot summaries', and everyone just read those rather than the actual play.

I would say a rather small percentage of the population reads Shakespeare for pleasure these days, especially anyone under 30. Even most educated people haven't read him since school.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:11 am GMT
I haven't read any Shakespeare at all (other than perhaps a few quotes here and there) since high school, many ywears ago.
Damian in Edinburgh   Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:23 am GMT
The Bard of Avon's spirit is alive and well and still kicking in the UK today. For starters, take a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon one day and see for yourself the packed houses at the theatres (eg The Courtyard) for each and every RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) producion of the town's most famous local lad's plays.

The same goes for every theatre across the country which puts on a Shakespeare production. The National Theatre on London's South Bank is constantly playing to packed houses when a Shakespeare play is being performed, and believe me, those theatres fporming part of the National are enormous in size.

Just walking further along the South Bank until you come to Southwark and you will find the Globe Theatre, rebuilt on the site and styled in the way of the original 16th century round theatre of Shakespeare's time. Always a very popular venue, with an atmosphere so redolent of the Bard and his era.

Last year I went to see "King Lear" at the New London Theatre, in Drury Lane, with Sir Ian McKellen playing the title role, and it was a full house, with a fair number of Americans in the audience.

Shakespeare still figures very hghly in the school curricula of Scotland, England and Wales, so aye, Will still lives, pretty much.

Shakespeare and his works will live for ever.
Wintereis   Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:10 pm GMT
Shakespeare in the park, anyone? It is common in the U.S. for most cities to have summer performances in the park of Shakespeare's plays. These are usually heavily attended. People will take their children, a pick nick, and a bottle of wine. There are also companies of actors in the U.S. that specialize in Shakespeare. High schools still perform Romeo and Juliet. Hollywood is still making Shakespeare’s plays into movies. And we bibliophiles can and will still quote him at the drop of a hat. Alive and well here too.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:14 pm GMT
Guest No2 says to the extent that few young people read them willingly for pleasure today
Damian in Edinburgh says many people watch his plays for pleasure.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:23 pm GMT
I guess Wintereis and Damian in Edinburgh are right in saying that many people are watching Shakespeare's plays presented by actors (even specializing in Shakespeare).
But that is different from reading his works by having a book in front of your eyes.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:09 pm GMT
<<I would say a rather small percentage of the population reads Shakespeare for pleasure these days, especially anyone under 30. Even most educated people haven't read him since school.>>

I am under 30, we most definetly did not have plot summaries in my school. And though I don't read him often (I don't know where people get the idea that you must read plays) I do go to performances and own several films of Shakespeare's plays, and given the success of the 1996 film of Romeo and Juliet, I don't think I'm that far from the main stream.
Damian in Edinburgh   Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:42 pm GMT
***Damian in Edinburgh says many people watch his plays for pleasure***

Why else would they go to watch them but for pleasure? Most people aren't some kind of masochists you know, or in those theatres under some kind of duress. So long as you can get a grip on the plot of the play it doesn't matter whether or not you understand every spoken word!

For many people, reading the texts of Shakespearean plays is a pleasure (and a challenge) in itself for the Language of the Bard is very rich and expressive, and so much nicer as long as you can "transcribe" it into modern-speak in some way or other. Ordinary common sense helps a lot with that. Every single aspect of the human condition, which never changes with time, is pretty much covered in the whole range of Shakespeare's works. Human emotions are the same today as they were in the time of Hamlet or Henry V or Othello the Moor of Venice.

William Shakespeare will forever be the greatest exponent of the English Language, and the greatest playwright of all time, now and forever. I doubt he will ever be replicated, either here in his homeland or anywhere else in the world. The man will remain unique.
Mary   Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:51 pm GMT
Is it easy to read Shakespeare for modern Britons or Americans? Shakespeare's language is quite different.
Brian   Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:56 pm GMT
<<Is it easy to read Shakespeare for modern Britons or Americans? Shakespeare's language is quite different.>>

No. When I was in high school, we couldn't understand half of what was being said. They actually had little sections at the bottom of the page which "translated" Shakespearean into English. lol. We knew all the words, but we just didn't what he was on about most of the time!
Josh   Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:37 pm GMT
I'm twenty and American and I have continued to read Shakespeare after high school. I don't find the language particularly challenging. When one is well-versed in etymology, it isn't hard to know what certain words meant whose definitions have changed since the Elizabethan era. I'm not making empty boasts since I am often unsurprised when I view the footnotes in scholarly editions.

As for whether it is common or not for young people to read Shakespeare after high school, it depends. I would guess that most high school graduates don't, but many who proceed to universities do. I've noticed that many of my friends and acquaintances on facebook, both English majors and others, list Shakespeare or his plays among their favorite authors or works.

I hope that he continues to be read for countless years to come.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:49 pm GMT
I hope that high schools stop forcing children to read his tired and outdated "works".
Heather from Encino   Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:25 pm GMT
<<I hope that high schools stop forcing children to read his tired and outdated "works". >>

I know, huh? His words are so like old and he uses such old words and stuff so it's like hard to understand and stuff. If he would like... write normal? I think people would read more of his like, books. It seems like he wrote a lot of books cuz everyone knows him, but it's kind of like he like wasted his time since no one understands his old words. What ever.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:32 pm GMT
<<
William Shakespeare will forever be the greatest exponent of the English Language, and the greatest playwright of all time, now and forever. I doubt he will ever be replicated, either here in his homeland or anywhere else in the world. The man will remain unique.>>

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