i'm just a regular girl who wants to read Shakespeare.

i want to be straight up. i am no Shakespeare expert. while i am studying theatre, i am not studying Shakespeare and this is not a project for school. i decided to do this because i have wanted to read all of will's works for the past decade or so. i need accountability. hard core. i thought i would make a project of reading the entire canon, then decided that the only way to do it was to really push myself with concrete deadlines. reading everything in a rough semblance of chronological order seemed a great way to get a sense of evolvement and continuity. so yay Shakespeare and yay me!
but. then i started thinking about how cool it would be to share the project and get people excited about digging into Shakespeare. i thought those who love it and those who hate it could benefit equally from sharing this project with me. wouldn't it be cool to create some sort of forum for talking and learning about something most people haven't touched since it was rammed down their throats in high school? yes. yes it would be. voilà. the blog is born.

who knows, maybe no one will read this thing and the blog element will be a flop. but you know what? worst case scenario: i will have read all of shakespeare's works in 365 days. and that was the whole point anyway. awesome.

by the way, i lied. I am not starting with Henry 6. i realized that I should probably start with something slightly less daunting than a history trilogy. yikes.

my first play pick is COMEDY OF ERRORS. woo! tomorrow i will read the introduction and background information that my Bevington anthology has to offer, and we will go from there.

i look forward to hearing from you!

-rebecca may

There are 2 kinds of people...

there are 2 kinds of people out there: those who love/like Shakespeare and those who dislike/are indifferent to Shakespeare. it is my opinion that this blog will be a useful tool for both groups and here's why...

if you love the bard as i do, there is a lot you can give to and get from this project. you can read the plays along with me and offer your input,let us know what you have learned about the play in your experience with it, or simply read the blog and comments for pleasure. the thing is, i will only realize and discover so much. with the help of readers who are already converted to the the Shakespearean way, those who share this experience will learn and enjoy it as much as possible. we can learn and grow from each other. cool, right?

for those who aren't particularly fond of the shakes, i'm hoping this project will really help you understand what is going on, get you used to Shakespeare (which i truly believe is half the battle), and maybe even get you to love it! read the plays along with me if you can or just read the posts as we go, and we can grow in our understanding together.

no matter which category you fit into, post your questions, comments, and concerns and we will get through it all together. let's be real here kids, i am no expert. i need you here. some days will be frustrating and some will be exciting, but either way there will be 365 of them. we can do it!!!

and the first play will be...

so i've done some hunting and it turns out that you can't really put shakespeare's works (those fully believed to be his and otherwise) into a completely solid timeline. i guess i never really thought about it before. see, i'm already learning something.
that being said, i do want to stay as close to what might be the true order as possible.
i have decided to start with HENRY VI PART 1.

the project starts soon!

2011 is my 365 days of shakespeare year. i will get through all of shakespeare's works and blog every day for 365 days. i hope to learn a lot from will and whoever decides to read along. here we go!