Posted on 02/05/2021 5:55:40 PM PST by nickcarraway
When Mary Chater’s husband, the Rumpole of the Bailey actor Julian Curry, died last June, a friend recommended that she should read the speech in King John in which the widowed Constance laments the loss of her young son.
“ ‘Grief fills the room up of my absent child/Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me’,” quotes Chater who, like her husband, is a former RSC actor. “ ‘My life, my joy, my food, my all the world’. I’ve never read or said out loud words that so chimed with my emotions, especially immediately after Julian died. I was going from room to room and every line resounded round my head as he wasn’t there to see, talk to or touch. I don’t feel I need counselling to live with my grief but Shakespeare is sure as hell helping me – he understands what being human is about.”
Shakespeare’s laser-like ability to illuminate the darkest corners and deepest sorrows of the human condition barely needs restating, but at a time when we are so aware of our mental health and the struggle of getting through the day, might he also have the power to make us feel better? As we try to find coherence and value in a frightening world, should doctors be prescribing Shakespeare rather than Prozac?
Chater is wary of using the word “therapy” but over the past year she has experienced first-hand the restorative power of Shakespeare’s prose. Several years ago she and Curry founded Shakespeare in Italy to promote and perform Shakespeare’s Italy-set plays and, as part of that, also hosted very popular Snacking on Shakespeare sessions for the over-50s in their hometown of Hove whereby people could get together, read out extracts and discuss his work. Those sessions are now online and, under
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start quoting him now.
Brush up your Shakespeare
And the women you will wow.
Just declaim a few lines from “Othello”
And they’ll think you’re a heck of a fellow.
If your blonde won’t respond when you flatter her
Tell her what Tony told Cleopatra,
And if still, to be shocked, she pretends well,
Just remind her that “All’s Well That Ends Well.”
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they’ll all kowtow.
—Cole Porter
King Henry the Fourth Part 1 is my favorite.
I thought that white supremacist had already been canceled? :)
This is OT, but it is very interesting the article starts off with Mary Chater, the wife of “Rumpole of the Bailey” actor Julian Curry.
If you are looking for some GREAT television, you can’t beat “Rumpole of the Bailey.” One of my all-time favorite shows.
Ping
Yes, I enjoyed Rumpole back in the day on PBS!
I’ve got the entire Rumpole series on my video server, including the pilot. Maybe it’s time to re-watch!
Other great older Brit series I liked: “Piece of Cake” and “Danger: UXB”
Are You Being Served? is one of my faves, too! Lusted over Miss Brahms, too...
Thanks! Haven’t watched it. Maybe next up.
Try it, you’ll like it! The first six episodes are filmed in B/W. British humor is kind of an acquired taste, but great stuff...
I worked with a lot of Brits and did a number of R&D projects in England — I like their droll sense of humor.
Doing a lot of genealogical research during COVID. My Mom’s mom’s family all came from East Yorkshire in the mid 1800s. Maybe that’s why! It’s an inherited taste.
This topic was posted , thanks nickcarraway.
Shakespeare unveiled: Ground-breaking new discovery about effigy above famous bard's grave may finally end mystery of what he looked like by Harry Howard for MailOnline
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