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Feeling Blue? What You Need Is a Dose of Shakespeare
The Telegraph ^ | 2/4/2021 | Claire Allfree

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 ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Books/Literature; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: drama; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; literature; middleages; renaissance; shakespeare; williamshakespeare

1 posted on 02/05/2021 5:55:40 PM PST by nickcarraway
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The greatest writer in this language. We all aspire to the heights and breadth's of his genius. He could say more in seven syllables than most writers could say in ten volumes.
2 posted on 02/05/2021 6:03:14 PM PST by fhayek
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To: fhayek

great insulter too

http://www.literarygenius.info/a2-shakespeare-insult-generator.htm


3 posted on 02/05/2021 6:06:31 PM PST by xp38
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To: nickcarraway

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


4 posted on 02/05/2021 6:42:47 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: nickcarraway

King Henry the Fourth Part 1 is my favorite.


5 posted on 02/05/2021 6:58:11 PM PST by struggle
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To: nickcarraway

I thought that white supremacist had already been canceled? :)


6 posted on 02/05/2021 6:59:53 PM PST by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: Mr. Jeeves

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.


7 posted on 02/05/2021 7:04:57 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Democracy Dies With Democrats)
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To: windcliff

Ping


8 posted on 02/05/2021 7:13:30 PM PST by stylecouncilor ("When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty." -Thomas Jefferson)
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To: nickcarraway
I'm partial to the Shakespeare insult generator.
9 posted on 02/05/2021 7:16:04 PM PST by Rebelbase (COVID misanthrope)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Yes, I enjoyed Rumpole back in the day on PBS!


10 posted on 02/06/2021 8:08:59 AM PST by W. (And now, more beer, and Les Nessman!)
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To: W.

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”


11 posted on 02/06/2021 8:54:00 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Democracy Dies With Democrats)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Are You Being Served? is one of my faves, too! Lusted over Miss Brahms, too...


12 posted on 02/06/2021 9:05:47 AM PST by W. (And now, more beer, and Les Nessman!)
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To: W.

Thanks! Haven’t watched it. Maybe next up.


13 posted on 02/06/2021 9:23:33 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Democracy Dies With Democrats)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

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...


14 posted on 02/06/2021 10:20:48 AM PST by W. (And now, more beer, and Les Nessman!)
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To: W.

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.


15 posted on 02/06/2021 11:00:47 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Democracy Dies With Democrats)
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To: fhayek

Shakespeare is everywhere....

Cry Havoc
https://youtu.be/fg58hVEY5Og


16 posted on 02/06/2021 11:29:16 PM PST by minnesota_bound (I need more money. )
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
This topic was posted circa 2/4/2021, 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

17 posted on 03/23/2021 8:28:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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