Catch it while you can!

If you haven’t yet seen BBC’s The Hollow Crown series of Shakespeare’s history plays, then go for it. As the summer holidays start or exam leave (dare we say it) begins to drag, indulge yourself in your own ‘Shakefest’ over a series of days. You might just be riveted!

Why bother?

 Shakespeare is renowned as the world’s greatest dramatist. He features on every English exam syllabus in the UK– and quite honestly, students don’t always know why. Aren’t lots of plays, lots of dramatists pretty good really?

Individually, many are. Where Shakespeare scores is that through his huge range of work he covers just about every human emotion, then explores them from a multitude of perspectives. Alongside comic cameos, he creates characters who are believably rounded, then plays with our response to them. By attracting us towards them then repelling us from them, we are left having to make our own judgements.

Make your mind up

Richard II – a gorgeous wastrel or martyred innocent? Is Henry IV a righteous leader or ambitious aggressor? Particularly intriguing is Falstaff, the joker, cheat, faithless yet loving uncle figure. Whilst we despise his cowardice and greed, we also understand his fear of aging and loneliness which comes to the fore in Henry IV Part Two.

And if these characters sound rather distant from teenage experience, try out Prince Hal, later to become Henry V, as he battles with his dad, shirks his responsibilities, disappoints peoples hopes, then rises to the huge challenges put before him. That’s a trajectory many of us might understand.

If you can, catch up the plays in order on BBC iPlayer before seeing Hal’s final triumph in Henry V this Saturday evening on BBC Two.

I hope you’ll not only enjoy them but have a more profound understanding of life. Because ultimately, that’s why Shakespeare is great.