it is shakespeare

To quote Irving Berlin "The theatre, the theatre, what has happened to the theatre?" Tonight I am visiting my sister and brother in Atlanta, GA and to begin my whirl-wind trip we went to see some Shakespeare. As I was sitting there enjoying the whit of The Merchant of Venice I was struck by several things. Firstly I'm grateful my parents raised me reading Geoffrey of Mounmoth, Homer, the King James Bible and the like so that Elizabethan tongue is not so hard for me to adapt to. Secondly I remembered why I did not pursue theater. And thirdly we really haven't changed much over the centuries. The play was riddled with issues that we still see today, racism, fidelity, loneliness, business investments, high interest rate loans, religion, horrible bosses, rebellion, love, alcoholism, catty women and the like. Shakespeare being the genius that he was tapped into the classic problems that have plagued man since the beginning of time. I witnessed last night; a conversation held by Hitler stating that Christian blood is holier than Jewish blood, a court case sentencing a man for attempted murder, the unwanted attentions of suitors that the woman feigned to protest but secretly loved the adoration, the wasted attempt to tell people that love is a right that is earned not a reward that is given, and a scene from the "Real Housewives" series as the women attempted to trick their men into infidelity.
Yes, yes Shakespeare was quite the genius. And it's good to know the world doesn't really ever change, just the language does.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone