Today I took delivery of two amazing scarves! One for a friend of mine, and the other for
myself. The one for myself will dominate
the entire year, because I have set myself a challenge based on it.
People of a certain background and education are supposed to
have specific interests and behave in particular ways. Being a foreigner of long standing, and
anyway highly individualistic, I frequently offend against these stereotypes,
much to the perturbation of unsuspecting natives. I don’t habitually drink wine, never eat
oysters, rarely listen to classical music, don't read highbrow modern French novels (except
occasionally by accident), and Hate Shakespeare!
There. I said
it. I hate Shakespeare. The great bard has blighted my existence at
irregular intervals, from having him rammed down my throat in school to being
subjected to his plays at Uni. Yet
worse, any number of people have assumed over time that I would love to see his
plays and have applied pressure to entrap me into going. I have been singularly resistant, though did
not always manage to escape.
In addition to being victimised by teachers and university
lecturers, I attended the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland ,
Oregon Rose
Theatre Portland ,
and suffered through a few open air performances in Oxford . None of this exposure has improved my opinion
of the great man’s work, which is, in my illiterate opinion, either bawdy or
gory, and I appreciate neither. I also
have a problem with the guy’s literary magpieism – most of his plots were
lifted from earlier folk tales or other writers. Didn’t he have any ideas of his own? I am continuously bemused by the praise
heaped upon this hero of the middle class educational establishment by the kind
of people who wouldn’t be caught dead watching a gory slasher movie or smutty Carry-on
film. Because Shakespeare appears to have been the
Elizabethan’s equivalent!
Nevertheless I have decided to have another go (in a
positive way!), because I fell for a truly amazing scarf and needed a
justification for buying it.
The silk in question is a Jacqmar, an English scarf producer
long since defunct. I have a few of
their small scarves, the silk is flimsy and perfect for hot weather, and also
they tend to be quite cheap – I pick them up in charity shops and such like for
a few quid. But the Shakespeare scarf is
another matter altogether. It is large,
90cm square, and the silk is thicker than the stuff used for the small
scarves. The colours are very nice,
too. But the real selling point is that
the scarf depicts the characters of four major Shakespeare plays, complete with
stage instructions. There is a different
play in every corner, and the centre shows the Globe Theatre.
You have to admit, this is exciting! So, to justify the purchase of this scarf, I
set myself a challenge for 2014: I shall
see every play depicted on the scarf!
Also I will visit the Globe Theatre, a task I have put off for years,
which is a cultural outrage.
So keep an eye on this blog, and you will be able to
vicariously tag along to The Tempest, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Romeo and
Juliet, and Macbeth. At least I am
spared King Lear, a play I was attacked with at Uni and which struck me as
utterly pointless. I mean, finally the
King learns his lesson, and he dies?!?!? What ever happened to happily ever after? I want happy endings! In the word
of an immortal poet who occasionally inspires me,
Oh cursed tragedies
A murder on each
page.
Perverted fantasies
Are acted out on
stage.
I just cannot be
thrilled
By people being
killed!
