Which shakespeare play should i read

But I encourage you to keep an eye on your local theatre scene and book tickets for a few plays that particularly interest you. My best experiences with Shakespeare are hands-down the ones where I experienced the play at the theatre.

Pete Postlethwait as King Lear. Jude Law as Henry V. Paterson Joseph as Brutus in Julius Caesar. And there are some superb film adaptations of the plays. Lawrence Fishburne nails Othello. Your companions in print for this reading adventure will be the Arden editions of Shakespeare. If you can spring for the individual volumes, I highly recommend you do so rather than simply getting the complete works.

Or if you need to save money, grab the complete works and opt for getting a few specific volumes for the first few plays.

The introductory essays and footnotes in the Arden editions are unparalleled. Everything is explained in crystal clear and compelling detail. If you want to take things further, I highly recommend the Helen Mirren MasterClass as she has some modules on Shakespeare which will thoroughly enthuse and enlighten you. I wish she had taught my Shakespeare modules at Oxford. The Great Courses also have some fantastic lectures on Shakespeare, all of which are available on Audible.

You can get a couple of audiobooks for free from Audible when signing up to their free trial. You could try that, and let the plays wash over you. But many also get a lot out of reading a quick summary before diving into the work. Certainly you could check out a Wikipedia summary of the plot before you stick on one of the film versions.

It will help you get your bearings better this way. Make sure you schedule them. Write them in your diary at the beginning of the week and set aside some time to read and view them. Maybe you could watch a film version on a Sunday evening. And maybe you could read the plays for minutes in the morning.

Aim to read a Shakespeare play a week. You could budget days per play. There are 38 Shakespeare plays in this recommended reading order, so you can see how you could easily read the whole Shakespeare canon in a year.

Although I suggested making the plays part of your daily reading, if you can afford to read them all in one go I certainly recommend that.

Plays are supposed to be viewed primarily, but secondly they should, like short stories or novellas, be read in a single sitting to get their benefit as a literary unit.

There are also benefits to reading the plays bit by bit over a week. That way you really live with the play for longer, absorb its message, and it will likely have a more lasting impact. Basically, there are no hard and fast rules here. Make it work for you.

Just enjoy the story for what it is! Marvel at the characters, their psychological complexity. If at first you are really struggling, then read the scene synopsis before you take on reading the scene in the play. Enjoy a more lively page-by-page experience and read Shakespeare alongside listening to an audio-book production. This will help you find your way through. Listen to a sample first if you can, and hear if these are voices that work for you.

We particularly like the Arkangel Shakespeare series — where all 38 plays are available in audio format performed by some truly fantastic actors, many of whom have worked with the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company.

These stories were created to be spoken and heard. There is nothing better than gathering a few friends or family members and reading as a group — and Shakespeare is just perfect for this. Get some snacks in, pour a glass of something nice, and get comfy. Split up the roles how you wish, or simply read the lines of the play alternately around your group.

That way everyone gets a go at being fierce like Macbeth, or head-over heels in love like Juliet. We love podcast listening. They talk to us directly across the centuries from a time where environment, manners, sounds, sights and smells were often different to our own. But the core of what these characters are talking about — honestly, we still share very directly with them. Laughter, fear, anger, love, betrayal, envy, greed, pride, lust — all elements of the human condition — all as relevant to us now as the day they were first written.

Nothing beats it. But a word of caution, sitting through a bad production has been known to put people of the idea of Shakespeare for life! For that reason do some research first. The famous companies are usually reliable for their quality and high values. If getting to a theatre is difficult, check out and see if any productions are live-streaming to your local cinema.

We are strong believers in making Shakespeare your own. In a relationship. No, but I do get angry a lot. Just with desire. Not at all. Love songs. Gangster rap. Focused and ambitious. Up for a good time. Impulsive, up for anything. I usually stay up all night. Well, yes. Not at all, but others around me do.

No way. I don't think so, but others say I do. Of course. Most of the time. I would be, if I knew what team to be on. Hunt things weaker than me. Walk holding hands with my love. Have a party. Sit on a stump and mope. But then, the ieea that there are TEN Shakespeare plays that everyone should read rather than twenty or thirty or more is the problem, not the list itself. And Troilus! This is the play that has most come into its own after neglect.

Macbeth is brilliant, I think, and one that I can read or watch again and again. Richard III is hugely enjoyable also.

The tragedies are so pessimistic about human nature — they may be insightful but hard to stomach sometimes! I have read it many times in its original English. However, I can never bring myself to read Romeo and Juliet in the original language. It was bad enough reading a translated version. Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address. Interesting Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon. Share this: Tweet.