The first time I saw a Shakespearean play performed on stage was back when I was a senior in High School. I was smart enough to skip Basic English, and was allowed to substitute an elective course on English Lit. The drawing card was the fact that a Flat Rock High School graduate, who had led our school to the state championship in football the year before by kicking a winning field goal at the newly built Pontiac Superdome (and son of our middle school Librarian), was playing the role of Mercutio. The production was at Wayne State University in Detroit. The theater was rather small and in the three-quarter round. I had never read the play before.
And I will never forget the early bantering scene between the boys of the two houses. In the staging, when the character Gregory says,
"To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand: therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away," and punctuated the dialogue by grabbing a huge salami and placing at his crotch, swaying the hardy meat from side to side. Imagine my surprise! And I thought, 'Wow. Shakespeare is really cool!"
This film reignites that notion. See it again, soon.
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