My first introduction to Shakespeare was by way of Julius Caesar in high school.  All of us sophomores had to memorize the Friends, Romans, countrymen speech. (The evil the teacher did lives after her.) However, my favorite line came much earlier in the play:

You blocks. you stones, you worse than senseless things!

I loved that line. It seemed like the ultimate insult. And it so aptly describes me. For, in spite of having successfully endured the slings and arrows of a three unit college course in Shakespeare, with few exceptions, I find the Bard's plays difficult to follow.

You know, all that

Were I a common laugher, or did use

To stale with ordinary oaths my love

To every; new protester; if you know, etc., etc.

So when my husband and I agreed to meet friends in Ashland, Oregon, during the Shakespearean Festival, I considered reading through the plays we might possibly see in order to better appreciate the stage productions. However, I never got around to it, and neither did we get around to making advanced reservations for any of the plays. This turned out to be a stroke of genius.

The morning after our arrival in Ashland for our three night stay found us waiting in line at the box office to purchase cancelled tickets, There were no tickets available for any of Shakespeare's plays for that evening, and a limited number of tickets for the non-Shakespearean plays. Ditto for the following evening.

We opted for four tickets that evening to A Flea in Her Ear, a turn of the century comedy which we found thoroughly enjoyable. And we could understand every word and phrase. The second evening we attended the Oregon Cabaret Theatre and laughed hilariously at Little Shop of Horrors.

Both nights we had center row seats.

Ashland and its environs is a delightful area to visit; don't let the threat of Shakespeare keep you away. It's just that the Bard is still all Greek to some of us.