First First Folio Post

 

My love for William Shakespeare is legendary. He’s the person I’d choose if I could meet anyone who ever lived (although sometimes, when Sammy is having a spazz, I would like to meet the bastard who abused him, so I could abuse him (or her)). One of my most prized possessions is a poster of the title page of the First Folio. I bought it when I was 17 or 18, on a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. It has adorned the walls of countless apartments in two countries, three states, and five cities. It is torn and tattered and stained by that blue sticky poster-hanging stuff and a rum and Coke cocktail (long story) but I wouldn’t exchange it for a thousand brand new ones. I am fond of his sonnets but the plays are the things for me. Macbeth was the first I studied in detail so it holds a special place in my heart. But… Twelfth Night contains my all-time favorite line –“I was adored once too”. But…  Richard II was the play I saw in Strafford-upon-Avon. But… The Tempest contains one of my favorite speeches – Caliban’s “I cried to dream again”. But… King Lear I saw in London, with Anthony Hopkins in the title role. But…

 

Hamlet, oh Hamlet, that is the one for me. For many, many reasons, not the least of which is I got some action because of it (another long story, worthy of a post all of its own but TLDR: I crushed on and then stalked and then got to third base with the actor who played Hamlet in a local production of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (only third base because I was 17 and he was married)).

 

Where was I? Oh, yeah, so Hamlet would be the gun-to-the-head choice as my favorite play. It is fitting then, and cool and ironic, that this Saturday I will be standing in a room with an original First Folio and it will be opened to Hamlet’s world-famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy. To say I am excited is an understatement. It’s part of a nationwide tour celebrating Billy Shakes’ (his rap name were he alive today) 400th-ish birthday and it is making a stop at the library on the campus where I work (deets here). Because of size limitations tickets (free, but this is one thing I would have paid to see (that right there tells you how much I love Shakespeare because you all know how cheap I am)) had to be booked in advance for a specific day and time. I chose the Saturday afternoon of the three-day holiday weekend because well, I hate three-day holiday weekends (three days of boredom, loneliness and misery instead of the usual two). I‘m so excited! I have my whole day planned around it, what I am going to do before (not much and won’t eat either so I don’t get an oops-I-crapped-my-pants moment) and afterwards (eat, mainly, and drink, of course). Oh I am excited.