James-Ape said:
I liked the version of Merchant Of Venice from a few years ago.
That had Pacino in it, right ? I haven't seen it, but I did read a Frank Kermode article in the London Review of Books, in which I think he praised it.
Another essential activity for the OP is to watch Hamlet (yes, preferably Branagh's), and then watch and read Tom Stoppard's 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead'.
Mary and Charles Lamb's 'Tales From Shakespeare' (yes, written for children, but excellent, absorbing reading for adults) would be worth checking out, too: it would be a good instrument to see which plays you're interested in, before seeking out film versions.
As GAF is unlikely to see another Shakespeare thread soon, I beg indulgence to post Louis MacNeice's 'Sunlight on the Garden'. It quotes the man to terrific effect.
The sunlight on the garden
Hardens and grows cold,
We cannot cage the minute
Within its nets of gold;
When all is told
We cannot beg for pardon.
Our freedom as free lances
Advances towards its end;
The earth compels, upon it
Sonnets and birds descend;
And soon, my friend,
We shall have no time for dances.
The sky was good for flying
Defying the church bells
And every evil iron
Siren and what it tells:
The earth compels,
We are dying, Egypt, dying
And not expecting pardon,
Hardened in heart anew,
But glad to have sat under
Thunder and rain with you,
And grateful too
For sunlight on the garden.
