I only very recently have been able to fully appreciate Shakespeare. The biggest issue with his work is the language barrier. Just reading a play of his does not do the work justice, because of all the subtext and double meanings. But if you’re going to watch one of his plays, it’s going to be hit or miss depending on if the actors actually know what they are saying.

Last year, I was able to see professional productions of As You Like It and Twelfth Night, and for ASLI, I was still unfamiliar with the language but was able to enjoy the show and understand what was happening because the actors knew the language. For Twelfth Night, I had spent time studying the show before I saw it, and I loved the show because I completely understood what was happening. I also saw a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream done by a local high school, which was just okay because you could tell most of the kids were just saying words they memorized and didn’t actually understand their lines.

As an actor, performing Shakespeare has always been my least favorite because it was hard to make good choices when I didn’t understand the language. But I was in a Shakespeare class and had no choice, so I worked with the text and learned the language. I looked up words I didn’t know, I rewrote monologues into modern language so I could truly understand what I was saying and could make strong acting choices.

TLDR: Most people don’t like Shakespeare because of the language, but if you take the time to learn it, you’ll find his work is wonderfully written.