I have decided to read all of Shakespeare's published plays, in roughly chronological order*, and then write something about each as I go along. The goal is to get through them in under a year, and as of early August 2014 this seems like a great idea! I'm moderately-to-very familiar a bit over half the plays and pretty hazy about the rest, but by the end I hope to be able to tsk knowingly when people** get that one bit in Henry VI part 2 mixed up with that one bit in Henry VI part 3 because, ha ha, really.
There are a few reasons for doing this:
1) I like Shakespeare
2) I like that feeling you get when you've collected the whole set of something, even if that includes the really crappy broken pieces that no one likes much anyway
3) I like having something procrastinatory to do
and most importantly
4) I will be an asset to any pub quiz team, presuming that that particular pub quiz has detailed and esoteric questions about Shakespeare's back catalogue
This will be fun, I hope! And if I can make it through the history plays without weeping in confused frustration then I will reward myself with something nice.
EDIT: I am almost entirely relying on the editions of the plays put out by the wonderful Folger Shakespeare Library. They are fully annotated, they sometimes have pictures, they have critical essays on the plays and their social and historical context, and they are super cheap - on average, NZ$7-8 per paperback.
* People smarter than me have long-winded debates about what was written and performed when. I am mostly following this order, but to be honest it might come down to whether or not I feel up to reading another history play.
** I don't know who these people are but I will seek them out for smug tut-tutting purposes.
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