You're reminding me of a university prof. who taught Shakespeare. He had been an actor at the Stratford theatre, so he had ways of bringing the plays to life dramatic in the classroom, rather than having us simply read and discuss the plays as though they were books. He would ask us to visualize the scenes while we read, and we would have to decide what colour each character was wearing, and why. We would think about each character's movements on stage, especially thinking of those characters who were on stage but who had little or nothing to say. Why were they there? Why was each one important?

Because of that teacher, I got over my fear of Shakespeare, and I've been able to pass a bit of what I've learned over to my children. Ever since they were babies, we've taken them to the summer outdoor theatre in the park, and they don't think of Shakepeare as a second language - they really enjoy the plays and the whole experience of seeing them under the stars.

~b.w.