Yes, 'Boring for Britain', that's what I'm doing today which is another, and possibly more accurate, way of describing the fact that I am giving one of my Shakespeare talks to a bunch of unsuspecting ladies. I shall show no mercy, well, they asked for it, didn't they? But actually, I am just slightly nervous. The title of my talk is: Will's Women - A Nun, a Tart and a Dark Lady. There is a tendency on the part of some people, mostly those who are unfamiliar with 'our Will', to place him on a pedestal of reverence because, at his best, he was the greatest poet who ever lived but, of course, he was also a working, money-grubbing playwright trying to produce 'shows' that would pack in the punters. He knew perfectly well, as any Hollywood producer will confirm, that to do that you needed a good dollop of 'sex 'n' violence' and plenty of grand patriotism, too. He provided it - in spades! Or if you prefer, he shovelled it on!
Well, that's what it's all about but my problem is that today my audience is made up of ladies from the Methodist Church in a local country town - yeeeeeeeeees, quite! I did try to gently warn the lady who telephoned me to arrange the booking that parts of my talk verged on areas not normally discussed amongst church-going folk only to receive a polite but robust response to the effect that 'her ladies' were adult women and perfectly able to cope with anything Master Shakespeare - or me - might throw at them. Somewhat abashed, or perhaps just bashed, I agreed to give the talk.
To paraphrase that truly heroic phrase, 'I'm stepping outside, I might be some time'. If I fail to return you might find me in the Town stocks!
