What makes Everyday Shakespeare: Lines for Life different from every other book of Shakespearean quotations? It’s the way Ban and David have selected lines from the less studied and produced corners of Shakespeare’s plays and poems. They comment: “We  chose them because they sound so commonplace and relevant, in a way that some of his most famous quotations are not. We don’t think there are many who share Macbeth’s imaginings, when he says ‘Is this a dagger that I see before me?’ or find themselves in Richard III’s situation when he appeals for ‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.’ By contrast, every quotation in our book has an immediate, easy resonance with modern living, and we hope, as we say in our introduction, that people will feel inspired to use them and reflect on them as they go about their everyday life.’

How did they set about selecting, compiling and structuring the book? How is it being used on a day-by-day basis? Which plays yielded the most ‘everyday’ quotations? Do interesting themes emerge? These and other questions are explored in a lively and lighthearted son-and-father dialogue. As their leading quote for 11 November says: “Speak, breathe, discuss; brief, shore, quick, snap!”

Bios

Ben is an actor, author, creative producer, patron of Shakespeare Week, Associate Artist with the new Shakespeare North Playhouse and curator of ShakespeareEnsemble.com. His solo writing includes Lockdown Shakespeare (Bloomsbury, 2022), Shakespeare on Toast (Icon, 2008; nominated for the Educational Book of the Year Award in 2010) and the four titles of the Arden Springboard Shakespeare series: Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and King Lear. See more at www.bencrystal.com.

David is Honorary Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University. His previous work on Shakespeare includes Pronouncing Shakespeare and Think on My Words: Exploring Shakespeare’s Language. He has written or edited many books and articles for scholarly, professional and general readerships on the history and development of English, including The Stories of English, How Language Works and Evolving English. See more at www.originalpronunciation.com.

Ben and David have collaborated on several books: Shakespeare’s Words (Penguin, 2002, and the associated website www.shakespeareswords.com), The Shakespeare Miscellany (Penguin, 2005) and The Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2015; shortlisted for the Educational Book of the Year Award in 2016).

Tickets are £8 (£5 for Friends of The Rose and £3 for students) and can be booked through TryBooking. You will receive a link to this Zoom event via email. Any additional contributions for The Rose Playhouse will be much appreciated and go towards funding the Rose Revealed Project.

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.30 pm on 23 November.