During my college years I was fortunate to see several live performances of various Shakespeare plays every year, mostly student productions. They were all very

During my college years I was fortunate to see several live performances of various Shakespeare plays every year, mostly student productions. They were all very good, and provided the context other commentors have mentioned. Back then, Olivier's films were the standard, but I agree with many here that Branagh's productions nail it every time and for me come close to the experience of a live performance. I was a Humanities major who concentrated on Medieval and Renaissance history and culture, so familiarity with Shakespeare was required. But I enormously enjoyed it, especially the classical references. My own Latin and Greek were embarrassingly weak, and remain so to this day. Sadly, I'll no longer be able to comfort myself with the mistaken notion that the Bard shared that shortcoming.