Letter: To William Shakespeare

Subject: The Shared Ribbon

To William Shakespeare,

The first modern performance of your work at Soulton Hall took place in 2020, during the height of the pandemic. There must have been others in memmories now lost to us, at least for now.

British Touring Shakespeare staged The Two Gentlemen of Verona tentatively, against a heavy climate of anxiety and fear.

It was a period when the future remained hidden and people had not gathered in person for many weeks. There had been much suffering.

We chose to do this because there is a specific kind of defiance against adversity in the soul of Soulton Hall. It was a recognition of the vital importance of harmony when the world feels discordant.

There were also practical frustrations; insurance companies continued to collect premiums for public access despite offering no help and carrying none of the actual risks of that moment. However, the deepest reason for our action was the eddying memory that you knew of this place. We felt the presence of Old Sir Rowland Hill within As You Like It, a congruence that links these woods to your words.

You are often framed as difficult or alienating, but the reality is quite the opposite. That is clumsy leadership and you are not .

Your work acts as a shared ribbon that links audiences across the past, the present, and the future. You place characters before us as a kind of training ground, allowing us to witness trials that are similar to our own in nature, if not always in degree.

The Elizabethan age emerged from the embers of a violent and dangerous time. It was not a perfect era, but it was one that was actively thinking of better days and trying to perform them into being. Six years have passed since that lockdown, and while the dust from that crisis is still settling, I remain glad that we carried your material confidently. As one of the few working theaters in the country at that time, partnering with the National Youth Theatre was an act of necessity. Art is a serious and important endeavor, and your voice is one of its most essential tools.

It is a sentiment mirrored in the forthcoming homecoming of the Shropshire Youth Theatre. This May, they bring a new energy to the grounds with a production of As You Like It that reframes the Forest of Arden through the lens of 1994. It is a reminder that the search for sanctuary and the exhilaration of freedom are timeless. We have found, as you wrote, that "sweet are the uses of adversity."

We continue to use your map to navigate the seasons of this place, performing better days into existence.