Let me get something out of the way right now, before you read another word.
I am not a Shakespeare scholar. I don’t have a Ph.D. I’ve never published an academic paper. I can’t read Middle English from a manuscript or debate textual variants over coffee with a roomful of professors. My highest degree is an Associate of Arts — and I earned it a long time ago. There. Now that that’s settled — let me tell you what I am.
I’m an actor who trained at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. I’m someone who has stood on a stage and spoken Shakespeare’s words out loud, with my whole body, in front of real human beings who laughed, cried, and leaned forward in their seats. I’ve performed his plays and radio adaptations for the past seven years, in retirement, because I couldn’t not do it.
I didn’t come to Shakespeare through a classroom. I came through a door I didn’t even know existed — and it changed everything.
I came to Shakespeare late. Post-retirement late. The kind of late where people around you might raise an eyebrow and quietly wonder what you’re doing. And I came not as a student looking for a grade, but as a person hungry for something real — something that had weight and beauty and truth in it. I found all of that. And then some.
Why this blog exists
I started It Started With Shakespeare because I kept meeting people — students drowning in assigned reading, retirees curious but intimidated, actors unsure where to begin — who felt like Shakespeare wasn’t for them. Like it required a secret password they’d never been given.
It doesn’t. I promise you it doesn’t.
Shakespeare wrote for the groundlings — the everyday people who stood in the dirt at the Globe Theatre, eating and talking and living their lives. He wrote about jealousy, ambition, heartbreak, power, laughter, and death. He wrote about us. And the fact that his words have survived 400 years isn’t an accident. It’s because they are alive.
My job here isn’t to teach you Shakespeare the way a professor would. My job is to share what it feels like to live inside his work — to speak his words, to perform his characters, to keep discovering new things every single time I return to the page or the stage.
What you’ll find here
I’ll share stories from my training and performances. I’ll break down speeches and scenes in plain English. I’ll talk about why specific plays still matter right now, in this moment, in this world. I’ll be honest when something confuses me, and excited when something clicks. I’ll bring in the voices of other performers, teachers, and fans who love this work as much as I do.
And I’ll keep learning — out loud, right here, with you.
If you’re a student who’s been assigned Hamlet and has no idea where to start — you’re welcome here. If you’re a retiree who always meant to read Shakespeare and never did — you’re welcome here. If you’re a performer looking for a community that takes this craft seriously — absolutely, you’re welcome here.
It started with Shakespeare for me. Maybe it starts here for you.
Let’s find out together.
— Kevin
Kent as Cais in King Lear 2023