All The World

by Maddy Fürst

Shakespeare wrote,

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

and that one person in life plays many parts – ‘his acts being seven ages’ – which he goes on to tell us are from childhood to old age. So these famous words are about life more than the stage, or in a way how life is like the stage. It’s not about the stage itself. Which is too bad, because that’s actually what this post is about.

When I think about it, he could have also said that the ‘acts’ in someone’s life were made up not only of many ages but also different moments and moods, making us different people at different times depending on how we feel or who we’re with. That would’ve interested me a bit more. But Shakespeare was a sharp card I think, so he probably did say something like that somewhere else, which I just didn’t read or maybe did read but just didn’t get.

The school year is winding down, all the tests are done, grades are in and we’re in the last week cleaning up and doing social things. According to Mr Shakespeare, I’m still in the ‘whining schoolboy’ act – but those were different times and those ages don’t really match our own exactly. No, in fact I’m pretty sure I’ve just moved into another act now which wasn’t on his list. It’s hard to put my finger on what it is exactly because although things change, so many things have stayed the same.

Something invisible is changed though, and I noticed it once in the circle of spotlight and again, in my favorite improvised monologue. That was the first night. On the second there was a mistake that bugged me and by the third I noticed the audience were too cool for school and could have laughed a bit more at our funny lines. Whatever. By then I’d already moved on to a new act.

And it’s not just me, it’s all of us and all our  ‘exits and entrances’. It’s like a team I guess, but not one that plays to win against another, just to win by it’s own rules. Maybe ‘win over’ is a better way of putting it because there’s no competition and belonging to the group is easy because there’s really nothing to fit into. If I’m not making sense to some of you, just try to imagine a club with no rules but to be yourself and have a great time.

Shakespeare knew a good thing when he saw it and probably didn’t want to brag too much about how good his life was compared to other people of his time. Not because he was rich or beautiful or because he beat another team,  but because he could say things he wanted to even in disguise, and get better at it by his own rules and maybe feel a little rewarded once in a while, when other people liked it too.

Whatever. We all go our own way and do our own thing. Just let your ‘strange, eventful history’ be full of the scenes you want and not what others think you should have, that’s the important bit. Don’t be too embarrassed to take your bows either, no one would clap if they didn’t want to. And anyway, you might has well live it up now before ‘mere oblivion’ strikes – what Mr Shakespeare called the last scene.

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

I don’t know, but somehow I ended up talking about life, too.

© Della D. Marinis, 2009-2011

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