That way lies madness

One thing that had me thinking about Shakesepeare was an analogy that I'd made a while back.  A year or two ago, I got into the Delta Blues (if you want the story of that, here's an abbreviated version: White Stripes - It Might Get Loud - Son House - Blues).  The first major purchase I made was a copy of the complete recordings of Robert Johnson, to which I listened carefully.  I had to listen carefully.  That stuff isn't as accessible as... well, most anything else you might find yourself listening to.  So, my analogy, "This stuff is like Shakespeare.  It takes a lot of work to understand and enjoy, but once you do you realize that it is really amazing."

As mentioned in the comments previously, I slept through my viewing of King Lear.  It was a class trip and I had foolishly stayed up pretty much the whole night before doing whatever foolish high schoolers do on these trips.  The result was that I dozed off repeatedly during King Lear the next night, despite that I was rapt while I was awake.

A project I was working on (in which I've since mostly lost interest) had me thinking about King Lear and how much I liked it.  That, coupled with an enjoyable viewing of Much Ado About Nothing a month or so earlier, convinced me that I should dig up a copy.  Thus, I wanted to start with King Lear.

We've got a copy of the Complete Works; a big hardbound monster of a book.  Not terribly practical and, given my schedule with the little one and such, I didn't feel like reading was the best course of action for this.  I tracked down a public domain audiorecording of King Lear at www.librivox.org (which has become my go-to site) and set to't.  Listening to Lear, and with that analogy rattling about my head, really that was what birthed the whole project.