Frosties and King Lear

Everything is connected, I think. I started this post early this morning and am finishing it before school pickup. I was really doubting what on earth I was saying, but have had a day to reflect, in amongst lots of jobs. 

I said last week that I would tell you about The Hills of California and Hamlet. I saw the former last week in London, written by Jez Butterworth and directed by Sam Mendes. It was exquisite in its writing, acting and production. A simple story with a twist. In fact, it was so good that I can’t really tell you about it, if that makes sense. It affected me at a deep level because its theme was universal – families, siblings, parents, illness, death. The plot revolves around a homecoming, fitting for The Harold Pinter theatre. 

It is early in the morning and I am not really sure what to say on Hamlet, save I have been thinking of my late great A Level English teacher Roger Freebairn who died last year. He taught me the great play of Elsinore and explained what it meant to be ‘Sick at Heart.’ I instantly connected with this notion, although at the time I had no idea why. Funnily enough he also taught us Harold Pinter’s ‘The Homecoming.’ 

If you haven’t already seen it, it is worth watching the brilliant BBC documentary, ‘Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius.’ I had no idea WS had a son called Hamnet who died of the plague, which lead him to write Hamlet afterwards. 

The documentary gives this and more fascinating details about what compelled the bard to write what he did, when he did (think King Lear towards the end of his life – regret, family etc.). 

William was not around for Hamnet’s death, nor was he around for much of his childrens’ lives, which lead to consequences for him and his family that I don’t need to tell you about here, because perhaps you know them, or are contemplating them, as I am as I think about work, motherhood, family etc.

I am in these posts trying to connect literature to what it means to be human (some of which are the contemplations above, at my stage in life) and this is perhaps a vainglorious first attempt, but an attempt nonetheless. For me, the two stand shoulder to shoulder, and the person who linked everything best is Shakespeare. Many others have followed, of course. Up there among my favourites are Tan Twan Eng’s books ‘The Gift of Rain’ and ‘In the Garden of Evenings Mists,’ which are also about regret, memory, war and loss. 

Some time has elapsed between this paragraph and the above, and as yet it’s still morning. There’s been an argument about cheese on toast and how it smells (one twin wants it, one doesn’t). I’m standing there getting more and more irate about how I want to write and not fix breakfast, then deeply regretting being short with the kids when they are just being kids, due to some agenda of my own. I’m sat next to cheese on toast twin writing this and I am not sure where the other one is, exactly. It’s quiet so that could spell trouble. 

I am going to write more on this soon. So I am not filled with regret I am going to have to go and attend to breakfast with the girls, as I have the customary foot on top of my iPad which signifies they’ve had enough of my attention being diverted elsewhere. Who knew there was a link between Frosties and King Lear? The more I think of it the more this means a lot more than just a post about breakfast and Shakespeare. There are always regrets. Whatever we do, we regret what we didn’t do. I think that is part of being human, and again, WS got this down to a tee. I know I said this last week but I will dive deeper into these themes in the coming week. They are of course intrinsic to mental health, and I don’t think too off piste. School pickup seems to come around so quickly every day, so it’s hard to find the time, and the most important job is actually being a Mum, even though I can rail against it. 

As Lear himself said, ‘nothing can come of nothing, speak again.’