[applause] Come back in time with me. Let's go to 1944, some of the darkest days of World War II. And you are Winston Churchill. Your people have lost so much. They've lost their homes to bombings. They've lost husbands and fathers and sons to combat and now they're losing hope. You want your people to be full of hope and resolve and courage. So where do you turn to inspire a nation? Well, Winston Churchill turned to Shakespeare. Why Shakespeare? Because in addition to double double toil and trouble and to ...

[Music] In my role as a university educator, it is my job to convince my students and you in the audience here today that Shakespeare is not just a collection of books collecting dust on a shelf, but they are living and breathing texts. They are something that we can all enter into, that we can access, that we can analyze, and that we can enjoy. I often step into the classroom and surprise my students by saying that I'm not here to tell you what these texts mean. I'm here to invite you to a range of differe ...