Laughter is the Best Medicine

For the last few years, I have been a member of our local U3A which stands for University of the Third Age. Basically it is for retired people to pursue interests together. To be honest I don't take as much advantage of it as I could. I do not play card games like whist or poker, there is little point in me going to films or plays, as my hearing lets me down without subtitles and I am not into things like history walks or visits to stately homes.  But what I do enjoy are the general meetings where, with a bit of luck and touching wood, I can learn about some interesting subjects.

One such general meeting recently was about Shakespeare, so I thought I would go along. I have been to Stratford-upon-Avon and done all the tours around his properties, so knew I was fairly well-informed, but I thought I might learn a bit more and it would kill an hour or so on a wet Thursday morning. Well, I didn't learn a lot about Shakespeare, but the speaker was incredibly funny and made the talk very entertaining.

First of all, when he was announced as the speaker of the morning, there was nobody on stage, but suddenly a side stage door burst open and in he came - an extremely portly man in his sixties, complete with Elizabethan costume, neck ruff and the biggest codpiece you have ever seen. That elicited a laugh from us all. He then proceeded to say good job Shakespeare wasn't born in our part of London, as where would the tourists all park? (it is often hard to find an empty space to park in our area and parking fees are high when you do find somewhere). He went on in the same vein making us laugh;  picking on someone in the audience who was making notes and asking if they were noting evidence against him; inviting in someone who was lurking behind a glass door and asking why they didn't want to join us - had they got the plague perhaps? King Richard III was found under a car park in Leicester because he gave up trying to find a parking space. The jokes just went on and on.

The bit I found myself chuckling about most was when he was talking about the actors in Shakespeare's time. He said that there were no women actors, only men. Men dressed up as women on stage and even wore women's clothes out on the streets to get used to the feel of wearing long dresses and behaving like women. "All you trans people think you have discovered something new," he said, "but it's been around 500 years." Then he added.... "personally I am fat, but I identify as thin. I am trans-slender."

I came away not having learned anything more about Shakespeare, but had a very enjoyable morning. An extremely hilarious speaker, who cheered up an otherwise dull morning.