When I tell my kids the story of The Tempest, I usually spin it so that Ariel is a playmate of Miranda’s, playing hide and seek (tricky with someone who can turn invisible), turning into various animals, and generally hiding from Caliban. But I read somewhere that, every time we see Ariel, Prospero makes it a point to put Miranda to sleep.  Ariel is always invisible, said this source I can’t remember, and Prospero didn’t want Miranda to see him talking to nobody. If that’s the case, then Miranda wouldn’t even have known that Ariel existed. Is that right?  Takes some of the fun out of the story.

It dawns on me this morning that I don’t know the answer to this question:  Would Shakespeare’s family (Ann and the kids, that is) have seen his work?  How and when exactly would this have happened?  Would they have trekked into London?  How old would the kids need to have been?  I guess I’ve always assumed that while they may have known what Dad did for a living, that they wouldn’t necessarily have ever seen the plays.  But I don’t have a reason for thinking that one way or the other.

Or is it just coincidence? Today I get email from Writer’s Market, as I often do, and I notice a story about four new book publishers.  I always check those out, because in the past I’ve had luck getting published with new/small houses.  One of them, SynergEbooks, intrigues me for their emphasis on e-books, so I check it out. What’s highlighted on the first page?  A series of romance novels set in the fictional town of….Oberon, California. Best I can tell there is no Shakespeare connection, other than the fact that your Shakespeare Geek happened to trip over it.

I have already mentioned my daughter’s plan to get me “a Shakespeare thing” for Father’s Day. I’m a big fan of letting the kids pick out gifts on such occasions (as compared to the parent doing it) so I sent my wife a list of “Shakespeare things” that might make potential gifts. Here’s my rule – I want something that the kids will be able to point to and say, “We got Daddy that.” That’s the only requirement. I don’t even have to like or want it. 🙂 I ruled out books and movies because I’d rather a gift be shared. Any Shakespeare book I’d actually want is not something my wife or kids would care about, likewise for movies. And other than when they see me reading it, it’s not like they could satisfy rule one and say “That’s the book we got you.” There’s always Shakespeare’s Den, who don’t do just Shakespeare stuff but do have a whole category devoted to him :). I pointed out things like coasters or a throw pillow because that is exactly the sort of thing that could be just lying around the house for the kids to see and appreciate. Not to mention when company comes over – I love a good conversation starter. They also have a jigsaw puzzle that just happens to be The Tempest. I’m just wondering if we’d have time to do it together as a family (the 3 and 2 yr olds might not have that much input, you see). Know what I covet, though, is one of these bad boys from One Page Books. It’s a wall poster of the entire play. I think it’s a cool idea. Options include the great tragedies, the sonnets, Merchant, Much Ado, Dream…no Tempest, but still, some of those others would make a pretty cool wall decoration. But which one to pick? Any fathers out there? What sort of “Shakespeare thing” would you like from the kids?