This may seem like a strange memory, but it is truly a testamanet to the appeal Shakespeare has to children. 2 years ago we brought our 11 year old grandson to see MSC’s production of Much Ado About Nothing . During the first part of the play I looked at him and didn’t get sense he was following the dialogue. When I asked him, He said “yep, grandpa I got it.” What followed left little doubt. At intermission, he asked if he could go up to the restroom. On his way back to his seat he was running and jumping on the hay bales (as boys will do), which turned out to be quite slippery. He slipped and fell, taking a header into some pretty rough gravel. He immediately made his way back to us, holding back tears and revealing a very bloodied up face, with numerous cuts, bloody mouth and a quickly swelling lower lip. We iced his cuts, stopped the bleeding and st arted to pack up to head home, thinking he would be in no mood to sit throught the rest of the play. Nope, he threw an absolute fit at that idea. He was not going to miss the rest of the play. We stayed and I watched him wince through every laugh, and despite his obvious pain, he immersed himself completely in the joy that Shakespeare delivers to all of us.