November 16, 2001

Virginia Is for Shakespeare Lovers

By LAWRENCE BIEMILLER

"It's two in the afternoon. You're at the Globe," Ralph Alan Cohen is telling his Shakespeare class at James Madison University. "You've come to see this play called Hamlet -- you have no idea what it's about. Half of you are illiterate, so the fact that there was an ur-Hamlet is of no significance. Now, banana-banana, rhubarb-rhubarb -- "

Clearly his students have done this before. Those on the right start repeating "Banana, banana, banana." Those in the center say "Rhubarb, rhubarb"

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