Kevin McDermott

Did Shakespeare endure anger from his own father, John, the glove maker and one-time mayor of Stratford?

Was he himself prone to tempestuous outbreaks of emotion directed at his own children?

Or was Shakespeare a protective, loving father like Prospero in The Tempest?

I like to think so.

My brother now lives in a more temperate environment than that of the High Arctic, where the summer days are mild and clement.

And I imagine him returning to the plays...

having seen Hamlet, to consider once more Shakespeare's portrayal of fathers.

And he may well dwell on the ghost of Hamlet's father and the ghosts of the Arctic theatre, who haunt the frozen landscape that he knows and loves so well.