I find that even assuming those count, I still can’t answer the question, because my memory’s blurry. I’m pretty sure we put on a couple, and that I probably saw additional plays put on by other classes, but I no longer remember which ones – I have a better memory for which ones we read, but I don’t know whether or which we also performed, or whether other classes did the same ones.
And if I saw any live professional performances, that also didn’t stick in my head; except that it would almost certainly have been in my teens or very early 20’s, if so.
I skipped kindergarten a lot. It was however more or less optional at the time. (Mid 1950’s.)
I couldn’t skip high school as I was in boarding school – there is an option for that, but it didn’t seem right to check just that one when I ducked out of kindergarten so much.
(And a “perfect attendance record” would mean not only that you never skipped, but also that you were never out sick, wouldn’t it? I was out sick occasionally in grade school, I don’t remember about high school – I wouldn’t have gone home in high school unless seriously sick, which I would have remembered, but I can’t remember whether I skipped any classes due to sickness, which might have happened.)
I listened to the recordings of the RSC performances of all the plays we covered in my two quarters of Shakespeare in university. Especially if it was a new-to-me play, I’d get a much better feel for the play by listening to it first, then, reading for detail later.
Skipping school: I voted for “frequently” because it wasn’t just once or twice (which was the next “lower” category), but it wasn’t all that frequently. It was pretty nearly “frequently” in my senior year in high school, though. I had senioritis bad.
There was a dive bar on the other side of our high school field. They didn’t much care how old their patrons were. I spent many an hour there, drinking beer and playing pinball while my classes carried on without me.
What, exactly, is meant by “skipping school”? I missed most of 8th grade due to a vague lingering illness (i guess you’d call it chronic fatigue syndrome now) but i had permission. My friend used to take her kids out of school for a week to go to Disney world. The school wasn’t thrilled, but there was no secret about it. Do you only mean the child choosing to skip something on their own with no official excuse? Or something broader?
The only time I ever skipped school was in 5th or 6th grade, when my dad took got me excused from school for a Friday, so that we could go on a three-day camping/fishing weekend with my uncle and cousin.
I was shocked to learn that this was actually allowed! I was a rules-following little kid, and would have never even considered the idea of skipping school; obviously, I never skipped school of my own volition.
To me “skipping school” means choosing not to go. Which I guess means it was my choice, not anyone else’s (like a parent’s). It certainly doesn’t include times when I was unable to go (e.g. due to illness).
For that poll question, I was unsure whether higher education (i.e. college) was included. In college, I would have spoken of “skipping class” rather than “skipping school.”
Yeah, to me “skipping school” means choosing not to go, without some excuse like being sick, and without permission from one’s parents and teachers.
I missed the last week or so of first grade for a family trip, but my parents cleared it with teacher beforehand. So I didn’t count it because it was my parents’ idea, and they got permission from the school, and voted that I never skipped school. (Normally they would have just planned the trip after school was out, but my dad was attending a conference in Maine that week and decided to just bring the whole family along and combine it with our vacation.)
By that standard I didn’t skip kindergarten, either. I told my mother I was sick, and that’s what she told the school.
My mother was a night person who wasn’t very awake that early in the morning. Eventually, my father caught on, and had a Very Serious Talk with me about not taking advantage of my mother before she had her coffee.
If college counts, I sure skipped a lot of that, though, once I realized that I could. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have gone; at least, not without taking some time off first.
I used to bring home gifts for our little boys when I went on business trips, but over time just got out of that habit. Part of the problem was that it got harder and harder to find suitable gifts.
I’ve seen a lot of Shakespeare plays live over the years, including a memorable stretch in late 1985 when I was on a semester abroad in London, and saw Troilus and Cressida with Roger Rees and Othello with Ben Kingsley, among others. I’ve also seen several National Theatre simulcasts, including Benedict Cumberpatch in an awesome performance as Hamlet. I was only ever in one Shakespeare play myself, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in high school; I played Oberon (and not that well). My favorite plays of the Bard’s: Midsummer, Henry V and Macbeth.
I say “kitty corner,” but I’ve certainly heard the alternative before.
Don’t think I ever skipped school, although I sure was tempted now and then. Every time I missed a class it was with permission IIRC.
My late wife and her father, a retired high school drama teacher, used to go to Ashland Oregon every year to see plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I believe I’ve seen 23 different Shakespearean plays, although I may be off by one or two. I saw some great performances there. One of my favorites was Cymbeline, which gets little attention these days, but I found it very entertaining. It has by far the most complex plot of any of his plays.
I was only counting the times I skipped school without my mother’s knowledge, not the times I faked illness well enough to fool her and she called to excuse me. If I counted those, then it would have been a lot more frequent.
Every one of my absences was excused, whether it was due to illness or because my parents pulled me out for traveling (very rare) or another event (also rare).
I think I may have had only got a certificate for perfect attendance once or twice in elementary school, before I got the “joy” of my first period, which got counted as illness, due to cramps.
When I got braces, my mother instructed the orthodontist to schedule me for adjustments outside the school day. No exceptions. Other students would have appointments in the middle of the day, but not me. Even when I got the braces, and when I got them off, I was the first appointment of the day.
In high school I had to walk 3/4 mile with my little brother and sister to get the school bus. Maybe once a month the three of us would agree to miss the bus. We’d walk slowly then turn around and walk back home.
Senior year I was yearbook photographer. My reputation was excellent, teachers liked me. So I would skip a class here and there, saying I was supposed to take pictures.
I missed a lot of school as a kid. “Skipping” is a nebulous idea, I was often feeling ill or mentally off. I got genuinely sick a lot, but some of it it was probably psychological. My Mom on more than one occasion got letters from the school. She thought it was stupid to force me to go because I was a straight-A student.
My senior year of high school was incredibly difficult. I legally emancipated at 17 and had to pay many living expenses on my own, with a full-time job on top of school, and my life was falling apart at the same time. I would often sit in the bathroom or the cafeteria rather than attend class. I had no parental oversight so my absences got out of hand. I did get a letter saying if I missed any more school, I wouldn’t graduate. (I was slated to graduate Salutatorian, so not graduating was a big deal to me.) So I sucked it up and attended for the rest of the year, including Senior Skip Day.
My attendance issues did not improve in college. I mean they didn’t even take attendance for the big lectures so I would miss months and eventually I had to withdraw from college and get my shit together before I returned and finished.
Even today, attendance at work is a struggle. I fortunately have a very flexible job, so they don’t care all that much about me being in a certain place at a certain time. I don’t know exactly what’s wrong with me, but it’s probably some combination of depression and ADHD. I internalize my stress and it manifests as physical ailments, I guess.