Shakespeare? Make it so

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Patrick Stewart

Patrick Stewart is giving daily readings of William Shakespeare's sonnets to help people through the coronavirus lockdown.

The Star Trek: Picard star, 79, who cut his teeth as an actor with Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company, posted a video of himself reading out the legendary playwright and poet's Sonnet 116 on Instagram over the weekend.

He later revealed he was so pleased with the reaction from fans he will make a daily recording, starting with Sonnet 1.

"I was delighted by the response to my posting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116," he captioned a video of him reading the verse. "It has led me to undertake what follows.

"When I was a child in the 1940s, my mother would cut up slices of fruit for me (there wasn't much) and as she put it in front of me she would say: 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away.' How about, 'A sonnet a day keeps the doctor away'? So...here we go: Sonnet 1."

The star then proceeded to read the poem, which begins: "From fairest creatures we desire increase/That thereby beauty's rose might never die/But as the riper should by time decease/His tender heir might bear his memory."

Patrick followed up on Monday night by performing Sonnet 2, a meditation on how quickly youth passes and making the most of life, which the veteran actor declared "one of my favorites".

People across the world have been advised not to leave their homes due to the spread of the coronavirus, with many stars trying to help their fans through difficult times by entertaining them on social media.