Jumping into THE PLUMMET with Both Iambic Feet
On Tuesday, 6 January, 2026 we held the first gathering of THE PLUMMET, our weekly, ongoing, online Shakespeare study group, and it was a true joy, on top of being a success.
What was intended as an open, free introductory session quickly became something much richer: a room full of curious, engaged minds meeting Shakespeare with seriousness, generosity, humor, and real appetite for knowledge.
We began by talking about Richard II broadly — what people already knew, what they suspected, what they’d never quite resolved — and from there moved into reading Act 1, Scene 1 aloud together.
We then began our line-by-line exploration of the text and made it only three lines into the play — and it was fascinating. Lively. Revelatory. The kind of work where language suddenly sharpens, motives clarify, and dramatic intention starts to emerge in ways that feel both surprising and obvious at the same time. It was one of those evenings that reminds you just how much Shakespeare rewards patience and collective attention.
I’m deeply grateful to everyone who showed up with openness and curiosity, and especially to those who enjoyed the work enough to commit to continuing it with us. THE PLUMMET is now fully underway — and it remains open.
New participants are welcome to join at any time, even if we’ve already begun working through the play, and the first session may still be audited for free. This is not a race through the text; it’s a shared practice of discovery, and there is room to enter wherever you are.
If this kind of living, breathing engagement with Shakespeare excites you — if you’ve ever wished for the time and space to really get inside the work — you’re warmly invited to join us.
