Why Shakespeare and Star Trek?

Patrick Stewart joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and appeared in more than 60 of its productions before he ever commanded a starship. On the Next Generation set he was known for his stage discipline. In 2020, during lockdown, he read all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets online, one a day, starting on 22 March.

Picard quotes Hamlet to Q in "Hide and Q", coaches Data through Henry V in "The Defector", and gives Data a volume of Shakespeare as a parting gift in "The Measure of a Man". The line between bridge and stage was always thin.

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