Patrick Stewart reads Shakespeare sonnets in soothing baritone to calm nerves amid coronavirus pandemic
While most people are wondering how to entertain themselves while self-quarantining during the coronavirus pandemic, some celebrities like Patrick Stewart have decided to soothe the frazzled nerves.
Stewart, famously known for his role as Jean-Luc Picard in the 'Star Trek' franchise, has been reading sonnets from the works of William Shakespeare to his 3.3 million followers. After an overwhelming response to his video on March 22, Stewart decided to spread some more joy in troubled times.
In a tweet, Stewart wrote along with a new video, "I was delighted by the response to yesterday's posting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, and 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."
Fans were overjoyed with this reading and flooded the post with comments. One fan wrote, "Dear Mr. Stewart. Thanks for the sonnet. Wonderful."
Another tweeted, "Can we not just have a Patrick Stewart channel? I could quite happily listen to this from dawn 'till dusk."
One emotional fan wrote that Stewart reminded them of his father. "I adore you Sir Patrick! You remind me so so much of my father. I grew up watching all of Star Trek with him and it helped us to bond. He's a very big fan of yours. He, just last year, overcame hodgkin's lymphoma. His name is Charles Cumings," tweeted the fan.
"You. Are. Amazing. Thank you for sharing literature and art with that special Patrick Stewart flair. My family and I are stuck home all day and this is such a treat. Thank you," wrote another fan.
"I adore this. You read Shakespeare so beautifully," a fan tweeted.
Patrick Stewart's show 'Star Trek: Picard' airs on CBS-All Access every Thursday at 12 am. The finale of the show will air this week.