Patrick Stewart Reads Shakespeare Via Social Media to Calm Nerves Amid Coronavirus Standstill

Patrick Stewart is doing his part to help distract and calm fans during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The iconic Star Trek star — and classically trained actor — has been reading sonnets from the works of William Shakespeare to his more than 3.3 million followers. 

“I was delighted by the response to yesterday’s posting of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, and it has led me to undertake what follows,” Stewart wrote Sunday with a new video. “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.” 

A number of people responded to the videos, telling Stewart his voice had a calming effect on their psyche during such a stressful time. 

Stewart is among the growing number of actors and musicians who are doing what they can to help make the pandemic time more bearable. 

Most recently, Neil Diamond rearranged his classic “Sweet Caroline” to encourage persistent handwashing and social distancing. 

In the Star Trek realm, William Shatner has been doing daily captain’s log entries as James T. Kirk, much to fans’ delight. 

Watch Stewart’s readings below. 

pic.twitter.com/dA92uM4Hr3

— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 21, 2020

2. 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. pic.twitter.com/kDoMNhdqcI

— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 22, 2020