WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564 – 1616)

1. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE(1564 – 1616) “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players...”

2. YOUNG WILL * Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, almost 450 years ago. * Father was a glove-maker and trader. * One of 8 children, 2 of whom died as infants. * Learned Latin and Greek, memorized poems and plays, and studied history in grammar school. All of his classmates were boys.

3. WILL, THE FAMILY GUY * Married Ann Hathaway at age 18. She was 26. * They remained married for 34 years, although Will spent most of his time away. * They had 3 children: Susanna and twins Hamnet & Judith. * In his will, Shakespeare left Ann his “second-best bed.”

4. WILL’S EXCELLENT LONDONTOWNADVENTURES * Will left for London to find work to support his family. * The city’s crowded, unsanitary conditions attracted disease-spreading rats. * London Bridge was the only way across the smelly, polluted Thames.

5. THE SHOW MUST GO ON! * Yet with all the smell, noise, crime, and sickness, there was music in the air and actors everywhere. * Plays were a popular afternoon entertainment.

6. QUEEN LIZ * Queen Elizabeth I loved music, dance, poetry and plays. She was a patron to the arts. * Elizabeth often had to be carried about because her bejeweled dresses weighed as much as 200 pounds! * She never married.

7. LET’S PLAY! Traveling actors set up stages wherever they could – at village inns, on the streets of London, in fine homes, or in parks.

8. Now In the ring * Also popular with the crowds were wrestling matches, cock fights, and a cruel sport called animal baiting, where bears or bulls defended themselves against packs of fierce dogs. * The rings in which these diversions took place became the model for the stages of the time.

9. THE PLAY’S THE THING * Early playhouses were circular, like animal-baiting arenas, with a center platform stage and a thatched open roof. * Each playhouse had its own playwright and its own acting company. * When Will arrived in London, the top playhouses were The Theatre, The Rose and The Swan.

10. WILL GOES PRO * Eventually, Will joined The Theatre as an actor and playwright. * The Theatre’s actors were called Lord Chamberlain’s Men. They were the most popular of all of London’s acting companies. * Will wrote parts with these actors in mind.

11. SHOW GIRLS In Elizabethan times (during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I), it was considered improper for a woman to work as an actress or appear on the stage. Therefore, the roles of women and girls were performed by young male actors.

12. * Audiences loved Will’s plays. They squeezed into the Theatre with food to eat – or throw, if they didn’t like the play. Many were drunk on ale (hey, the water was polluted!). * Will’s major competitor was Christopher Marlowe at the Rose Theatre. He, too, was a great talent. But Marlowe was killed in at brawl at the age of 29.

13. During his first nine years in London, Will wrote 16 plays, including many of his best-known comedies and tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Comedy of Errors, Richard III, and more.

14. ENTER:DEATH * The bubonic plague – also known as “the Black Death” – swept through London twice during Will’s career, killing 25% of Londoners each time. * At the time, people thought the disease was caused by bad smells – “miasma.”

15. SHUT DOWN! Because many feared that crowded places helped spread disease, all theatres were shut down from 1593-94. * Will wasted no time. During those years, he wrote several plays and two long poems. * He dedicated the poems to a young nobleman, the Earl of Southampton, who became Will’s patron.

16. SHOW STOPPER Three years later, the man who owned the land on which the Theatre was built refused to renew the lease. The Burbage family, who owned the Theatre itself, arranged to dismantle the building, board by board, and float it across the Thames River under cover of darkness.

17. Opening night… * By mid-1599, the new Globe Theatre opened to instant success. * Up to 3000 fans packed into “the house with a thatched roof” at a time. * “Groundlings” paid just a penny to stand in the yard beneath the open roof. When it rained, they got wet.

18. The yard – standing only with open roof; admission: 1 penny “Groundlings” Galleries with benches; 2 pennies d. Gentlemen’s rooms; 3 pennies e. Two-penny rooms Heaven – “gods" could be lowered from door g. Hell – actors could rise h. Musicians’ gallery i. Lord’s Room; 6 pennies Dressing rooms behind wall Hut – with real cannon L. Flag means play is on m. Thatched roof L m k f i h e d d e j c g a b

19. THE BARD OF AVON Although Shakespearean language is difficult to us today, Elizabethans who loved the poetic verse Will wrote. He became known as “The Bard of Avon.” (A bard is a lyric poet; “Avon” refers to his birthplace.)

20. Neither rhyme nor reason schoolboy mind’s eye Language was changing quickly during Will’s time, and has developed even more since then. Today, we use hundreds of the almost 2000 expressions Will invented. Pomp and circumstance moonbeam To thine own self be true Double, double, toil and trouble tower of strength soft-hearted EXPRESS YOURSELF wild-goose chase hot-blooded seen better days too much of a good thing

21. Up in smoke * On June 29, 1613, the Globe Theatre burned down during a performance of Henry VIII, when a spark from the cannon accidentally set fire to the thatched roof. * Though one man’s pants caught on fire, the flames were doused with a splash of ale from a fellow theatregoer. * In an hour, the glorious Globe burned to the ground.

22. REBIRTH – ALL OVER AGAIN! Within a year, a second Globe was built on the original foundation. This time, the builders included a tile roof.

23. James I took the throne after Queen Elizabeth died. He supported plays and the arts even more than she had. He became a patron to Will and his players, who were now called The King’s Men. Meanwhile, another playwright came to the forefront: Ben Johnson. He was Will’s competition, but the two men were good friends. NEW PATRON

24. * Will wrote plays for the Globe for 12 productive years. * The Globe Theatre prospered, and so did he. * But there was sadness, too; Will’s only son, Hamnet, died in at age 11. * In 1603, Queen Elizabeth died too. * Eventually, Will bought New Place, the “second-finest house in Stratford.” He and his family moved back to the countryside for good.

25. QUIET DAYS In the quiet of Stratford, Will wrote his last plays. He commissioned the creation of a family crest so that he could legally be called a “gentleman” and include that title after his name. The crest included a falcon and a silver-tipped golden spear. The family motto was "Non sanzdroict" or "Not without right."

26. …or not to be * After Will retired to Stratford, his daughter Susanna married and gave birth to Will’s only granddaughter. The young family moved into New Place with Will and Ann. * “The Bard of Avon” died on April 26, 1616 – his 52nd birthday. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” The Tempest

27. The end… In 1642, the ultra-conservative religious group known as the Puritans took power in England and closed all of the theatres in London. They feared that the entertainment offered there would spread immorality. The Globe was demolished in 1644 to make way for new buildings.

28. ENCORE! In 1977, an American-born actor named Sam Wanamaker began a determined crusade to rebuild an exact replica of the Globe near the theatre’s original site. He died four years before his dream was realized. The new Globe Theatre opened on June 12, 1997.

29. “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.” - From As You Like It