William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare

• His Life and Times

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Elizabethan England

• Elizabeth I reigned 1558-1603
• Very well-educated, patron of the arts (theatre,
  poetry), sonnet-writer
• Father King Henry VIII, mother Anne Boleyn
• Protestant and Catholic tensions

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Shakespeares Early Life

• William Shakespeare born April 23(?), 1564, in
  Stratford-Upon-Avon.
• Parents John Shakespeare, a glover, leather
  merchant, alderman, and high bailiff and Mary
  Arden, land heiress.

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• Educated at Stratfords free grammar school
• Time spent there unknown, but would have learned
  Latin and Classical Greek
• Did not continue to university

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Shakespeares Family

• 1582- Married Anne Hathaway, 28, when he was 18
• 1582- Daughter Susanna born
• 1585- Twins Hamnet and Judith born
• No records of Shakespeare for the
• next seven years.

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Shakespeare in London
If we actually went back to the London of the
16th and 17th centuries we should find a largely
wood-built, smelly, plague-ridden city bursting
with a population explosion. -A.N. Wilson
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• 1588- Estimated arrival in London
• 1592- established as a successful actor and
  playwright.
• 1592- referred to as an upstart crow by a
  critic
• 1594- Acted and wrote for acting company, the
  Lord Chamberlains Men (later called the Kings
  Men), which also included actors Will Kempe and
  Richard Burbage.
• Became very popular with both royalty and the
  theatre-going public.

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• Before the reign of Elizabeth, no
  specifically-designed theatre building in
  England.
• Acting companies toured the country, performed in
  makeshift performance spaces.
• Laws passed to control wandering beggars actors
  affected.
• Actors without noble patronage could not tour.
• Many companies settled in permanent places in
  London.
• First permanent theatres were old inns.

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Characteristics of Elizabethan Theatre

• All-male cast (women were not allowed on stage
  until the Restoration)
• Elaborate costumes
• Simple sets

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• 1576- first specifically-designed theatre built
  by actor James Burbage.
• Named The Theatre
• Burbages sons tore down the Theatre, moved to a
  different site, and used the timber to build the
  Globe Theatre.

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The Globe Theatre

• Built 1599
• Rough circular shape- 20-sided polygon
• Open roof
• Whoever could afford to see plays could come

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• 1613- the Globe caught fire during a performance
  of Henry VIII and burned to the ground.
• 1614- Rebuilt
• 1642- torn down during Cromwells rule
• 1997- a replica of the Globe opened in London

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The Last Years

• By 1608, spent less time on dramatic production,
  more time in Stratford.
• Bought a house for his family, named New Place
• Became a leading citizen of Stratford.
• Died April 23(?), 1616.