William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare
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HOW IT ALL BEGAN

• Over 400 years ago, young William Shakespeare
  left Stratford-upon-Avon for London.
• The city was noisy, dangerous and probably very
  smelly as there were no drains in those days.
  There was only one bridge across the Thames at
  that time, so the river was full of sailing
  ships. The narrow streets were full of traders
  and travelling players, juggling, fire-eating and
  performing plays.

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The Theatre

• There were several playhouses in London and
  one of them, called the Theatre, was popular with
  none other than Queen Elizabeth I. It was at the
  Theatre that Shakespeare began his acting career
  and started to write plays. It's highly probable
  that The Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet and
  some other plays by Shakespeare were performed
  for the first time on this stage

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The Globe

• Very soon, however, the actors were told that
  they could no longer use the land that their
  theatre was built on. The landlord had refused to
  renew the contract. The company had nowhere else
  to perform. Rumour has it that in the dead of
  night the whole acting troop took down their
  theatre, timber by timber, brick by brick. They
  carried it across the river where they rebuilt it
  in its new home in Southwark. They called it the
  Globe to celebrate the new age of discovery and
  invention.

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SHAKESPEARE'S THEATRE

• Shakespeare's Globe was rather different from
  modern theatres. The plays were performed in the
  open air and the audience got wet if it rained.
• There was no scenery, very few props, and the
  only lighting was the daylight that came from the
  open roof above. So most plays were given in the
  afternoon.
• Women in those days weren't allowed to act in
  public and all the parts (even Juliet!) were
  played by men.
• Much of the audience stood to watch the
  performance and moved around, talking with each
  other and throwing fruit at the stage if they
  didn't like something.

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• When a new play was to be performed the flag was
  hoisted, the trumpet sounded .
• Enthusiastic citizens would generally send their
  servants two or three hours before to keep seats
  for them. Few women, except those of the lowest
  classes, attended public theatres in Elizabeth's
  time. If a lady went to see a performance, she
  wore a mask.

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THE GLOBE TODAY

• Today, after almost 400 years, the Globe Theatre
  has been opened to the public again. The
  architects who have worked on the building
  believe the new theatre is as close to the
  original as it is possible to be.
• Shows at the new Globe are staged in much the
  same way as they were then with no scenery,
  spotlights or microphones. And, as in
  Shakespeare's time, the crowd is free to join in,
  calling out to the actors and getting involved in
  the story.

Othello
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• Women now play on the stage of the Globe, but on
  special occasions you can experience
  Shakespeare's plays the way his audience would
  have an all-male performance in original
  clothing and without interval.
• If it rains, however, you'll be given a rain hat
  so that you wouldn't get wet to the skin.

Juliet
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Did you know
that?

• William Shakespeare left the Grammar school where
  he had studied when he was 13 and never went to
  school again.
• John Shakespeare, the great playwright's father,
  couldn't write.
• Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays, but only 18
  of them were published in his lifetime and the
  first 8 didn't even carry his name.
• Shakespeare usually wrote for a specific group of
  actors, and as they grew older he wrote plays
  with older characters to suit them.

Hamlet