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Shakespeare
“To be, or not to be: that is the question.”
William Shakespeare has undeniably left behind him a legacy of
plays and poems that have not only been enjoyed by millions, but
shaped the English language into what we know today. This book
delves into the works of this legendary playwright, from his
histories, comedies and tragedies to his thought-provoking
sonnets. Discover the life and times of Shakespeare, Elizabethan
England and the theatre best known for showcasing his works:
The Globe. This book will also explore the impact that his works
have had on today’s world from the stage to the glitz of the silver
screen. Also inside are a number of copies of original documents
from Shakespeare’s time including Shakespeare’s will, an extract
from the First Folio, and posters for his plays.
Book of
Publishing Director
Aaron Asadi
Head of Design
Ross Andrews
Production Editor
Hannah Westlake
Written by
Catherine M S Alexander
Photographer
James Sheppard
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William Gibbons, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XT
Distributed in Australia by
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may not be reproduced, whether in whole or in part, without the prior written
consent of Carlton Publishing Limited. ©2016 Carlton Publishing Limited.
All About History Book of Shakespeare Second Edition © 2016 Imagine Publishing Ltd
Part of the
bookazine series
Contents
8 Introduction 54 The Comedies:
Catherine M. S. Alexander introduces Distorting the
William Shakespeare
conventions
Men, dressed as women, disguised as
10 The Elizabethan
men; his plays pushed the boundaries
Age: The court
Find out about the working of the
court whilst Elizabeth I was reigning
58 The Histories:
The first tetralogy
14 The Elizabethan The three parts of Henry VI and
Age: The country Richard III form the first tetralogy
Find out more about the national
turmoil that Shakespeare witnessed 62 The Histories:
18
The second tetralogy
18 Elizabethan
Stratford
From Henry VI to Henry V, his second
set of histories are explained
14 See Exhibit
sections
The hometown of the world’s greatest throughout
playwright explored 66 The Tragedies: the book
22 Shakespeare in The ill-fated heroes
Explore why Shakespeare often ended
Stratford
his plays cathartically
Discover Shakespeare’s home through
his life there
70 The Tragedies:
26 Shakespeare’s The fate of nations
London Find out more about how he explored
From a small town to the big city, more than personal devastation
what was London like in the 1500s?
74 The Tragedies:
30 Shakespeare’s The Roman plays
contemporaries Learn about the plays that take on a
Learn about some of the writers who
far more violent and bloody tone
were writing at the same time
6
Contents
104 Shakespeare
during the Restoration
How did his work fare after his death
in 1616?
128 Shakespeare
26 around the world
Explore how Shakespeare has become
a worldwide phenomenon
132 Shakespeare on
film: From curtain
calls to celluloid
Take the first step into the world of
Shakespeare beyond the stage
66 136 Shakespeare on
film: Stretching the
132 108 boundaries
Read as his plays are transported from
their usual settings into a new world
140 Shakespeare in
other media
Learn how Shakespeare’s works have
been utilised by opera, art and more
148 Shakespeare:
Rebel with a cause
Did Shakespeare hide codes and
double meanings in his work?
156 Timeline
Shakespeare, his contemporaries and
the nation during his lifetime
7
8
Introduction
INTRODUCING
THE BARD
William Shakespeare is the best-known dramatist in the world
and his plays, plots, characters and language have outlived their original
context of the Elizabethan and Jacobean playhouses
T
he playwright Ben Jonson, writing a almost mystical – meaning and appropriated
memorial verse for his friend in the First to support a range of political positions.
Folio of 1623, declared that Shakespeare Academics have subjected the works to a
was “The applause, delight, the wonder of remarkable variety of theoretical readings: new
our stage”, but added, “He was not of an and old historicism, feminism, Marxism,
age, but for all time”. He cannot have imagined, formalism, structuralism, psychoanalysis, cultural
however, that almost 400 years later Shakespeare’s materialism and so on. The Book of Shakespeare:
words would be read and performed in countries The Life, The Works, The Performances is less
unknown to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century concerned with the “why” of the Shakespeare
England and accessed through electronic media phenomenon or an analysis of its causes and
that communicate even faster than Robin efects than with providing an illustrated and
Goodfellow’s “girdle round the earth in 40 documented chronological record of his life
minutes”. Diferent ages have recognized diferent and work, beginning in sixteenth-century
strengths and skills in Shakespeare’s work: his Stratford and London and progressing to
plays have been appreciated, in Hamlet’s words, for the present day, charting developments in
their capacity to “hold… the mirror up to nature” in performance and proliferation over the ages and
the creation of character; many ind Shakespeare’s throughout the world.
memorable and original use of language his Shakespeare has inspired artists as diverse as
most remarkable skill; others have pointed to the William Blake and Pablo Picasso and inluenced
timeless quality of the narratives, and it is the the iction of Jane Austen, Anton Chekhov, Charles
plots which have crossed cultures to transfer so Dickens, Henrik Ibsen, Wole Soyinke and Oscar
successfully into ilms, ballets, operas, musicals Wilde among many other great igures. Sigmund
BELOW A
and cartoons. I was recently sent a postcard from Freud and Karl Marx wrote about Shakespeare ninteenth-
a colleague in Australia: a picture of a koala, eyes and Winston Churchill quoted him. But for most century frieze,
closed and chewing a eucalyptus leaf, that had people with an interest in Shakespeare, “the play’s attributed to the
Irish artist Daniel
the caption “‘To eat or to sleep, that is the question’, the thing” (to borrow Hamlet again) and much of Maclise, of some
William Shakesbear” – a ine example this book is concerned with performance. It draws of Shakespeare’s
of the distance that Hamlet, and Shakespeare, extensively on the work of the Royal Shakespeare characters. Among
them are Hamlet,
has travelled. Company, the unique group of actors, directors Tamora, Queen
Diferent ages, too, have sought to account and practitioners, whose high quality productions, of the Goths,
for Shakespeare’s dominance and endurance education and outreach activity aim to “keep Bottom (with ass’s
head) and Titania,
using their own cultural preoccupations: he has modern audiences in touch with Shakespeare as Petruccio and
been praised as a “natural genius”, upheld as the our contemporary”. Katherine, Romeo
representative igure of English cultural superiority and Juliet, Juliet’s
Nurse, Falstaf,
(the “national poet”), interrogated as a source of
and Desdemona
commercial capital, explored as a site of special – Catherine M. S. Alexander and Othello
9
Shakespeare
The Elizabethan
Age: The Court
Elizabeth I came to the throne at a time of great turmoil. Her father, Henry VIII,
had broken from the Roman Catholic Church, largely so that he could marry
Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mother. His son and successor, Edward VI, progressed
Protestantism rigorously, but died young and was succeeded by his half sister ABOVE Nicholas Hilliard was
responsible for some of the most
Mary, who attempted, often with great cruelty, to restore Catholicism inluential images of the Queen
Nicholas
Hilliard
c.1547–1618/19
Although Elizabeth
never appointed an
oicial court painter,
Hilliard was
associated with
Queen Elizabeth 1
from his irst portrait
of her in 1572. He was
a ine goldsmith as
well as a miniaturist
and produced jewels
and a locket adorned
with her image. The
precision – the
carefully crafted skill
E
lizabeth, a Protestant, needed to called “the theatre”. But the height of her skill ABOVE The of his work and the
Queen watches
calm the situation down, establish as a performer came 30 years later in the the lavish symbolic imagery
a religious peace and create public speech to her troops at Tilbury on 9 August entertainments that he employed,
devised by Robert
confidence in her ability to govern the 1588 – a magniicent soliloquy, in the face of Dudley, Earl
which he described
country. A skilful politician, one of her the threat from the Spanish Armada: of Leicester, at in his treatise The
Kenilworth Castle
weapons was a theatrical exaggeration of her “Wherefore I am come among you at this Arte of Limning,
in 1575
own persona. time but for my recreation and pleasure, being c.1600 – has been
From her coronation in 1558 onwards resolved in the midst and heat of the battle to compared with the
Queen Elizabeth was a remarkably theatrical live and die amongst you all, to lay down for art that Shakespeare
monarch. She responded verbally to the ive my God and my kingdom and for my people demonstrated in
pageants presented by Londoners as part of mine honour and my blood even in the dust. I his sonnets.
her progress from the Tower of London to the
ceremony, so that they became, uniquely, a
series of dialogues between Queen and
“ The coronation itself was performed
performers that was recorded like a play text.
The coronation itself was performed on a
on a raised stage in Westminster
raised stage in Westminster Abbey actually Abbey actually called ‘the theatre’”
10
The Elizabethan Age
INSET Nicholas
Hilliard’s Phoenix
Portrait with the
magniicently
dressed Queen
11
Shakespeare
12
The Elizabethan Age
“Until 1591 it was Elizabeth’s BELOW Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, is shown as a Knight of
the Order of the Garter, an honour he received from the Queen
in 1559
company, the Queen’s Men,
who dominated performances
in London and the court”
that irst surfaced in the early eighteenth
century suggests that the play was written at
royal command because Elizabeth wished to
see more of Falstaf – and to see him in love.
Equally conjectural, but rather appealing, is
the suggestion that some of Shakespeare’s
witty, powerful heroines, such as Beatrice,
relect the Queen’s theatrical personality.
Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, written around
1613, concludes with the christening of the
infant Elizabeth I. Thomas Cranmer, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, glowingly predicts
her glorious future (using the phoenix image
again), and speaks of her death: ABOVE Nicholas Hilliard
was responsible for some of
the most inluential images of
“But she must die – the Queen
She must, the saints must have her – yet
a virgin,
A most unspotted lily shall she pass Robert Dudley,
To th’ ground, and all the world shall Earl of Leicester, c.1532–88
mourn her.”
(Act 5, Scene 4) Dudley’s popularity with the Queen is evident in
the Earldom and lands that she gifted him and in
Shakespeare may well have witnessed the his position as one of her senior Councillors.
“mourning” that he described at Elizabeth’s Often described as one of Elizabeth’s suitors, he
funeral in London on 28 April 1603. The formal was as interested in the arts as in politics and was
procession of over 1,000 mourners patron of his own group of players – Leicester’s
accompanying the coin and a costumed ABOVE The gardens at Men – who performed in Stratford in the 1570s
eigy of the Queen was the inal theatrical act Nonsuch in Surrey were and ’80s. Some of Leicester’s Men eventually
laid out as an allegorical
of this most theatrical monarch, and was compliment to the formed the Queen’s Men.
watched by an audience of tens of thousands Queen’s virtues
of Londoners.
13
Shakespeare
The Elizabethan
C
learly shown are the rich
circumstances of his birth; his
education at Oriel College, Oxford;
travelling with his tutor in Italy;
14
The Elizabethan Age
of the staf required to support such a lifestyle It was during this period that many large
– the “middling sort” who were servants, country houses like Sir Henry’s were
stewards, nurses and musicians – the frequently built, on prime sites that had been
characters who people Shakespeare’s plays. vacated at the dissolution of the monasteries,
The households of Twelfth Night, the masques and were richly furnished and decorated. But
of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Love’s this was not the experience of many. It was a
BELOW A blind
Labour’s Lost, the nurse of Romeo and Juliet, period of signiicant social diferentiation and, man and his
and the servants from a range of dramas come put simply, the rich were getting richer and the dog from The
Roxburghe Ballads
from Unton’s stratiied world. poor were getting poorer at a faster rate than
15
Shakespeare
Education
In 2 Henry IV, Justice Shallow’s young
cousin William is to progress from
university to an Inn of Court, an
educational experience that parallels Sir
Henry Unton’s. Young gentlemen went to
one of the universities – Oxford or
Cambridge – when they were 15 or 16 (like
Christopher Marlowe, but not
Shakespeare or his friend Ben Jonson)
mainly to study theology, law or
medicine. The four Inns of Court – Gray’s
Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, Middle Temple and
Inner Temple – in London also taught law
and wider accomplishments, such as
music and dancing, and their halls were
used for performances. It is estimated
that 50 per cent of London men were
literate, but the national igure was much
lower and away from the city and large
houses few women were educated.
Shakespeare’s wife and his daughter
Judith, for example, used a mark rather
than a signature to sign their names.
ever before. Eighty or so miles away from the additional breaks at Easter, Whitsun and
city and the court of London, and north of Sir Christmas. Most importantly, life was
Henry’s estates in Wadley, life in Stratford in regulated by and dependent on the farming
the heart of the Midlands was very diferent, year, with poor harvests and disease adding
as indeed it was for the majority – perhaps as problems of famine and poverty to work that
ABOVE In this woodcut, also much as 90 per cent of the population – who was already physically arduous. These
from The Roxburghe Ballads,
a family is shown enjoying were country dwellers and workers. country communities were largely self-
the feasting that frequently The countryside around villages and towns suicient, with the manufacturing of textiles
occurred throughout
would be unrecognizable today. Before the and household goods still being carried out on BELOW Farm
Shakespeare’s plays
labourers clear the
enclosures that created parcels of privately a domestic basis rather than as larger scale soil and prepare it
owned land it was characterized by great, industrial activities. for planting
open, unhedged ields and common pastures.
Before the mechanization of agriculture, whole
families and communities worked in the ields.
The pattern of their working day was regulated
by the sun (the hours of daylight); their
working year by the church, with 23
designated feast days (“holy” days) and
Pastimes
Many popular pastimes of the period are evident in
Shakespeare’s plays: the hunting in As You Like It, the falconry
that provides the “taming” analogies of Shrew, and the fencing
that is essential to the tragic plot of Romeo and Juliet or used
Some elements of this agricultural life, ABOVE Christ comically in The Merry Wives of Windsor. More common
Church, founded
where sheep outnumbered people by three to by Cardinal activities, shared by women and children, were the feasting,
one, may be seen in the “pastoral” scenes of Wolsey in 1525, drinking, dancing and music that occur throughout the canon,
was the foremost
The Winter’s Tale and the Arden scenes in As theatrical college
often in codiied forms, and marked the church, civic and
You Like It, the former celebrating country life of sixteenth- farming calendars.
with sheep-shearing feasts and the latter, century Oxford.
Its hall was used
while humorous and romantic, well aware of for performances
the dangers and threats to rural livelihoods. for royal visitors
to the city and the
The shepherd Corin’s description of his rural dramatist George
life, in response to the goading of the court- Peele studied
there, returning
dweller Touchstone, was typical of many: in 1583 to direct
William Gager’s
“Sir, I am a true labourer. I earn that I eat, Latin plays
17
Shakespeare
Elizabethan
T
hen he listed the most imposing
features of the town: the Trinity (more
accurately the Guild) Chapel that
Stratford
was built by Hugh Clopton, a Lord
Mayor of London; Clopton’s grand
house; the grammar school on the south
side of the Chapel that was established by
Thomas Jollife, a university teacher born
When the antiquary John Leland visited Warwickshire in the 1540s
in Stratford; the alms houses and the bridge
he travelled south from Warwick to Barford and Charlecote and then across the Avon that was also built by
arrived in Stratford, which he described carefully: Hugh Clopton. So it was a small town with
“The town of Stratford occupies a level site on the right bank or side some distinguished buildings and some
distinguished inhabitants. There were about
of the Avon, as one goes downstream. It has two or three very large
200 families in all – a population of perhaps
streets, and back lanes besides. Of the main streets one leads from east 1,000 people – although it is diicult to be
to west and another from south to north. The buildings are timber, and precise at this period. There was a general
of reasonable quality. The town belongs to the Bishop of Worcester. On move from country to town, but disease was
prevalent: it is estimated that 10 per cent of
Holy Rood Day, 14 September, each year a great fair is held. The large
Stratford’s inhabitants died of lu or typhus
parish church, which stands at the south end of the town, is a fine piece in 1558–9, and about 16 per cent died of the
of architecture.” plague in 1564, the year of Shakespeare’s
18
Elizabethan Stratford
19
Shakespeare
20
Elizabethan Stratford
agriculture beneited from the Avon’s regular ABOVE A nineteenth-century view of Shakespeare’s school (King
Edward VI’s Grammar School) with the Guild Chapel to its left
looding. Predominantly Protestant, wealthy,
landowning families had homes in this area
and it was here that the grain, the basis of
Stratford’s successful malting and brewing
industry, was grown.
The 1553 Charter of Incorporation
established the administration of Stratford,
creating a Corporation of aldermen and
burgesses – largely the senior tradesmen –
whose responsibilities included the grammar
school and the Guild Chapel. In 1564,
the Corporation ordered the defacement
of images in the Chapel, probably to
demonstrate the Protestant allegiance of
the town.
The Clopton
This was the year of Shakespeare’s birth –
ABOVE Baddesley Clinton, to the north of Stratford, still has
three priest-holes where Catholics hid from persecution
family
in a small market town in the Midlands not
Hugh Clopton, Lord Mayor of
in itself of great signiicance yet nonetheless BELOW The Clopton Bridge, over the Avon, improved travel and London in 1491, built
relecting national events. contributed to the prosperity of Stratford
Stratford’s grandest house,
New Place, which Shakespeare
bought in 1597. Shakespeare’s
father, John, was a tenant of
land owned by Sir William
Clopton in Hampton Lucy.
Clopton House, the family
home on the outskirts of
Stratford, was used as a base
by Ambrose Rookwood, one
of the Gunpowder Plot
conspirators in 1605. He
was eventually captured
and executed.
21
Shakespeare
22
Shakespeare in Stratford
Shakespeare
BELOW The memorial tablet to
Shakespeare’s actor brother Edmond that can
be found in Southwark Cathedral
in Stratford
William Shakespeare, the third of eight children and the first boy, was born
in 1564 and baptised on 26 April in Holy Trinity Church. His birthday is Shakespeare’s seven
traditionally set three days earlier, assuming the usual delay between birth brothers and sisters
and baptism. April 23 is also, conveniently, St George’s Day, thus creating a
Joan 1558–?60
patriotic elision between national saint and national playwright
Margaret 1562–3
H
Gilbert 1566–1612
is mother, Mary Arden, was from having irst gone to a “petty school” for his
(became a haberdasher)
a prosperous farming family at basic education. At the King’s New School,
Wilmcote, a village just outside he would have learned Latin, encountered Joan, 1569–1646 |
Stratford, and his father, John, was classical plays and stories and learnt to write (survived her husband, William Hart, a
a glover, tanner and wool-dealer in letters, speeches and arguments. The scene hatter, by 30 years and lived in the
the town. John was also a member of the in The Merry Wives of Windsor, when the “Birthplace” in Henley Street)
Corporation, becoming Bailif (the equivalent young William recites his Latin lesson, may Ann, 1571–9
of Mayor) in 1568. It was while he held this well relect personal experience. Richard 1574–1613
oice, which included the responsibility for The family home in Henley Street (now Edmond 1580–1607
licensing visiting actors, that the Queen’s Men known as Shakespeare’s Birthplace) was (an actor who was buried in Southwark,
and Worcester’s Men performed in Stratford also the centre of his father’s business with where there is a fine memorial in
for the irst time. workshops on the ground loor for preparing the Cathedral)
John Shakespeare’s position would also and working animal skins. The hygienic
have enabled William to attend the grammar disposal of domestic and commercial waste
BELOW “Hewlands”,
school, probably when he was about eight, was frequently a problem at this time and now known as Anne
Hathaway’s Cottage, was
the childhood home of
Latin, encountered
classical plays and stories”
23
Shakespeare
records show that John was ined for making and one of seven children from a farming
a dunghill in the street rather than using the family in Shottery just outside Stratford) was
authorized facilities. pregnant. Shakespeare, at 18, was technically
It is likely that Shakespeare left school a minor and Anne was eight years older.
when he was 15, and perhaps he then helped Their daughter Susanna was born in May the
in his father’s business, but it is the absence following year and their twins, Judith and
of evidence during this period – sometimes Hamnet, early in 1585.
called “the lost years” – that has contributed Despite the quantity of contemporary
to a number of myths and controversies. evidence that Shakespeare wrote his plays,
It has been suggested that he worked as it is the lack of hard information about the
a schoolmaster in the country, that he missing years, coupled with the apparent
was with a Catholic family in Lancashire, ordinariness of his life, that has fuelled the
that he had joined an acting company or controversy about authorship. A desire to
travelled abroad, and that he had to leave make the playwright exceptional, preferably
Stratford in a hurry having been caught metropolitan and upper class or, at the very
deer-poaching in Charlecote Park. He was, least, university educated, has led some
however, back in town in November 1582. to propose a vast conspiracy and suggest
On 27 November, a licence from the Bishop alternative authors for the plays: Sir Francis
of Worcester permitted his marriage and Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, the 17th Earl
was followed by a special bond the next day. of Oxford and even Queen Elizabeth I.
There is some confusion or even irregularity Such claims tend to reveal more about the
here: Anne is named “Whately” rather than proposers of these theories than they do
“Hathaway” in the licence that also allowed about Shakespeare.
a speedy marriage after just one reading of
the banns. The wrong name may be a simple
error, while the haste may relect the fact
“A desire to make him exceptional,
that Anne Hathaway (born in 1555 or ’56, led some to propose a conspiracy”
24
The Exhibits
ITEM 1
Shakespeare’s Baptism Record
The registration of William Shakespeare’s
baptism in the parish register, which took place
on 26 April 1564 in Holy Trinity Church
25
Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s
London
The writer Robert Greene’s famously disparaging reference to
Shakespeare as “the upstart crow” in A Groatsworth of Wit helps place
the playwright firmly in London by 1592, but it is likely that he had ABOVE Robert Greene was notorious for his
appearance as well as his writing. In this
arrived a couple of years earlier and while he would eventually perform posthumously published picture he is shown
in his winding sheet, still writing after death
at court it was not the city of the royal palaces of Westminster, Whitehall
and St James that he first encountered Robert Greene
c.1560–92
H
e lived and worked on the south also contained the prisons and the smelliest Greene was a proicient writer in
bank of the Thames in the Liberty trades – tanning, soap-making and brewing. many styles and genres, with a
of the Clink. The Liberties were a The whole city was busy and growing fast; it colourful private life, who may have
curious administrative anomaly: once was crowded and frequently unruly. The collaborated with Shakespeare on
monastic lands, at the Dissolution original walled city, with its Westminster the early Henry VI plays. His prose
of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, power base, was illing up and overspilling work Pandosto is the source story for
they ceased to have any clear jurisdiction with vagrants, vagabonds, former soldiers and The Winter’s Tale, although it has an
and remained free of the control of the sailors, discharged servants, orphans and element of incest that is more
civil authorities. They became the city’s refugees. There were frequent attempts at salacious than in Shakespeare’s play.
playgrounds, areas of somewhat dubious population control, including restrictions on His autobiographical writings tell of
reputation, and the site of hundreds of new building and the conversion of old London’s lowlife and he was said by
inns, bowling alleys, pits for bull-baiting, buildings into tenement dwellings. Shortages his contemporary, Gabriel Harvey, to
bear-baiting and cockighting, brothels and of fuel, bread and water, and outbreaks of have died from a surfeit of pickled
purpose-built theatres. The south bank area bubonic plague, added to the tension, but at herrings and Rhenish wine.
26
Shakespeare’s London
LEFT A map
of the Cities of
London and
Westminster,
drawn
in 1563 by
William Darton
“The whole
city was busy
and growing
ABOVE William Herbert, RIGHT Philip Herbert, 4th fast; it was
3rd Earl of Pembroke, was
an important patron of
Shakespeare and possibly
Earl of Pembroke, like his
brother William (above) was
a great patron of the arts.
crowded and
the “Mr W. H.” to whom the
Sonnets are dedicated
The First Folio is dedicated
to them both
frequently unruly”
27
Shakespeare
28
Shakespeare’s London
contemporaries
was the hugely popular prose romance
Rosalynde by Thomas Lodge that was
published in 1590. Lodge was one of
the inluential “University Wits”
It does a disservice to the writers of the Elizabethan age to identify them (Lodge, Lyly and Peele from Oxford;
Greene, Marlowe and Nash from
simply as Shakespeare’s contemporaries and in some way just an adjunct
Cambridge) who are credited with the
to the Great Man. In this remarkable period of literary talent, there were introduction of a sophisticated,
dramatists, poets and prose writers who were as prolific and as skilled versatile style of drama during the
as Shakespeare and whose reputations equalled or exceeded his. Of 1590s. Shakespeare’s addition of the
characters Touchstone, Corin and
this group of eminent writers, the lives of the following individuals can
Jaques to Lodge’s pastoral plot gives
be connected most explicitly with Shakespeare’s. He may also have the play a tougher, contemporary edge
borrowed or adapted their work, which was quite normal for the time as well as comedic range.
30
Shakespeare’s contemporaries
LONDON,
Printed by W. White, and are to be sold by I. White
and T. Langley at their Shop over against the
Sarazens head without New-gate. 1615
Christopher Marlowe
(1564–93)
32
Shakespeare’s contemporaries
34
The Exhibits
ITEM 3
Richard Quiney’s letter to
William Shakespeare asking for a loan
A letter, dated 25 October 1598, from his friend Richard Quiney to
William Shakespeare, which asks for help with a loan. Quiney’s father
had been friends with Shakespeare’s father, John, and so the two would
have known each other all their lives. Richard Quiney’s son, Thomas,
eventually married Shakespeare’s younger daughter Judith.
35
Shakespeare - The Exhibits
36
The Exhibits
37
Shakespeare
W
BELOW Johannes de hile records indentify the
Witt’s sketch of the
businessmen, such as Philip
Swan theatre (c.1596) is
important evidence of Henslowe, who built and
Elizabethan staging owned the new theatres and,
to a lesser extent, the actors
who performed in them, there is limited
evidence about their size, shape and
capacity, or the style of performances that
took place there. Until the remains of the
Rose Theatre were discovered in 1989,
followed shortly by the foundations of the
Globe, almost the only resource was the
sketch of the Swan made by a Dutch visitor,
Johannes de Witt, in about 1596 and copied
by his friend Aernout van Buchel.
The stage, probably about 1.7 m (5 ft) high,
projected into the almost circular theatre
with the “groundlings”, who paid 1d
admission, standing on three sides and the
rest of the audience, who paid 3d, seated in
three tiers of wooden seating. Two doors at
the rear of the stage provided entrances and
exits for the actors and there is likely to have
been an area between the doors – the
curtained disclosing space – that may have
been an additional acting space or a store.
Polonius may have been murdered behind
the arras here or Desdemona’s bed revealed.
Above the stage was a gallery, but its purpose
is uncertain. Some suggest that it was an
audience seating area, some that it was a
musicians’ gallery, others that it was part of
the performance space. The de Witt sketch of
the Swan shows a igure above the canopy
over the stage: perhaps he is touting for
custom (“Roll up, roll up!”) or he may be part
of the action. Stage directions in 1 Henry IV
and The Tempest indicate that a character
appears “on the top”. The area beneath the
stage, accessed by a trap, provided an
additional entrance – for the ghost in Hamlet,
say – or an exit for a descent into hell.
38
The Elizabethan stage
The main
London
theatres
NORTH OF
THE THAMES
Red Lion 1567 built by
John Brayne in Stepney.
Theatre 1576 built
by James Burbage
in Shoreditch.
Curtain 1577 built
by Henry Lanman
in Holywell.
Fortune 1600 built by
Philip Henslowe and
Edward Alleyn at St Giles
without Cripplegate.
SOUTH OF
THE THAMES
Rose 1587 built by
Henslowe on Bankside.
ABOVE Excavations of the site of the Rose theatre, BELOW The excavations of the Rose enabled
which was built in 1587, revealed the size and shape of conjectural reconstructions of the theatre, as seen Swan 1595 built
the auditorium and stage here in a sketch made in 1999
by Francis Langley
on Bankside.
Globe 1599
(Shakespeare’s theatre),
built by a syndicate from
the Chamberlain’s Men
using timbers from the
Theatre. It burnt down
in 1613 during a
performance of Henry VIII
and was re-built.
Hope 1613 built by
Henslowe in Bankside.
“ The stage projected into the almost circular, arena-style shape of the
theatres is shown here in a 1614
39
Shakespeare
40
The Elizabethan stage
Philip Henslowe
ABOVE Hamlet, here in Eugene 1555/6–1616
Delacroix’s painting of 1855, discovers
he has murdered Polonius, who was
eavesdropping behind a curtain. A Henslowe was an important and
curtain covered the “disclosing space” integral igure in the Elizabethan
at the back of the Elizabethan stage
theatre world, an impresario,
associated particularly with the
The stage was bare, although the pillars of day, location and mood. Clear identiication Admiral’s Men and the Rose theatre
supporting the canopy aforded two potential of character was important too, particularly as and perhaps, therefore, in
hiding, spying or overhearing places. one actor may have played two or three roles competition with Shakespeare’s
Furniture was sparse, probably little more than in a production. Audiences presumably had no company. His stepdaughter, Joan,
a bench, chairs or a throne and the plays diiculty with such conventions and without married the great actor Edward
needed very little in the way of stage expectations of realism were willing to use Alleyn (best known as the lead in
properties. Costume, on the other hand, was their imagination. Shakespeare sometimes Marlowe’s Jew of Malta,
lavish and very expensive. Dress conveyed used prologues to encourage such a Tamburlaine and Doctor Faustus)
status and relected Elizabethan sumptuary suspension of disbelief: the opening Chorus in with whom Henslowe collaborated
laws; a prescriptive code that determined who Henry V begs “Let us… on your imaginary in theatre projects. In 1619, Alleyn
was allowed to dress in speciic styles, colours forces work” and, referring directly to the founded Dulwich College that now
and fabrics. Servants who were bequeathed theatre, suggests: holds their papers, including
clothes by their masters sold them on to actors Henslowe’s Diary (part account
and Henslowe’s accounts show that a doublet Suppose within the girdles of these walls book, part business record) that is
for use on stage could cost as much as £3 and a Are now conined two mighty the most important resource of
gown up to £7. monarchies, theatre practice in the period.
Performances took place in daylight, in the Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
afternoon, and without the beneit of lighting The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder.
efects or stage scenery it was the text – the Piece out our imperfections with your
language of the play – that had to convey time thoughts.”
Prologue
41
Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s texts
Playwrights of Shakespeare’s period
seem to have had little interest in
the publication of their plays and
there was certainly no sense of
personal ownership or copyright
in the modern sense. Plays were
written primarily for performance,
not publication, and were the
property of the playing company
who purchased them and not the
individual dramatist
O
nly a small proportion of the plays
that were written and performed at
this time actually made it into print.
This may be a reflection of their poor
quality or, on the other hand, an
indication of the playing companies’ desire to
retain a monopoly of – and an audience for –
their valuable commodities.
About half of Shakespeare’s texts were
published during his lifetime in small, single
play, quarto editions. “Quarto” is the name
given to a book in which the printed page has
been folded twice, producing four leaves and
eight pages. Some Shakespearian quartos,
Quarto 1 Romeo and Juliet (1597), for example,
and Quarto 1 Hamlet (1603) appear to be have
been unauthorized and were quickly replaced
by a second, and often signiicantly diferent,
quarto – Quarto 2. The “bad” irst quartos may
be pirated editions of successful and popular
plays, the text re-created by disloyal actors or
audience members.
Shakespeare wrote his plays in longhand
and delivered them to the playhouse where
they would be prepared for performance.
Rather than creating multiple copies of the
complete text of the whole work, a lengthy and
time-consuming process, it is believed that cut
“cue scripts” were prepared for the actors,
giving just their own lines with the appropriate
speech cue. It may have been Shakespeare’s ABOVE The manuscript of Sir Thomas More. It may be in Shakespeare’s handwriting and can be seen in the
handwritten copy, his “foul papers”, that was British Library in London
42
Shakespeare’s texts
43
Shakespeare
Martin
Droeshout
It has never been certain
whether it was Droeshout the
elder (c. 1560–1642) or
younger (1601–50) who made
the engraving of Shakespeare
for the First Folio. The elder, a
Flemish engraver, came to
London as a Protestant
refugee. Whoever it was
(perhaps age alone suggests
the elder), it is not a
particularly accomplished
portrait and the irst plate was
re-worked, probably by the
artist himself, adding
highlights to the eyes and
some shading between the
ear and chin that makes the
head look slightly less
disconnected from the body.
RIGHT The
irst page of
The Tempest, the
irst play in the
First Folio
44
Shakespeare’s texts
century folios of his work are usually referred published in 1623, it sold suiciently well that a
to by letter and number – F1, F2, F3). Without second edition was produced in 1632. In 2003,
this work, the irst book published in England Oriel College, Oxford sold its First Folio for an
devoted solely to the plays of a single estimated £3.5 million.
dramatist, 18 plays by Shakespeare – those not An enduring diiculty for editors, actors and
published in his lifetime – would be lost. Even readers is the diferences between the printed
so, it is not quite a Complete Works, lacking versions of the plays, between the quartos and
the co-authored Pericles and The Two Noble folios, and therefore in determining what
Kinsmen and the poems. It is an impressive, Shakespeare actually wrote. Some variations
large volume (“folio” is the name given to a are minor, single word diferences that may be
work created from sheets of paper folded just explained by errors or slips in the printing
once, giving two leaves and four pages), not house, while others are more signiicant,
least because of the engraving of Shakespeare suggesting, perhaps, authorial or performance
by Martin Droeshout on the title page and the revisions. It is common practice for modern
commemorative verses by Ben Jonson and scholarly editions to give minor variants in
Hugh Holland. It is estimated that an average footnotes or, in the case of major diferences,
labourer at the time earned a shilling a day as in King Lear or Hamlet, to print parallel
and the Folio cost £1, but nevertheless, when versions side by side.
variants in footnotes” with Kananu Kirimi as Marina (left) and Ray Fearon as
Pericles (centre)
45
Shakespeare
“The play’s
the thing”
For many it is the range of
Shakespeare’s subject matter that
makes him the greatest dramatist
of all time. He wrote fantasy, horror,
thrillers, and great love stories.
He wrote ancient, medieval and
contemporary history; he tackled
social problems, politics and
relationships. He wrote about the
classical world and modern cities.
He could move audiences with
farce, tragedy and romance
D
ifferent ages have recognized
different skills and qualities in
Shakespeare’s work. From the
eighteenth century onwards, and in
part as a defence against the criticism
that he failed to write to classical rules and
models, Shakespeare was praised for his
creation of character – holding a mirror up
to nature. His characters have proved so
memorable that they act as a shorthand for
personalities or types: Romeo for a young
male lover, Cleopatra for a mature female
lover, Hamlet as a solitary thinker, Falstaff as
a gluttonous John Bull figure, and Shylock
as an all-purpose epithet for a Jew. Gradually
Shakespeare’s unique blending of genres – for
example, incorporating the humour of the
gravediggers into the tragedy of Hamlet or
the Porter into Macbeth – was recognized as
a strength rather than a failing.
A surprising, almost bravura, feature of
Shakespeare’s dramatic writing is the
frequency with which he reminds the
audience that it is watching a play. Allusions to
boy actors (Antony and Cleopatra), acting
46
“The play’s the thing”
“His characters
have proved so
memorable that
they act as a
shorthand for
personalities
or types”
47
Shakespeare
ABOVE The “seven ages of man” from “the infant,/Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arm” to “second
childishness and mere oblivion,/Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything” shown in the window of the
Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC
(Hamlet), the Globe theatre (the opening beyond the worlds of the plays: to be more use of lists, sometimes deployed for serious
chorus of Henry V), the use of the play within sinned against than sinning; to act more in efect as in Richard II’s moving
the play as a plot device (The Mousetrap in sorrow than in anger; to play fast and loose; to
Hamlet), the employment of prologues and be tongue-tied; to knit your brows, stand on “For God’s sake let us sit upon the ground
epilogues and frequent references to acts and ceremony, or have too much of a good thing And tell sad stories of the death of kings,
scenes all suggest a conident compact – all were coined by Shakespeare. How much How some have been deposed, some slain
between the playwright and the audience does a modern politician owe to in war,
that took delight in its awareness of efect. Shakespeare’s skill of presenting ideas in Some haunted by the ghosts they
The most distinctive feature of threes: “Some are born great, some achieve have deposed,
Shakespeare’s skill as a dramatist, however, is greatness, some have greatness thrust upon Some poisoned by their wives, some
his sustained dexterity with language and them”; “Friends, Romans, countrymen”. Or his sleeping killed,
rhetoric. Ostensibly simple and never use of repetition: “Tomorrow and tomorrow All murdered.”
straining for ostentatious efect, he creates and tomorrow”, or “To be or not to be”? One of (Richard II, Act 3, Scene 2)
memorable phrases and speeches that live his most frequent devices is a sophisticated
or in Jaques’ “seven ages of man” speech in
“The most distinctive feature of As You Like It, but frequently used for comic
efect, as in Touchstone’s listing of the degrees
Shakespeare’s skill is his sustained of lying in the last scene of As You Like It.
It is often said that the Elizabethan audience
dexterity with language” went to the theatre to hear a play. They were
48
“The play’s the thing”
undoubtedly more sophisticated listeners Or those eyes shut that makes thee
than today’s audiences and revelled in puns answer ‘Ay’.
and quibbles. Juliet’s speech to her Nurse If he be slain, say ‘ay’; or if not, ‘No’.
when she believes that Romeo is dead is a Brief sounds determine of my weal
ine example frequently, alas, cut in or woe.”
productions that believe such language (Romeo and Juliet Act 3, Scene 2)
facility is beyond a teenage girl or
inappropriate at a moment of high emotion: Some clever punning relies for its efect
on skilled verse speaking and actors
“What devil art thou that dost torment engage in intensive training for these
me thus? special demands.
This torture should be roared in
dismal hell.
Hath Romeo slain himself? Say BELOW Alan Howard in the title role
thou but ‘Ay’, of Richard II (RSC, 1980), a play written
entirely in verse and with great formality
And that bare vowel ‘I’ shall in its use of language
poison more
Than the death-darting eye
of cockatrice.
I am not I if there be such an ‘Ay’,
49
Shakespeare
The Comedies:
F
rom the Greek classics came the
enduring association between
comedy and fertility rites – sex was
an important strand in this type of
50
The Comedies
joy to misfortune). In England, the medieval BELOW William Kempe, ABOVE The popular
the comic actor whose roles comic actor Robert
morality play introduced farce and comic included Dogberry in Much Ado Armin dressed as “John
elements to support the didactic function About Nothing and Bottom in A of the Hospital” in his
Midsummer Night’s Dream own 1609 play, The
of the drama and reinforce the Christian History of the Two
message. By the time of the Renaissance, Maids of More-Clacke
comedy was seen as a form that had a clear
moral purpose:
“The Poets devised to have many parts
played at once by two, three or four persons,
that debated the matters of the world,
sometimes of their own private afairs,
sometimes of their neighbours, but never
meddling with any princes matters nor
such high personages, but commonly of
merchants, soldiers, artiicers, good honest
Shakespeare’s clowns
William Kempe (d.1603) was the chief comic
actor with the Chamberlain’s Men, and
probably the original Lance in The Two
Gentlemen of Verona and Bottom in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream. He had a
reputation for physical, improvisational
acting, and morris-danced all the way from
London to Norwich in 1600. In 1599, he was
replaced in the theatre by Robert Armin
(c.1568–1615), a writer as well as an actor of
comedy. With a less physical style than
Kempe, Armin’s roles included Touchstone in
BELOW The programme for an evening’s “amateur” As You Like It, Feste in Twelfth Night and the
entertainment at the Theatre Royal, Birmingham. It
includes Charles Dickens – a great Shakespeare enthusiast
Fool in King Lear.
– performing in The Merry Wives of Windsor
51
Shakespeare
BELOW Over 130 plays are attributed to the householders, and also of unthrifty youths,
Roman comic dramatist Plautus and his work was
popular throughout the sixteenth century young damsels, old nurses, bawds, brokers,
ruians and parasites, with such like, in
whose behaviours, lies in efect the whole
course and trade of man’s life, and therefore
tended altogether to the good amendment of
man by discipline and example. It was also
much for the solace and recreation of the
common people by reasons of the pageants
and the shows. And this kind of poem was
called Comedy.” (The Art of Poesie by George
Puttenham, 1589)
All these elements are present in
Shakespeare’s comedies. The titles of the
plays alone reveal that they are about groups
of people rather than named individuals.
The relationships between couples is the
predominant plot device and the narrative
“ The vulnerability movement towards joy – and the interest in
52
The Comedies
Plautus,
c.254–184 BC
the plays alone a popular stereotype on and of stage Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors.
53
Shakespeare
The Comedies: Venice (1960). The role has been played as a villain
and a victim, and as a comic and tragic igure
Distorting the
conventions
Shakespearian comedy begins darkly: news of the war opens Much Ado;
As You Like It starts with Orlando’s account of his mistreatment by his
brother; Orsino is love-sick and Viola shipwrecked at the beginning of
Twelfth Night. Some even start with death threats: the opening dialogue of
The Comedy of Errors is between Egeon, a merchant from Syracuse who
has landed, against the prevailing law, in Ephesus, and Solinus, the Duke of
Ephesus, who will impose the death penalty for this transgression
I
n the opening scene of A Midsummer the ambiguities, particularly in the closing
Night’s Dream, Egeus insists that his scenes, and the discomfort experienced by
daughter Hermia weds Demetrius or be stage character and audience alike, have
put to death. Dark moments are sustained led to the label “problem play”. It is as if
throughout the plots – many ind the Shakespeare is stretching or distorting the
treatment of Malvolio, the aspiring steward, conventions of comedy. It is the setting, the
cruel rather than comedic – yet all these plays structure and the characterization of the
(and because of, not in spite of, their harsh problem plays – The Merchant of Venice,
openings) end neatly and romantically. The Taming of the Shrew and Measure for
Not all Shakespeare’s comedies ofer such Measure – that sets them apart from others in
satisfying certainties, however. In some the genre and contributes to their disturbing
54
The Comedies
55
Shakespeare
BELOW In one of the many dark moments of The Christopher Sly being thrown out of a
Merchant of Venice, Shylock comes close to removing his
Warwickshire alehouse and discovered
“pound of lesh” from Antonio
by a lord with a hunting party. The
hounds – Belman, Merriman, Clowder
and Silver – reinforce the sense that this
is an English play, before the travelling
players arrive and the scene shifts to
Italy. Measure, while ostensibly set in
Vienna, contains a number of allusions to
contemporary events (the plague, street
brawling) that place the action, to all intents
and purposes, in London in the early reign of
King James.
It is the endings of the plays that makes
them most uncomfortable. Merchant comes
closest to the conventional happy, coupling
conclusion yet it is hard to take pleasure
in the relationships between Portia and
Bassanio, and Nerissa and Graziano after
the humiliation of Shylock (and his exit)
at the end of the fourth act. Katherine’s
“submission” speech at the end of Shrew
presents similar diiculties:
INSET Vanessa
Redgrave’s
costume
in The Taming
of the Shrew
(RSC, 1961).
Dressing Kate in
bright colours is
a common way
of showing her
assertive nature
ABOVE Michael Bogdanov’s powerful staging of the inal scene of The Taming of the Shrew as
men wager for their wives’ obedience. Kate (Paola Dionisotti, standing) shames her husband
Petruccio (Jonathan Pryce, seated front right) with the bitterness of her compliance (RSC, 1978).
56
The Comedies
The bedtrick
The “bedtrick”, a plot device that
“A woman moved is like a Claudio is to marry the woman he made Shakespeare used in All’s Well
fountain troubled, pregnant, and the Duke (who, disguised as that Ends Well and Measure for
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, a friar, has stage managed the plot until this Measure, is derived from the ninth
bereft of beauty, point and now, in his own persona, arranges story of Boccaccio’s Decameron.
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty the conclusion) proposes to Isabella, the As a reward for curing the King of
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it. novice nun. It is Isabella’s refusal to sleep France, Gilette of Narbonne
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, with Angelo, in order to save her brother marries Bertrand of Roussillon
thy keeper…” Claudio’s life, that has been the against his will. He leaves her and
(Act 5, Scene 2) moral dilemma at the heart of this establishes a relationship with
disturbing play. another woman with whom he has
John Fletcher’s early seventeenth- Such challenges have made this two children. In fact, the women
century response to Shrew, The group of plays very popular on stage have changed places and he is
Woman’s Prize or the Tamer where they are frequently updated sleeping with Gilette all along. As
Tamed, in which Petruccio is and performed in modern dress a comedic device the “bedtrick”
“tamed” by his new wife so that the problems they may strain an audience’s credulity,
Maria following Kate’s pose about race, religion and but it ofers actors and directors
death, suggests that gender acquire a twenty-irst- the opportunity to comment on
contemporary audiences century relevance. sexual relationships.
found Shakespeare’s play
as uncomfortable (or as in
need of challenging) as
modern viewers.
Measure for Measure,
however, is Shakespeare’s ABOVE David
Suchet’s Shylock
most subversive comedy. costume – the
There is no romance: the sexual black gabardine
the text requires –
relationships in the corrupt, in a modern dress
hypocritical city state are bizarre (Merchant of
Venice, RSC, 1981)
(as in the “bedtrick” drawn from
Boccaccio) or commercial and
threatening. The “coupling” of
the ending makes this explicit:
Lucio, the clown, is to be
married to a whore and then ABOVE Malvolio (Philip Voss) is duped into believing that the Lady Olivia, his employer,
has written him a love letter. Hidden in the hedge, the originators of the trick, Sir Toby Belch
imprisoned; Angelo is to marry
(David Calder), Sir Andrew Aguecheek (John Quayle) and Fabian (Malcom Scates), observe the
the woman he had previously jilted; success of their plot (Twelfth Night, RSC, 1997)
57
Shakespeare
The Histories:
The irst tetralogy
Heminges and Condell list ten plays in the Histories section of the contents list of the First
Folio. They are arranged not in the order they were written, but chronologically, using the
dates of the monarchs who give the plays their titles – from The Life and Death of King
John, who reigned from 1199 to 1216, to The Life of King Henry the Eight [sic]
ABOVE Holinshed’s Chronicles
are the major source for Macbeth,
King Lear and Cymbeline as well
as the English history plays
Sources
English history plays
were popular in the
second half of the
sixteenth century
partly because of the
nationalism that
accompanied the
break from the Roman
Catholic church and
also because of the
availability of source
material. For the
Henry VI plays and
Richard III,
Shakespeare drew
heavily on Edward
Halle’s Union of the
Two Noble and
Illustrious Families
of Lancaster and
York (1548) and
Raphael Holinshed’s
Chronicles of
T
ABOVE Many he first of these is amongst the least was written as late as 1613 in collaboration England, Scotland
subsequent actors
have found it
performed of Shakespeare’s plays. with John Fletcher, and concludes with and Ireland (1587).
diicult to erase Indeed there is no record of any the baptism of Elizabeth I and an allusion Henry VIII draws
the distinctive staging of it at all until 1737 when the to King James. It is best considered not as on Foxe’s Book
sound of Laurence
Olivier’s delivery Shakespeare Ladies Club, a group of a “history”, but as a “late” play. Topped and of Martyrs (1563)
of “Now is the literary, patriotic philanthropists, promoted a tailed then, the Folio list of plays divides that celebrated
winter of our
discontent...” in his production at Covent Garden. Henry VIII is into two groups of four, often called Protestantism
inluential ilm of very different from the others in the group tetralogies, that deal with consecutive and was very
Richard III
as it is the closest that Shakespeare came events: the three parts of Henry VI and popular during
to writing about contemporary events. It Richard III form the first tetralogy; Richard Elizabeth’s reign.
58
The Histories
II, the two parts of Henry IV and Henry V same project and in the same space revealed
the second. humour as well as pathos in the work. A play
The Henry VI plays are rarely performed whose popularity was conined to nineteenth-
and stand alone as single plays, but they have century productions that added spectacular
worked very well on stage when, cut or elided, of-text moments, such as the signing of
they have been grouped with Richard III and Magna Carta, was reclaimed for the theatre.
LEFT Charles
presented as The Wars of the Roses (Peter Hall Richard III, however, is much more Kemble was
and John Barton for the Royal Shakespeare frequently performed and has been a memorable King
John at Covent
Company, 1963–4; Michael Bogdanov and popular with audiences from the Garden in the
Michael Pennington for the English moment it was written – it was 1820s, wearing
historically accurate
Shakespeare Company, 1986) or The published six times in quarto costumes designed
Plantaganets (Adrian Noble, RSC, 1988). The before the 1623 Folio. Its by Planché
dramatic efectiveness of the death of the contemporary popularity is
heroic Talbot and the English engagement not diicult to
with Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc) from Part understand. The
One was evident in Michael Boyd’s story of Richard
presentation of the Histories cycle for the RSC was well known
in 2000, performed in the small Swan theatre. through
The production of King John as part of the Shakespeare’s
60
The Histories
61
Shakespeare
The Histories:
ABOVE The
spectacular
staging and
use of crowds
contributed to
The four plays of the second tetralogy – Richard II, the two parts of Henry
IV and Henry V – were written later than those of the first, although they
deal with earlier events and offer a more sophisticated and ambiguous
interrogation of kingship and politics. This is particularly obvious in
Richard II, so politically sensitive that it was published and performed in
Elizabeth’s lifetime without the key “deposition” scene in which Richard
abdicates in favour of Henry Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV
T
he play remained controversial and, crowds and real horses, for Bolingbrokes’
after the Restoration, Tate’s 1680 entry into London. John Gielgud was
adaptation was banned by the Crown. responsible for the twentieth-century
Written entirely in verse (and with appreciation of the play: his beautiful
many of the beautiful passages, such verse-speaking was most appropriate for a
as Gaunt’s “This royal throne of kings, this drama that has the longest average speech
sceptred isle” speech having a life beyond the length in the canon and his performances at LEFT Kenneth
stage) Richard II debates the nature of kingship the Old Vic in 1929–30 with Ralph Richardson Branagh’s
historically
and with a focus on language rather than as Bolingbroke and in 1937, with Michael detailed costume
action. The play did not become popular on Redgrave, became legendary. for Henry V (RSC,
1984), a role that
stage until Charles Kean’s nineteenth-century But the play is amenable to many critical he repeated in his
spectacular that added a procession, with and staging approaches: recognizing ilm of 1989
62
The Histories
ABOVE Robert Stephens’ performance as Falstaf in I Henry IV in 1991 was a triumphant return to
the Stratford stage and revealed unexpected depths in the role
John Gielgud
1904–2000
Fiona Shaw in the title role of her production at casting Fiona alternated the roles of Romeo and
Mercutio. Best in serious, contemplative
the National Theatre.
While the two parts of Henry IV continue to
Shaw in the roles, he played Hamlet over 500 times.
His distinctive voice is exploited in Peter
explore kingship through Henry’s anxieties
and guilt and the un-king-like behaviour of his
title role of Greenaway’s 1991 ilm, Prospero’s Books,
son (Prince Hal, the future Henry V), they are her production” where he spoke the whole text in
addition to playing the lead.
63
Shakespeare
War
Shakespeare had no direct experience of and, most famously, war against France. corrupt recruitment of soldiers from
war, although for much of the period that What some see as Shakespeare’s jingoism countrymen whose names alone – Ralph
he was writing plays England was under in Henry V is certainly of-set by the Mouldy, Simon Shadow, Thomas Wart,
threat of invasion by the Spanish. His cynicism of Falstaf and his preference for Francis Feeble, Peter Bullcalf – suggest
history plays explored civil war, rebellion life rather than honour (1 Henry IV) and his their unsuitability for the task (2 Henry IV).
64
The Histories
ABOVE Here
astride a cannon,
Alan Howard was
an inspirational
Henry V in a
performance
inluenced by
Olivier’s stirring
ilm (RSC, 1975)
65
Shakespeare
The Tragedies:
The ill-fated heroes
Eleven plays are listed in the “Tragedies” section of the Folio and three
– Coriolanus, Macbeth and Hamlet – include the word “tragedy” in their
titles. All 11, however, would have been recognised as tragedies according
to the convention of the day because the titles are names, and nominate
exceptional persons – kings, queens, rulers, and soldiers
C
onversely, there are no named emotions that they portray – love, jealousy,
persons in the titles of Shakespeare’s revenge, prejudice, patriotism – and the
comedies as, generically, they concern language in which they are expressed
groups of people, have a broader transcend speciics and give them a universal
focus, and are more concerned with signiicance that has endured for 400 years.
the “ordinary” than the élite. In terms of their Diferent ages have re-created the tragic
plots, of course, tragedies share more than heroes in their own image: Hamlet for the
a titular coincidence and are linked by the Restoration and the eighteenth century was
direction of their narratives – while they may a frock-coated action man; for much of the
begin joyfully, with a triumph in battle for nineteenth a thoughtful romantic, clad in ABOVE The lamp used by Henry Irving
in Hamlet, an example of the historical detail
example, they will conclude, inevitably, with black; while post-Freud he has become a that was typical of his productions in the late
death. Only the presence of Cymbeline in the psychologically troubled case for treatment, nineteenth century
Folio list subverts this convention, finishing
with redemption and reconciliation rather
than a body-strewn stage. The placement BELOW The African-
American actor Ira
of this play, at the end of the volume, may Aldridge (1807–67)
be accounted for by the nature of its title played Othello in
London in 1825 and
(Cymbeline King of Britain identifies a toured throughout
named, important person) or pragmatic Europe, dying in Lodz
printing reasons. in Poland
“Different ages
have re-created the
tragic heroes in
their own image”
66
The Tragedies
Arthur Brooke
d.1563
67
Shakespeare
with a suspect relationship with his mother with a white turban and highly decorated
and his girlfriend. In communist, Eastern sword and scabbard, giving clues perhaps to
Europe he became a politicized igure, an Othello’s original stage appearance. But
embattled individual confronted with a Othello has been played on stage as a number
totalitarian state. of racial types and frequently by a white actor
Othello, too, has a diverse afterlife. Basing “blacked up”. Indeed, some black actors,
the plot on a short story by Cinthio, believing that Shakespeare endorses
Shakespeare developed a character – the irst unattractive racial stereotypes, have refused to
black hero in English literature – who is take the part. Throughout the nineteenth
isolated by race, military skill, an unauthorised century, however, the play became known in
marriage, and his credulous manipulation by Europe through the tours of the black
the villain Iago. Despite murdering his American actor, Ira Aldridge, who contributed
innocent wife, Desdemona, his anguish and to the enduring popularity of the play in
sufering are such that his appeal to audiences Russia. It was Stalin’s favourite and he is
has endured. The full title of the play – The thought to have responded to Othello’s
Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice – gave military prowess and his powerful speech – a
the work a speciic contemporary resonance. reminder that context creates meaning.
Shakespeare, like most Londoners, would have Throughout Hamlet and Othello
known of the visit in 1600 to Queen Elizabeth Shakespeare slowly builds the tension. While
of Abdul Guahid, the Moorish Ambassador, to Hamlet, famously, delays taking revenge for
discuss a joint project to take control of the his murdered father and Othello continues to
East and West Indies from Spain. The be taken in by Iago’s manipulations and
Ambassador’s portrait clearly shows an Arab insinuations, there are moments in both plays
concern with language” dress production by the RSC in 2001, considers “To
be or not to be”
68
The Tragedies
LEFT Original
audiences may
have associated
Othello,
the Moor of Giovanni Battista
Venice, with
Abdul Guahid, Giraldi Cinthio
the Moorish 1504–73
Ambassador
who visited
Queen Elizabeth Cinthio is the author of the
I in 1600
collected stories Hecatommithi,
which Shakespeare may have read
when the plots could turn: the outcome From forth the fatal loins of these two foes in the original Italian and which
remains uncertain. Romeo and Juliet is a A pair of star-crossed lovers take provides the source tale for
diferent sort of dramatic achievement because their life…” Othello. An ensign, named as Iago
the audience, from the opening Prologue by Shakespeare, lusts after
onwards (and due to knowledge of the tale The pleasure in this play then may lie less in Disdemona and when she will not
from other sources, principally Arthur Brooke’s the plot than in the way the dramatist deals respond he plots her death,
poem), knows what is going to happen: with it. In addition to giving a résumé of the involving the Moor. Together, they
story, the Prologue signals Shakespeare’s club her to death with a sand-illed
“Two households, both alike in dignity concern with language: it is itself a sonnet, the stocking then pull down the
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, audience will hear others and encounter ceiling to disguise their action.
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, examples of skilful, even ostentatious, Disdemona’s family revenge her
Where civil blood makes civil wordplay – Romeo and Juliet is as much to do death by killing the Moor and
hands unclean. with words as swords. torturing Iago, who dies horribly.
69
Shakespeare
70
The Tragedies
Both Romeo and Juliet and Othello are small scale, even domestic tragedies
with plots that develop from doomed relationships. King Lear and Macbeth,
however, have a broader focus and their plots concern the fate of nations as
much as individuals. Both are Jacobean plays and reflect a greater concern
with good (or bad) governance and politics than the earlier plays
Thomas
Middleton
1580–1627
Middleton frequently
collaborated with
other dramatists,
including Webster and
Dekker, and it has
always been diicult to
be certain how much
he worked with
Shakespeare. Parts of
Timon are probably his
and scholars make a
convincing case that
he contributed to
Macbeth: two of its
songs irst appeared in
W
hile it is set in the past, the all. The blinding of Gloucester, the death of ABOVE The once his play The Witch.
generous, but
Porter’s references to treason in Cordelia, the strange role of the Fool and the now bankrupt, The title pages of his
Macbeth give it a contemporary pessimistic hopelessness of the ending Timon of The Puritan and A
Athens (Michael
political relevance, as it appears to ofended morally, religiously and aesthetically. Pennington) Yorkshire Tragedy give
allude to the conspirators of the There is a record of a single court performance rails against Shakespeare rather
Gunpowder plot. on 26 December 1606, but from the “ingrateful man”
as he digs in the
than Middleton as the
These plays are, however, far removed from Restoration until 1836 King Lear was staged earth (RSC, 1999) author. His Revenger’s
dry political discourse. While the stakes may only in Nahum Tate’s adaptation. He cut the Tragedy of 1606 has
be higher, both Macbeth and Lear feature Fool, added a love plot between Cordelia and clear echoes of Hamlet
compelling stage creations and have such an Edgar, and in preserving the lives of and begins with the
intense focus on heightened emotion that they Gloucester, Kent and Lear turned what he revenger, Vindice,
make audiences acutely uncomfortable. described as a “Heap of Jewels, unstrung and holding and speaking
Indeed, for many years, Lear was considered unpolisht” into a more comfortable tale of to the skull of the
both un-actable and inappropriate to stage at “Regularity and Probability”. In 1962, Peter woman he loved.
71
Shakespeare
72
The Tragedies
Fools
Both Lear and Timon
include a character called
simply “Fool” (a very
small role in the latter).
In Shakespeare’s time,
fools were servants at
court or in large
households and their
ABOVE Ian McKellen and Judi Dench shocked
audiences with their convincing depiction of evil in
function, dressed
the RSC’s small scale production of Macbeth, in 1976 distinctively in cap and
motley and carrying a
was only played in heavily adapted form curved stick, was to
and has rarely been seen on stage since. It is entertain. Some were
not diicult to account for its unpopularity: professional fools, with a
it seems uninished, with less concern for licence to speak that was
character than for structure and the only denied other servants,
roles for women are a group of Amazons, but others were
who perform in a masque, and two whores. intellectually disabled,
There are also questions about its whose odd behaviour
authorship. Thomas Middleton, possibly the was considered amusing.
author of an earlier Timon play performed Feste in Twelfth Night,
at the Inns of Court, has been suggested as a Lavatch in All’s Well that
co-dramatist and responsible for at least a Ends Well and
third of the play. It has its supporters, Touchstone in As You
though. Karl Marx, perhaps a surprising Like It are jester-like,
Shakespeare enthusiast, was impressed by professional fools who
ABOVE A playbil for a nineteenth-century adaptation of Timon of Athens
Timon’s tirade against the corrupting value performed in Dublin with John Philip Kemble. Characteristically, the play
entertain through
of gold. was part of a mixed bill of entertainment wordplay and song.
73
Shakespeare
S
ome of Shakespeare’s tragedies Titus is Shakespeare’s earliest tragedy and, it is incredible that Shakespeare had any hand
are relieved by lighter or comedic some have argued, his irst play – a judgement at all”.
moments (the Porter in Macbeth, the usually based on its perceived weaknesses. In The problem with its reception, as with Lear,
gravediggers in Hamlet) but the group 1687, Edward Ravenscoft described it as “the lies with the violence of the plot, some of
of plays that Shakespeare based on most incorrect and indigested piece in all his which is seen on stage and some is reported:
Plutarch and usually called the Roman plays works; it seems rather a heap of Rubbish than Titus is tricked into cutting of his own hand,
– Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Antony and a Structure”, and T. S. Eliot went further in his sons are murdered, and his daughter is
Cleopatra and Coriolanus – retain a serious 1927, calling it “one of the stupidest and most raped and has her tongue cut out so she
tone and frequently a violent one. uninspired plays ever written, a play in which cannot reveal the perpetrators. Titus takes
74
The Tragediess
“He spared
his enemy’s
st horsemen
and weapons
growing army”
75
Shakespeare
INSET In Yukio
Ninagawa’s Japanese
Titus Andronicus
(RSC, 2006) Lavinia’s
violated body is
conveyed by
red ribbons
76
The Tragedies
Plutarch
(c.46–120)
the balcony and the need for hoists, but the read by many reviewers of that production as a ABOVE The “ininite variety” of Cleopatra: Janet
Suzman, above, berates a messenger
efect is potentially clumsy rather than tragic. mirror of the fall of Ceausescu, the
Julius Caesar and Coriolanus, however, have Communist dictator of Romania. Like Caesar,
a rich theatrical afterlife, as the politics they Coriolanus has been presented as a
explore clearly have relevance not only for the recognizable dictator of the 1930s, or as an
Roman age and Shakespeare’s times, but also aristocrat in the French Revolution (Paul
for subsequent ages. In 1937, Orson Welles Scoield in 1961 in Stratford, Ontario, or Toby
presented Julius Caesar in the USA, subtitled Stephens in Stratford in the UK), or as a
“Death of a Dictator”, as a comment on Japanese warrior (Stratford, UK), but the role is
contemporary politics. Many productions larger and more complex than Caesar and the
since have chosen the 1930s, because of the mob that he antagonizes unattractive and
rise of fascism, as an appropriate setting. The ickle. The political debates of both plays are
RSC production of 2001, for example, was set sophisticated and explore character as much
in 1930s Germany. In 1993, the same company as creed and their appropriation by right and
had set the play in post-Cold War Eastern left is in itself a ine example of Shakespeare
Europe and the assassination of Caesar was “not of an age but for all time”.
W
hen the First Folio was published
in 1623 as a tribute to Shakespeare,
not all of these plays were
included. He did not have a
steady writing partner. These later
works include:
79
INSET The fairy-tale ending of Cymbeline
Shakespeare as the King (Sebastian Shaw) is reunited
with his daughter Imogen (Susan
Fleetwood, seated left, in disguise) and his
lost sons, Arviragus and Guiderius
but instead of concluding with death the more explicable (and more quantifiable) in
narrative flow changes direction and the contextual rather than biographical terms.
plays end with regeneration and restoration: New World discoveries and the wreck in
lost sons are found (Cymbeline); wives Bermuda inform character and plot in The
thought dead are returned to life (Winter’s Tempest. Political and religious insecurities
Tale); daughters’ lives are celebrated (Henry exacerbated by the Gunpowder Plot and
VIII); dukedoms are restored (Tempest). concerns about the succession following the
These then are not realistic plots – some, premature death of Prince Henry, King James’
such as Cymbeline, are closer to fairytales eldest, popular and Protestant son may be
– and this sense of fantasy is reinforced by read as the subtext of all the plays. Shifts in
some of Shakespeare’s most imaginative popular taste towards the tragi-comedies of
characterization (Ariel, Caliban, Cloten) and Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher and
audacious stagecraft. The Winter’s Tale statue the romance of Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia
that comes to life and its most famous stage may be responsible for Shakespeare’s generic
experiments, and the availability of indoor INSET Prospero
direction – “Exit, pursued by a bear” – or the
(Alec McGowen)
magic that permeates The Tempest or the playing spaces may account for the more looks on as
headless body in Cymbeline are all examples elaborate stagecraft. his daughter
Miranda (Sarah
of a confident playwright at the height of Whatever the cause of the new styles Woodward)
his powers. And these bravura moments are evident in his last works, Shakespeare’s career chides the
“savage and
matched by some of the most beautiful verse ended on a high note. The most enduring deformed slave”
passages in the canon. biographical reading of the plays is that in Caliban (David
Troughton) in
Some commentators have tried to The Tempest. Shakespeare, through Prospero,
The Tempest
account for the late plays’ differences is saying farewell to the stage. While clearly, (RSC, 1993)
through speculative biography, suggesting from the evidence of the collaborative
that Shakespeare must have doted on his works, this is not true, the sentiment is
daughters or perhaps wished to put right a very appealing and may have been tacitly
difficult relationship. Others see something acknowledged by Hemminges and Condell
religious in the redemptive element of when they positioned the play as the first in
the plots and posit a development in the Folio.
80
Late plays and collaborations
Philip
Massinger
BELOW Henry VIII (Donald
Sinden) rejoices at the birth of (1583–1640)
his daughter, the future Queen wrote for the
Elizabeth, while her mother,
Anne Bullen (Lisa Harrow) King’s Men
looks on (RSC, 1970) sometimes in
collaboration
with Fletcher
and succeeded
him as their
major
dramatist.
Some propose
Massinger
rather than Fletcher as the
co-author of Henry VIII and
The Two Noble Kinsmen.
81
Shakespeare - The Exhibits
82
The Exhibits
83
Shakespeare - The Exhibits
84
The Exhibits
85
Shakespeare - The Exhibits
86
The Exhibits
87
Shakespeare - The Exhibits
ITEM 8 7
An account
of Edmund
Tylney, the
Master of the
Revels
The account of
Edmund Tylney,
who was Master
of the Revels, for
the year between
1 November 1604
and 31 October
1605, recording
performances
of plays by
Shakespeare, which
included Othello,
The Merry Wives of
Windsor, Measure
for Measure,
The Comedy of
Errors and Love’s
Labour’s Lost.
Transcript:
On All Hallows’ Day:
The Moor of
Venice (Othello)
The Sunday following:
The Merry Wives
of Windsor
On St Stephen’s Night:
Measure for Measure
On Innocent’s Night:
[The Comedy
of] Errors
New Year’s Day:
Love’s Labour’s Lost
88
The Exhibits
89
Shakespeare - The Exhibits
ITEM 9
Letters Patent for King’s Men from King James I
The warrant, dated 19 May 1603, for the issue of letters patent that authorized Shakespeare and
his acting companions to perform various types of plays and other entertainments at the Globe
theatre and throughout the country. See transcription below.
Right trusty and welbeloued Counsellor facultie of playing Comedies Tradgedies and dominions. Willing and Comaunding
we greet you well and will and Com[m] Histories Enterludes Morall[es] you and eu[er]y of you as you tender o[ur]
annd you yt under o[ur] priuie Seale in Pastorall[es] Stage plaies & such other like pleasure not only to p[er]mitt and sufer
yo[ur] Custody from the time being you as they haue already studied or hereafter them heerin wi[t]hout any yo[ur] letts
Cause o[ur] le[tte]es to be made patent[es] shall use or studie as well for the hinderances or molestac[i]ons during o[ur]
in forme following. James by the grace of recreation of o[ur] loving subject[es] as for said pleasure, but also to be ayding and
God king of England Scotland fraunce & o[ur] solace and pleasure when we shall assisting to them yf any wrong be to them
Ireland defendor of the faith &c. To all thinke good to see them during o[ur] ofered And to allow them such former
Iustices Maio[rs] Sherif[es] Constables pleasure And the said Comedies Courtesies as hathe bene giuen to men of
Hedboroughes and other o[ur] oicers and Tradgedies Histories Enterludes Morall[es] their place and qualitie. And also what
loving subiect[es] greeting. Know ye yt we Pastorall[es] Stage plaies & such like To further fauo[er] you shall shew to these
of o[ur] speciall grace certaine knowledge shew and exercise publiquely to their best o[ur] seruant[es] for o[ur]sake we shall
& meere motion, haue licended and Commoditie, when the infection of the take kindely at yo[ur] hand[es] In witnes
authorized & by these p[rese]nt[es] doe plague shall decrease as well wit[h]in whereof And these o[ur] le[ttr]es shall be
licence & authorize these o[ur] seruant[es] theire now vsuall howse called the Globe yo[ur] suicient warrant and discharge in
Lawrence ffletcher William Shakespeare wit[h]in o[ur] Countie of Surrey as also this behalf. Giuen vnder o[ur] Signet at
Richard Burbage Augustine Phillippes wit[h]in any towne Hall[es] or o[ur] Manor of Greenewiche the
John Hemming[es] Henry Condell Mouthall[es] or other convenient places seaventeenth day of May in the irst yeere
William Sly Rob[er]t Armyn Richard wit[h]in the liberties and freedome of any of o[ur] raigne of England fraunce and
Cowlye and the rest of their associat[es], other Cittie Vniversitie Towne or Borough Ireland, and of Scotland the six and
freely to vse and exercise the Arte and whatsoeu[er] wit[h]in o[ur] said Realms thirtieth ex[pedi] p[er] Lake
90
The Exhibits
[Reverse]
To our right
trusty and
welbeloued
Counselor
the Lord
Cecill of
Esingdon
Keeper of
our Priuy
Seal for the
time being.
91
Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s
poems
Some controversy surrounds Shakespeare’s poetry. Exactly what did
he write and to whom, in the case of the sonnets, was he writing?
Poems were published during his lifetime and have been attributed
to him since whose provenance is far from certain. In 1599, for
example, William Jaggard published The Passionate Pilgrim. By
W. Shakespeare which contains, in addition to two Shakespearian
sonnets and poems from Love’s Labour’s Lost, verses that are clearly
written by others, including Marlowe and Raleigh
M
ore recently the Oxford Collected plague. Based on Ovid, they are both very
Works (1988) has included the active, dramatic tales that employ dialogue
nine-stanza love poem “Shall I (a feature that was exploited by Gregory
die”, and from 1989 strong claims Doran when he staged Venus and Adonis
have been made for “A Funeral for the Royal Shakespeare Company using
Elegy”. There are strong doubts about the puppets in 2005). One is an erotic and
authorship of both these works. funny tale – eventually rather moving – in
Undoubtedly, however, Shakespeare which Venus pursues the unwilling
ABOVE Hilliard’s miniature has been tentatively
identiied as a number of young men of the period, wrote the two long narrative poems, Venus Adonis, and the other a tragic tale of rape
including Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, and and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, and suicide.
Shakespeare himself. Garrick used the pose as
the model for the statue of Shakespeare that he probably between 1592 and 1594 when the Controversy, enigmas and questions
commissioned for his temple London theatres were closed due to the surround Shakespeare’s sonnets. First
RIGHT
Penelope, Lady
Rich has been
suggested as the
“Dark Lady” to
whom some
of the sonnets
are addressed
ABOVE “When in the world I lived I was the world’s commander”: Nathaniel the Curate impersonates
Alexander the Great to entertain the young lovers in the inal scene of Love’s Labour’s Lost, one of the plays
in which Shakespeare refers directly to Ovid (RSC, 1985)
92
Shakespeare’s poems
RIGHT
The Earl of “Using puppets in 2005 one is
Southampton,
Shakespeare’s
patron, perhaps
an erotic and funny tale –
the “Fair Youth”
of the Sonnets
eventually rather moving”
TO.THE.ONLY.BEGETTER.OF.
THESE.ENSUING.SONNETS.
MR.W.H.ALL.HAPPINESS.
AND.THAT.ETERNITY.
PROMISED.
BY.
OUR.EVER-LIVING.POET.
WISHETH.
THE.WELL-WISHING.
ADVENTURER.IN.
SETTING.
FORTH.
T.T.
93
Shakespeare
94
Shakespeare’s poems
voice may not relect personal feeling. The BELOW A scene from Gregory Doran’s
innovative staging of Venus and Adonis that
sonnets may be as imaginative or as ictional
used puppets to illustrate the drama of the
as the plays or they may be exercises in poem (RSC, 2005)
sonnet form or even commissioned works.
Frequently, however, they are read as an
autobiography, generating further conjecture
as the irst 126 sonnets are clearly written
to or about a man (the “Fair Youth”) and all
but the inal two of the remainder (127–152)
to a woman (the “Dark Lady”). This raises
questions about Shakespeare’s sexual
orientation, an anxiety that is evident
perhaps in the second publication of the
sonnets, in 1640 by John Benson, when
the sequences of the verses were changed
and some of the language altered so that
fewer were addressed to a man. Those who
read them as an account of Shakespeare’s
95
Shakespeare
T
his important connection and change with the Turks are the subjects of a long music performed between them. However
of status is acknowledged in at least poem, “Lepanto” written by James. simple, lighting – or the lack of it – could
three plays: Macbeth, which includes For the irst ive years of James’ reign create special efects or moods impossible to
a sanitized representation of James’ the King’s Men continued to perform at the achieve in daylight. With a stronger structure
ancestor Banquo as well as relecting Globe, but in 1608 the company acquired and a roof, machinery could be employed
his interest in witchcraft; Measure for Blackfriars, an indoor playing space that was to allow for the descent of gods and
Measure where the interest in governance a former monastery and had recently been supernatural creatures. When the Globe was
and, particularly, the igure of the disguised used by boy actors, on the north bank of the rebuilt after the ire of 1613, it too had such
Duke mirror the King’s interests; and Othello, Thames. It was not employed immediately potential and, while it is thought that The
whose partial setting in Cyprus and the war because of an outbreak of plague, but from Winter’s Tale and Cymbeline were written
96
The Jacobean stage
ABOVE Part of Visscher’s panorama of London showing St Paul’s Cathedral on the north bank
of the Thames and the Globe on the south
Inigo Jones,
1573-1652
97
Shakespeare
BELOW Cymbeline
(here in the moment
when the British
king refuses to pay
the annual tribute to
the Roman Augustus
Caesar, SMT, 1957)
may have been
written speciically
for performance
at Blackfriars, the
former monastery
on the north bank
of the Thames
that Shakespeare’s
company purchased
in 1608
98
The Jacobean stage
created an artiicial sea with a wave machine, special occasions, such as Twelfth Night or
a huge shell which rose from the waves to Accession Day, or performing for visiting
reveal the performers and a inal revelation dignitaries and diplomats. While few of
of a moon goddess who appeared suspended these special efects could be achieved on
above the stage in a silver throne. Some of the public stage – indoors or out – not least
the participants were professional, and may because of the cost, it is noticeable how many
have included members of the King’s Men, of Shakespeare’s last plays call for visual
but most were senior courtiers, women as displays, music and dance, and two, The
well as men, entertaining each other on Tempest and Henry VIII include masques.
King James,
1566-1625
99
Shakespeare
100
Shakespeare’s return to Stratford
Shakespeare’s
I
n 1605, records show that Shakespeare
purchased an interest in a lease of the
Stratford tithes which generated £60 a
year. On his father’s death in 1601 he had
return to Stratford
It is not certain how Shakespeare divided his time between London and
inherited the property in Henley Street
(now known as the Birthplace) where he had
grown up. Part of it was occupied by his sister
Joan and the rest was let and became an inn.
In 1596, his father had been granted a coat
Stratford, but it is clear that by 1598 his career as a dramatist was secure. of arms, almost certainly with Shakespeare’s
Francis Meres, in Palladis Tamia, praised his skill and mentioned 12 of help at the College of Arms in London, and
his plays as well as his “sugared Sonnets”. He was evidently prosperous the distinctive shield with a spear (a pun on
the family name), a falcon above it and the
and a property owner. In 1597, he had purchased one of Stratford’s largest motto “Non Sans Droit” (not without right)
houses, New Place, built by Hugh Clopton, and subsequently bought 107 was a further part of his inheritance plus the
acres of Stratford land and a cottage in Chapel Lane status of “gentleman” that went with it. The
101
Shakespeare
102
Shakespeare’s return to Stratford
BELOW The familiar Chandos portrait of The memorial eigy in Holy Trinity
Shakespeare, the founding picture of the Church, probably commissioned by
National Portrait Gallery in London
Shakespeare’s son-in-law John Hall and
in place by 1622, was crafted by Geerhart
Janssen and is likely to be the most accurate
representation of the dramatist. It has become
a site of pilgrimage for many Shakespeare
enthusiasts but, perhaps because of the
corpulent, provincial igure it portrays, has
never been as well known as the Droeshout
engraving from the Folio or as popular as
the Chandos portrait which has been the
model for many copies. So called because for
some years it was in the possession of the
Dukes of Chandos, its provenance is shaky.
It is of the right period (although doubt has
often been expressed that the earring is
a later addition), attributed to John Taylor,
and is thought to have belonged to William
Davenant who, according to John Aubrey,
claimed to be Shakespeare’s illegitimate
son. The three representations – Janssen,
Droeshout and Chandos – may have less to do
with verisimilitude, however, and much more
to do with image. In each case the message
conveyed is of intelligence (the large domed
forehead housing a large brain), wealth (the
elaborate collar or ruf) and class (the neatly
trimmed facial hair).
John Hall
c.1575–1635
A physician, educated at
Queen’s College, Cambridge,
Hall married Shakespeare’s daughter
Susanna on 5 June 1607. Their daughter
Elizabeth was born in February 1608.
They lived irst in the house now called
Hall’s Croft, then moved into New Place
on Shakespeare’s death. The house was
demolished by Rev. Francis Gastrell in
1759 and he also cut down the mulberry
tree, supposedly planted by
“On 25 March 1616 Shakespeare Shakespeare. In 1613, Susanna sued John
Lane for alleging that she had a venereal
signed his will and he died soon disease contracted from Ralph Smith.
103
Shakespeare
RIGHTTheatres
during the
of 1665
Restoration
After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, King Charles II
granted royal patents to two theatre companies. Little had been
written or staged during the 20-year theatre closure enforced
by Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan administration, so each of the new
company’s repertoires was largely made up of old plays, including
Shakespeare. The King’s Company, led by Thomas Killigrew,
acquired those plays that had been performed by the old King’s
Men before 1642, and the Duke’s Company, led by Sir William
Davenant, obtained exclusive rights to some of the remainder,
including King Lear and The Tempest
D
avenant, who claimed to be
Shakespeare’s illegitimate son, was
the more innovative of the two,
introducing a lying machine, for
example, and employing Thomas
Betterton, the greatest actor of the period.
The old outdoor playing spaces, like the
Globe, had not survived and the earliest
Restoration performance spaces were adapted
from real tennis courts and featured a deep
thrust stage (around which the audience
was seated on three sides in the pit, as well
as in galleries or boxes) with side entrances
in close proximity to the spectators. Even
with such simple staging it was the visual
experience that was emphasized, such as
the singing and dancing that were popular
additions to Davenant’s Macbeth (1664) or the
1674 operatic version of The Tempest.
Both companies made signiicant
changes to their Shakespeare texts to
accommodate shifts in taste and the new
playing conditions. John Dryden created
ABOVE William Davenant (1606–68), the playwright
a symmetrical adaptation of The Tempest
and theatre manager who headed the Duke’s
adding “the Counterpart to Shakespeare’s Company and adapted Shakespeare’s plays
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Shakespeare during the Restoration
105
Shakespeare
106
Shakespeare during the Restoration
Plot, namely that of a Man who had never signiicant development of this period was
seen a Woman, that by this means those two the introduction of actresses to the London “One outcome of
characters of Innocence and Love might the
more illustrate and commend each other”. He
theatres, marking the end of the transvestite
tradition other than in comic roles, such as this innovation
also wrote a prologue praising Shakespeare,
but justifying the need for amendment and
the witches in Davenant’s version of Macbeth
and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. One
was the addition
appealing for the audience’s support: outcome of this innovation was the addition
of scenes of sex, violence and voyeurism.
of scenes of sex”
“As when a Tree’s cut down the secret Some adaptations, such as Thomas Durfey’s
root version of Cymbeline, included explicit
Lives underground, and thence new threats of rape, and others, such as Colley
Branches shoot; Cibber’s re-working of Richard III, included
So, from old Shakespeare’s honour’d overwrought emotional speeches. Elizabeth
dust, this day Barry (c.1658–1713) is usually credited as the
Springs up and buds a new reviving irst English actress, working with Davenant
Play… and performing, mainly in tragedy, opposite
But, if for Shakespeare we your grace Betterton. From 1695 Anne Bracegirdle
implore, (c.1663–1748) jointly managed Lincoln’s Inn
We for our Theatre shall want it more.” Fields with Betterton and Barry and her
acting roles included Desdemona, Ophelia
This became standard practice: the male and, like Barry, a very afecting Cordelia in
lead, sometimes in role and sometimes as the Nahum Tate’s adaptation of Lear.
ghost of Shakespeare, delivered a prologue Such adaptations were once dismissed
and the performance concluded with an as risible, but without them it is doubtful
epilogue from the female lead. whether Shakespeare would have survived
ABOVE The roles of Elizabeth Barry (c. 1658–1713)
During his exile abroad, King Charles on stage or achieved his status as the included Cordelia and the frontispiece of Rowe’s 1709
had seen women on stage. The most national poet. edition of Shakespeare shows her as Gertrude
107
Shakespeare
Shakespeare in the
Eighteenth Century BELOW The
1769 Stratford
Shakespeare
The eighteenth century saw a remarkable expansion of interest in Shakespeare, as he was Jubilee Rotunda,
promoted, sometimes for political ends, as a writer of genius and as the National Poet, superior built on the banks
of the Avon, where
in skill to classical writers and past and present dramatists in Europe. The proliferation of Garrick delivered
his “Ode
editions shows the development of literary, and commercial, interest in Shakespeare to Shakespeare”
I
n 1709, the playwright Nicholas Rowe to the original texts and cleared away the Bell’s edition was dedicated to David
produced the irst edited Collected more fanciful accretions. Many editions Garrick, the greatest and most inluential
Works, adding a recognizable apparatus attempted to ofer something new, such Shakespearian of the century, who became
to the plays: act and scene divisions, as Francis Hayman’s beautiful illustrations in the manager of Drury Lane in 1747 and
consistent entrances and exits in the the irst Oxford edition of 1744, or reformed stage practice, banning the
texts and dramatis personae. Alexander Samuel Johnson’s critical preface in his audience from the stage and behind the
Pope’s edition of 1725 identiied beautiful edition of 1765. None, however, were scenes and abolishing the disruptive practice
passages with an asterisk and dropped concerned with Shakespeare in performance of half-price admission part way through an
what he, as a poet, felt to be ugly passages until John Bell’s edition of 1773–4, which evening’s show. His production innovations
to the foot of the page. Subsequent editors included cast lists from Drury Lane included new lighting and scenic efects,
attempted greater objectivity but it was not and Covent Garden and engravings of new costumes and the training of actors and
until 1790 that Edmond Malone went back contemporary actors. a corps of dancers. His reputation, however,
108
Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century
“His production
innovations
included new
lighting, scenic
effects, new
costumes and
training actors”
109
Shakespeare
BELOW The great Shakespearian Samuel was based irmly on his own acting skill
Johnson whose edition of the plays brought that moved away from the prevailing opera-
new rigour to scholarship
like declamatory style to something more
naturalistic. He was renowned for his “start”
of shock in Richard III and would reprise
the moment in response to wild applause.
In the beginning, Garrick performed in
other dramatists’ versions of Shakespeare –
Tate’s Lear, Cibber’s Richard III – but began
to create his own adaptations, reducing the
plays to single plot lines (A Midsummer
Samuel Johnson Night’s Dream became, with musical
c.1709-84 additions, The Fairies). Such plays were
short, but formed part of double or triple
The most important and inluential bills that were devised, in part, to compete
literary igure of the age, Johnson with Covent Garden and also to give actors
taught Garrick at Eidal, near Lichield. an opportunity to show their range in
They travelled to London together in response to the audience’s desire for variety.
1737 and maintained a lifelong Garrick was also a great enthusiast –
connection. In addition to his major he built a Temple of Shakespeare in his
edition of Shakespeare (1765) and his garden at Hampton on the Thames for his
ABOVE Charles Macklin, himself a great actor
Dictionary (1755), which quoted and seen here as Shylock, trained other actors
collection of memorabilia, his statue of
extensively from Shakespeare, and ran a school of oratory Shakespeare (now in the British Museum)
Johnson wrote prologues for the and his early editions. His greatest
theatre and Shakespeare criticism, celebration of Shakespeare was the Stratford
and assisted Charlotte Lennox, whose Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769, devised as
Shakespeare Illustrated of 1754 was three days of activities to dedicate the new
the irst published collection of BELOW Fuseli’s imaginative, gothic rendering town hall and a statue of Shakespeare (still
Shakespeare’s source material. of Macbeth and Banquo encountering the to be seen on the corner of the building).
witches for Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery
His fame was such that his portraits, in
and out of role, by artists such as Hogarth,
Zofany, Reynolds and Gainsborough,
became best-selling prints and began
the vogue for Shakespeare paintings that
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Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century
culminated at the end of the period in the epitaph for his tomb in Bath Abbey. The great
Shakespeare Gallery of John Boydell (1719– tragic actress (and sister of John Philip and
1804), an Alderman and three times Lord Charles Kemble) Sarah Siddons made her
Mayor of London who commissioned the London debut for Garrick as Portia in 1775
greatest artists to paint scenes from each play. and went on to become a crowd-drawing star.
He displayed the original works in London, At the same time, Shakespeare’s plays
but his plan to sell prints in Europe was also had a broader cultural inluence. The
wrecked by the French Revolution. preface to Horace Walpole’s gothic novel,
There were, of course, many ine actors Castle of Otranto, acknowledged its debt
in addition to Garrick, but in the close-knit to Hamlet and readers’ growing familiarity
world of the London theatre there was with the texts generated popular parodies
usually a connection to him. Charles Macklin and poetry of the period is littered with
(1699–1797), who helped prepare Garrick to Shakespeare quotations and allusions. Most
play Lear, was a deinitive Shylock turning were ephemeral, but Garrick’s songs and
the role from the prevailing comedy to verses from the Jubilee have endured – “The
tragedy. James Quin (1693–1766) was the Mulberry Tree”, “Warwickshire Will” and
favourite Falstaf, and Garrick wrote the “Sweet Willy O” are still performed.
111
Shakespeare
Shakespeare in the
Nineteenth Century
At the beginning of the period, both Covent Garden and Drury Lane
burned down and the size of the new theatres, each holding an audience
of over 3,000, contributed to a new, large-scale and predominantly visual
performance style that was evident in the work of the great actor-managers
of the period: John Philip Kemble, nearing the end of his career, at Covent
Garden and William Charles Macready in both houses
K
emble was widely perceived as monopoly of “legitimate” spoken drama,
Garrick’s successor and like him was were efectively ended by the Theatres Act
ABOVE Charles Kean (1811–68) as Hamlet. a prodigious adaptor of Shakespeare’s of 1843. This caused a mini lowering of
Not the greatest actor, he was a very work. Macready, on the other hand, Shakespeare productions, particularly at
successful manager and directed Royal
Theatricals at Windsor Castle
worked to restore the texts and was the newly refurbished Haymarket Theatre,
the irst to abandon Tate’s version of Lear and at Sadlers’ Wells under the management
BELOWgtDrury Lane Theatre, shown here in restore the role of the Fool. of Samuel Phelps and at the Princesses
1808, burnt down the following year and was King Charles’ original Royal Patents, Theatre under Charles Kean. Kean’s father
replaced by the present building. It opened
in 1812 with a performance of Hamlet and a
which, reinforced by the Licensing Act Edmund had been responsible for a new,
special prologue delivered by Lord Byron of 1737, had given the two theatres their inluential, passionate style of acting that led
112
Shakespeare in the Nineteenth Century
Forgery
During the period some people
were driven to exploit
Shakespeare’s fame through
very dubious means. The
documents, deeds and letters
with Shakespeare’s signatures
forged by William Ireland
(1777–1835), above, were
published by his father Samuel
in 1795 and although exposed by
Edmond Malone led to intense
critical debate. Ireland also
forged manuscript copies of Lear
the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1859 and Phelps in 1862, the London and Hamlet and three
to say, memorably, “To see him act is like Shakespeare revival faltered. This was partly supposedly lost Shakespeare
reading Shakespeare by lashes of lightning”. due to the costs of the lavish production style plays: Vortigern and Rowena,
Ellen Terry’s irst professional appearance that needed long runs to achieve proitability Henry II and William the
was with Charles’ Kean’s company, in 1854, and partly because of the lack of actors Conqueror. More plausible were
when she was just seven, playing the Duke experienced in the classical repertoire, but the forgeries of John Payne
of York in Richard III. In the following four largely because of the increasing popularity Collier (1789–1883), who made
years, her Shakespearian roles included of touring, particularly to the newly opened, annotations to a Second Folio of
Mamillius, Prince Arthur, Fleance and Puck, well-equipped, provincial theatres, that was Shakespeare’s works (1632) and
which she performed for 200 consecutive facilitated by the fast developing railway passed them of as authentic
nights. Following the retirement of Kean system. The situation persisted until Henry additions. In 1859, forensic tests
revealed this and other
113
Shakespeare
Irving (1838–1905) took over the lease of the for their Macbeth in 1888). The efects were There were two victims of such lavish
Lyceum in the Strand in 1878. enhanced by the innovation of darkening spectacle: the text, which had to be cut to
With Ellen Terry (1847–1928) as his leading the auditorium and lighting the area behind accommodate the time-consuming business
lady, he developed a distinctive house style it to obtain three-dimensional images, and of erecting, dismantling and changing
and strove for an aesthetically appealing resisting the introduction of electricity the sets (Irving cut 1,507 lines from King
naturalism. He treated Shakespeare plays as because the use of gas and limelight further Lear for example, about 40 per cent of
if they were historical books to be illustrated reinforced the sense of creating pictures. the play), and a naturalistic acting style.
with accurate period scenery, often designed
by artists of some repute such as Alma
Tadema, Burne-Jones and Ford Madox
“ There were two victims of such
Brown, lavishly detailed period costume
and atmospheric music (Arthur Sullivan
lavish spectacle: the text and a
wrote the overture and incidental music naturalistic acting style”
114
Shakespeare in the Nineteenth Century
Actors could be dwarfed by the scale of the BELOW Ellen Terry irst performed with Kean’s company
at the Princesses Theatre in 1854. Here, aged nine, she
set and the complexity of their costumes plays Mamillius in The Winter’s Tale
and compensated by developing large-
scale, “pictorial” acting in which poses
were struck and held – posture was as
important as gesture and beautiful, but quite
unnatural, tableaux were created. It was
two-dimensional acting set against three-
dimensional sets. It dominated inluential
productions of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet,
Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth and
survived well into the twentieth century,
inluencing early cinema and opera.
The Romantics
on Shakespeare
BELOW Sir Henry Irving, the irst actor to be honoured
with a knighthood, was accorded a funeral in Shakespeare, regarded as a
Westminster Abbey natural writer and an
imaginative genius, was a
signiicant inluence on
Romantic poets, such as Keats,
and generated the most
enduring critical writing of the
early part of the century by
Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
William Hazlitt, Charles Lamb
(above) and, in Germany,
Schlegel. They had little interest
in performance and approached
and wrote about Shakespeare as
a poet to be studied rather than
as a dramatist. Acting, for them,
with its focus on visual
representation, distorted the
essence of character and spoiled
the imaginative, personal
experience of reading.
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Shakespeare
Shakespeare today
The story of Shakespearian theatre in the twentieth century begins and
ends, in Britain at least, with attempts to recreate authentic, original
staging, a possible reaction to elaborate design that privileged the
visual experience over the language of the plays. There is a continued
distinction (evident in the academic study of Shakespeare, too) between
those who wish to disinter the past and those who, like the Royal
Shakespeare Company, wish to make Shakespeare accessible and
relevant to new audiences in new spaces
T
he eforts of the actor-manager Sam Wanamaker’s great project to recreate
William Poel (1852–1934) to recreate Shakespeare’s Globe on the South Bank,
a replica Elizabethan theatre with which opened in 1996, is in part a reaction
appropriate costumes and acting to the design concepts that frequently
style was a direct response to the dominated productions on the larger stages.
enduring inluence of Irving’s Victorian It followed in the footsteps of the Royal
spectacle, evident in the management of Shakespeare Company and the Royal
Her/His Majesty’s theatre by Sir Herbert National Theatre who have both created more
Beerbohm Tree from 1897 to 1915. It included intimate playing spaces, such as the Swan
such “historical” additions as the signing of Theatre that opened in Stratford in 1986.
ABOVE William Poel, who founded the Elizabethan Magna Carta in King John and real rabbits Between these points, authenticity was
Stage Society and explored original setting to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Similarly, also sought in other forms: the use of
“authentic” rather than cut or adapted texts
begun again by Poel in his production
of the First Quarto Hamlet, and all male
productions, particularly of As You Like It
(by Ben Greet in 1920, Cliford Williams for
the National Theatre in 1967 and Cheek by
Jowl’s production that toured extensively in
1991–2). Instead of recreating original staging,
however, many directors have striven for
a diferent sort of integrity – contemporary
relevance rather than historical accuracy. Sir
Barry Jackson, founder of the Birmingham
Rep and Director of the Shakespeare
Memorial Theatre (the RSC’s predecessor)
1945–8, was the irst in the twentieth century
to stage Shakespeare in modern dress. This
included a Hamlet “in plus fours”, as they
were known in 1925, and a 1928 Macbeth set
in the First World War. Many productions
116
Shakespeare Today
BELOW The American actor Sam Wanamaker (1919–93), who was the inspiration of the
reconstructed Globe theatre
Laurence Olivier,
c.1907–89
118
Shakespeare Today
INSET Janet
Dale and
Lindsay
Duncan in The
Merry Wives of
Windsor (RSC,
1987) set in
the 1950s
The Royal
Shakespeare
Company
The original Shakespeare Memorial
Theatre in Stratford, instigated at the
BELOW Peter Brook’s inluential “white box” A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC, 1970), with Alan
Howard as Oberon and Sara Kestelman as Titania, that peeled away athe pretty, romantic accretions of Shakespeare Tercentenary Celebrations
previous productions in 1864, opened in 1879 and performed
summer festivals until destroyed by ire
in 1926. Its shell now houses the Swan
Theatre, constructed in 1986, and a
display space. Peter Hall took on the
management of the replacement 1930s’
SMT in 1960, renaming it the Royal
Shakespeare Theatre and forming the
Royal Shakespeare Company the next
year. The main theatre was transformed
by a major three-year construction
project and reopened in 2011 with stalls
and two galleries wrapped around three
sides of a thrust stage. While the work
was undertaken, the company used the
newly constructed Courtyard Theatre
and this has been retained as a third
venue. Hall and the artistic directors
performed works and to marvel
at Shakespeare’s range. For critics this
“It is electronic who followed him – Trevor Nunn, Terry
Hands, Adrian Noble, Michael Boyd and
provided an opportunity to continue to Shakespeare Gregory Doran – have created the most
interrogate Shakespeare’s role in high and
low culture and his signiicance for the that looks set to inluential and productive Shakespeare
company that attracts the greatest actors
heritage industry. Like Garrick’s 1769
Shakespeare Jubilee, this festival focused
dominate the and directors. Through its touring
programme, regular performances in
attention on the town of the playwright’s 21st century, London and residencies in Newcastle
birth, but the story of 20th and 21st century
Shakespeare, far from being conined to as collections upon Tyne and universities and
performance centres across the USA, the
Stratford, is one of proliferation into every
corner of the world and into new media with
become RSC has a national and international
reach. It is still at heart an ensemble
an international reach. available on-line“ company that encourages new talent.
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Shakespeare - The Exhibits
[Then there are listed the several groups to whom allotments of scarlet-red cloth were
ITEM 11
made. On folio 78v are listed “fawkeners of Ordinary,” “fawkeners,” and then, on the
An account of the Master bottom of folio 78v and the top of folio 79r, “Players”]: Scarlet-Red cloth
of the Great Wardrobe
An Account of the Master of William Shakespeare iiij yard[es] di[midium]
the Great Wardrobe who issued Augustine Phillipps iiij yard[es] di[midium]
Shakespeare and each of his Lawrence ffletcher iiij yard[es] di[midium]
companions of the King’s Men Players Iohn Hemming[es] iiij yard[es] di[midium]
with 4 ½ yards of red cloth in
Richard Burbage iiij yard[es] di[midium]
order to make up the new livery
[the names continue at the top of folio 79r]
of doublet, hose and cloak that
they were obliged to wear as William Slye iiij yard[es] di[midium]
“grooms of the chamber”. Robert Armyn iiij yard[es] di[midium]
Henry Cundell iiij yard[es] di[midium]
Richard Cowley iiij yard[es] di[midium]
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The Exhibits
ITEM 12
Blackfriars Property Conveyance
The oicial enrolment marking the
conveyance of the gatehouse of Blackfriars
that Shakespeare bought from Henry Walker
for £140. Although by that time Shakespeare
had sold his interests in the Globe theatre
and the playhouse at Blackfriars, living in
the gatehouse would have allowed him the
opportunity to collaborate with other writers
based in London.
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Shakespeare - The Exhibits
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The Exhibits
ITEM 13
Shakespeare’s Will (Sheet 1)
Shakespeare’s will, which he made on 25 March 1616. It appears from all the amendments that he changed his mind about its
provisions on several occasions. His elder daughter, Susanna, recieved the bulk of his property; his younger daughter, Judith,
received £300 under certain conditions, and his wife Anne Hathaway, was left his second-best bed. As withg all wills, a copy
was registered and then, some time after Shakespeare died, probate was granted.
Vicesimo Quinto die Januarij m[ar]tij Anno aforesaid in the saied countie of warr[wick] issue & the stock not paied vnto her soe long
Regni D[omi]ni nri[?] Jacobi nunc R[eginis] being p[ar]cell or holden of the mann[or] of as she shalbe marryed & Covert Baron by
Anglie &c decimo quarto & Scotie xlixo Rowington vnto my Daughter Susanna Hall my executo[rs] & overseers but my will ys
Annoq[ue] d[omi]ni 1616Twmj Shackspeare/ & her heirs for ever It[e]m I Gyve & bequeath that she shall have the considerac[i]on
R r In the name of god Amen I Willi[a]m vnto my saied Daughter Judith One ~ yearelie paied vnto her during her life &
Shackspeare of Stratford vpon Avon in Hundred & fyftie Pound[es] more if she or after her deceas the saied stock and
thecountie of warr[wick] gent[leman] in Anie issue of her bodie be Lyvinge att thend considerac[i]on to bee paied to her children
p[erfect health & memorie god be praysed of three Yeares next ensueing the daie of the id she have Anie & if not to her executo[rs] or
Doe make & Ordayne this my last will & Date of this my will during w[hi]ch tyme my assignes she lyving the saied terme after my
testam[en]t in mann[er] & forme followeing executo[rs] to paie her considerac[i]on from deceas Provided that id such husbond as she
That ys to saye irst I Comend my Soule into my deceas according to the Rate aforesaied shall att thend of saied three Years be
the hand[es] of god my Creator hoping & And if she dye w[i]thin the saied terme w[i] marryed vnto or att anie [tyme] after doe
assuredlie believing through thronlie thout issue of her bodye then my will ys & I suicientlie Assure vnto her & thissue of her
Meritt[es] of Jesus Christe my Saviour to be doe gyve & bequeath One Hundred bodie land[es] Awnswereable to the porc[i]
made p[ar]taker of lyfe everlastinge And my
bodye to the Earth whereof yt ys made It[e]
m I Gyve & bequeath vnto my sonne in L “Shackspeare of Stratford vpon
daughter Judyth One Hundred & fyftie
pound[es] of lawful English money to be
Avon in thecountie of warr[wick]
paied vnto her in mann[er] & forme
followeing That ys to saye One Hundred
gent[leman] in p[erfect health”
Pound[es] in discharge of her marriage Pound[es] thereof to my Neece Elizabth Hall on by this my will given vnto her & to be
pore[i]on w[i]thin one yeare after my deceas & the iftie Pound[es] to be sett fourth by adiudged soe by my executo[rs] ~ &
w[i]th considerac[i]on after the Rate of twoe my executo[rs] During the life of my Sister overseers then my will ys that the saied Clli
shilling[es] in the pound for soe long tyme Johane Harte & vse & p[ro]itt thereof shalbe paied to such husbond as shall make
as the same shallbe vnpaied vnto her after Cominge shalbe payed to my saied Sister such assurance to his owne vse It[e]m I gyve
my deceas & the fyftie pound[es] Residewe Jone and after her deceas the saied 1li shall & bequeath vnto my saied sister Jone xxli &
thereof vpon her Surrendring of or giving of Remaine Amongst the children of my saied all my wearing apparrell to be paied &
such suicient securitie as the overseers of Sister Equallie to be Devided Amongst them deliu[er]ed w[i]thin one yeare after my
this my Will shall like of to Surrender or gr[a] But if my saied Daughter Judith be lyving att deceas And I William Shakspere doe will &
unte All her estate & Right that shall discend thend of the saied three Years or anie yssue devise vnto her the house w[i]th thapp[ur]
or come vnto her after my deceas or that she of her bodye then my will ys & soe I Devise ten[au]nc[es] in Stratford wherein she
nowe hath of in or to one Copiehold and bequeath the saied Hundred and fyftie dwelleth for her naturall life vnder the
ten[emen]te w[i]th thapp[ur]ten[au]nc[es] pound[es] to be see out by my executo[rs] & yearelie Rent of xijd It[e]m I gyve &
lyeing & being in Stratford vpon Avon ~ overseers for the best beneit of her & her bequeath.
123
Shakespeare - The Exhibits
ITEM 13
Shakespeare’s Will (Sheet 2)
124
The Exhibits
ITEM 13
Shakespeare’s Will (Sheet 3)
Males of the bodies of the bodies of the Shackspare for ever. I gyve vnto my wife my Thomas Russell Esquier & frauncis Collins
saied fourth ifth Sixte & Seaventh sonnes second best bed with the furniture, I gyve & gent to be overseers hereof. And doe Revoke
lawfullie yssueing, in such manner as yt ys bequeath to my saied daughter Judith my All former wills & publishe this to be my last
before Lymitted to be & Remaine to the irst broad silver gilt bole. All the will and testament. In witnesse whereof I
second and third Sonns of her bodie & to Rest of my goodes chattels leases plate have hereunto put my [seale]
their heires Males; And for defalt of such jewels & household stufe whatsoever, after hand, the daie & Yeare irst above Written.
issue the said premisses to be & Remaine to my dettes and Legasies paied and my witnes to the publyshing by me William
my sayed Neece Hall & the heires males of funerall expences dischardged, I give devise Shakespeare hereof.
her bodie Lawfullie yssueinge, and for and bequeath to my Sonne in Lawe, John Fra: Collyns
defalt of such issue to my daughter Judith Hall gent & my daughter Susanna his wife Julyus Shawe
and the heires Males of her bodie lawfullie whom I ordaine & make executours of this John Robinson
yssueinge, and for defalt of such issue to the my Last will and testament. Hamnet Sadler
Right heires of me the saied William And I doe intreat & Appoint the saied Robert Whattcott
ITEM 14
Registration of Shakespeare’s burial
The entry from the parish register of the burial of William Shakespeare,
which took place on 25 April 1616 in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.
[1616] Aprill 25 will Shakspere gent
126
The Exhibits
ITEM 15
127
Shakespeare
Shakespeare
around the world
Shakespeare himself never travelled abroad, but his work left England early –
in 1607, aboard the East India Company’s ship Dragon where, off the coast of
Sierra Leone, Captain William Keeling’s crew performed Hamlet and Richard II.
Hamlet was performed at sea again the following year, its function, as Keeling
explained, was “to keep my people from idleness and unlawful games, or sleep”
P
rofessional actors were visiting much routes. It left with British soldiers garrisoned
of Europe, but little is known about in Canada after 1763; via the English
their repertoires and touring largely education system to the former colonies and
ceased during the Thirty Years War the Commonwealth; to Japan as a Hamlet
(1618–48). The main proliferation quotation, “Neither a borrower nor a lender
occurred from the eighteenth century be”, in Samuel Smiles’ Victorian Self Help; but
onwards as “Shakespeare” travelled abroad mainly through performance and, to the non-
ABOVE Medals struck in Argentina to
in a range of guises and along a variety of English speaking world, through translation. celebrate Shakespeare’s 400th birthday
128
Shakespeare around the world
INSET Welcome
Msomi’s Zulu adaptaton
of Macbeth, Umabatha, Voltaire
was irst performed in (François-Marie
Natal in 1972 and has Arouet)
since been presented all
around the world c.1694–1778
12
Shakespeare
130
Shakespeare around the World
131
Shakespeare
Shakespeare on
ilm: From curtain
calls to celluloid
Shakespeare was quickly appropriated by the new medium as motion
pictures developed from the experiments of Edison and the Lumiere
brothers in the early 1890s. While Shakespeare provided kudos and
cultural capital to the emerging form, the new medium itself appealed to ABOVE D. W. Griiths’ 1916 silent Hollywood
Macbeth with Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and
the entrepreneurial instincts of the major theatre practitioners Constance Collier
S
hakespeare on ilm has its origins of King John by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree Richard III survives, were actually shot on
in, and has largely been sustained – as the two opened simultaneously in 1899 stage at Stratford. The postural and gestural
by, the “actor-manager” tradition that but the ilm, which used the stage costumes, extravagance, a staple of late nineteenth-
shifted from one performance arena clearly relected Tree’s work at Her Majesty’s century stage acting, was not inappropriate
to another. The backbone of screen Theatre. The short ilms made by Frank for the demands of black-and-white, silent
Shakespeare has been directors who are also Benson’s company, of which only the 1911 ilms. These early pieces, plus Hamlet of
ine stage actors – Olivier, Welles, Branagh,
McKellen – the “actor-director” tradition
and the link between theatre and ilm
“The postural extravagance was not
performance has been strong. Scholars argue inappropriate for the demands of
about the relationship between stage and
screen of the irst surviving ilm – a segment black-and-white, silent films”
132
Shakespeare on film
LEFT The Mechanicals in Reinhardt’s 1935 A Misummer Night’s Dream, with James
Cagney, seconf left, as Bottom Orson Welles as
Falstaf in Chimes
BELOW Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in the 1929 The Taming of the Shrew, at Midnight
the irst full-length Shakespeare “talkie”
Orson Welles,
c.1915–85
1913 with Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson, productions of Julius Caesar and Marcantonio Hollywood used established screen actors in
established the enduring practice, in the e Cleopatra were recorded in 1908 and 1913. the irst full-length talkie – the 1929 Taming
UK at least, of Shakespeare on ilm as the Amongst the most innovative early silent of the Shrew directed by Sam Taylor with
province of stage actors. As the medium ilms was the German production of Hamlet Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in the
developed, the lavish “pictorial realism” of with the Danish actress Asta Nielsen in leading roles. The taming sequences were
the sets of the late Victorian stage could be the title role. This ofered a psychological the occasion for carefully choreographed
reproduced and exploited more efectively interpretation of the play with Nielsen – a slapstick humour that relected Taylor’s
than within the conines of a theatre. woman – in love with Horatio. background and expertise in silent comedy.
Similar developments were evident The development of Shakespeare on ilm Kate attacked Petruccio with a stool and,
throughout Europe. As early as 1900, the duel in the United States was more complex. D. W. far from being cowed or submissive at the
scene from Sarah Bernhardt’s stage Hamlet Griiths used English and American stage end, concluded the ilm with an exaggerated
was ilmed in France, while in Italy lavish actors for silent ilms of Macbeth and Lear. conspiratorial wink to the audience.
133
Shakespeare
BELOW Orson Welles in the title role of his black and white 1952 Othello
134
Shakespeare on film
Max Reinhardt,
1873–1943
medium with striking efects of shadow and and Juliet from the same year (which also of France (and, in so doing, drawing on
moonlight. It may be seen as the precursor used British actors – Leslie Howard and the patriotic impulses of the time); Hamlet
of the “art house” Shakespeare ilms of much Norma Shearer) was successful at the box relected Olivier’s stage experience in the
later in the century, such as the Tempests of oice. Both lacked Reinhardt’s lair and were role; and the third, the faux-medieval
Derek Jarman (1980), Paul Mazursky (1982) ponderous, reverential cinema. Olivier’s Richard III of 1955, gave a script credit to
and Peter Greenaway (Prospero’s Books, own trilogy of Shakespeare ilms was much the eighteenth-century text adapters Colley
1991). Even when colour was available more dynamic while each acknowledged its Cibber and David Garrick. Orson Welles also
to them, some subsequent directors theatrical origins. The irst, Henry V from drew on his experience as a precocious actor
chose to ilm in black and white. Much 1943, began with a view of Elizabethan and director and translated his powerful
of the strength and tension, and indeed London and the Chorus delivered at the Shakespeare stage persona into a trilogy of
seriousness, of Olivier’s Hamlet (1948), Orson Globe Theatre before moving to the ields enduring ilms.
Welles’ Othello (1952) and Peter Brook’s King
Lear (1971) is achieved through an interplay
of light and dark. “Olivier’s own trilogy of films was
Olivier’s irst Shakespeare ilm was as
Orlando in Paul Czinner’s 1936 As You Like
much more dynamic while each
It, but neither it nor George Cukor’s Romeo acknowledged its theatrical origins”
135
135
Shakespeare
Shakespeare on ilm:
Stretching the
boundaries
Shortly after Olivier and Welles’ influential trilogies,
Shakespeare on film began to spread significantly
beyond the English-speaking world and Europe. Not
surprisingly perhaps, given the familiarity of their
plots and the perception that they possessed universal
significance, the most popular vehicles for such
cultural journeys were the tragedies
I
n Russia, Sergei Yutkevich’s Othello RIGHT Elizabeth Taylor as Kate
in Franco Zeirelli’s colourful
(1955) used Boris Pasternak’s translation Taming of the Shrew in 1966.
of Shakespeare and Katchachurian’s The ilm beneited from the
music to create a powerful and more of-screen relationship between
Taylor and Richard Burton who
romantic rendering of the story than played Petruchio
was common in the west. Nine years later
Grigori Kozintsev’s Hamlet presented
a hero – played by the stage actor
Innokenti Smoktunovski – who
remains, for many, the definitive
Dane. The decision to deliver
the monologues as voice-
overs gave added power
to the representation.
136
Shakespeare on film
Franco Zeffirelli
1923
“Successful
stage productions
were being
transferred to the
cinema screen”
137
Shakespeare
Throughout the period, successful stage and the same director’s film version of his RSC RIGHT The
1930s setting of
productions were being transferred to the Othello with Willard White in the title role and Ian McKellen
cinema screen. This is a commercial and McKellen as Iago. While not all have translated (here in the
title role)
artistic development that has left records well – Olivier’s large-scale acting seems
and Richard
of some great performances: Olivier and inappropriate for the screen (and his “blacking Loncraine’s
Maggie Smith in Othello (Stuart Burge, 1965, up” as Othello now very unfashionable) – other Richard III gave
a twentieth-
a version of the National Theatre production); theatre off-shoots endure effectively. Ian century political
Peter Hall’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream of McKellen and Richard Loncraine’s Richard relevance to
the plot
1969 based on his RSC production with a III of 1995 which developed from ideas first
cast that included Diana Rigg, Helen Mirren explored in Richard Eyre’s Royal National
and Judi Dench; Peter Brook’s particularly Theatre production is less a filmed record than
dark 1971 King Lear starring Paul Scofield a re-working, with significant textual cuts, an
and based on the production for the RSC extension of the 1930s setting and the use of
of 1962; Trevor Nunn’s Macbeth with Judi familiar London buildings as well as location
Dench and Ian McKellen of 1979 based on settings such as Shoreham airport and Rye
the small-scale, in-the-round, RSC production; harbour. And the films of Kenneth Branagh, a
Kenneth Branagh
INSET Kenneth Branagh’s cross-At-
1960– lantic casting (including here Denzel
Washington and Michael Keaton)
gave Much Ado About Nothing, 1993,
A Shakespearian in the Olivier tradition wide box-oice appeal
(and strongly inluenced by him) who
achieved success with the RSC, Branagh
founded the Renaissance Company and
directed popular Shakespeare ilms
clearly informed by his stage work. He
took the lead in his screen versions of
Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing
(1993) and a full text Hamlet (1997) and
played Berowne in a musical version of
Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000), in each case
attracting the highest calibre stage and
ilm actors to join him. He played Iago in
Oliver Parker’s Othello opposite Laurence
Fishburne and continues to explore the
potential of Shakespeare on ilm.
138
Shakespeare on film
pillar of the actor-manager-director tradition, Julie Taymor’s Titus (1999 with Anthony
have their roots in his own performances and Hopkins and Jessica Lange) achieved what
in ensemble stage work. many had thought impossible – the filming
Recent films have travelled some distance of Shakespeare’s most violent play – and
from the stage and reached new audiences. in choosing an eclectic mix of Roman and
Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s modern costume and set gave the bloody
Romeo + Juliet (1996) relocated and updated play a contemporary relevance. Both are
the story to a media-obsessed US and in fine examples of Shakespeare’s sustained
the casting of Leonardo diCaprio and Claire popularity, adaptability and enduring power
Danes appealed particularly to the young. to communicate through new media.
139
Shakespeare
Shakespeare in
G
arrick conducted affairs with a wand
crafted from the mulberry tree
supposedly planted by Shakespeare,
wore a waistcoat in rainbow
“Picasso
celebrated the
quartercentenary
INSET Placido Domingo
in the title role of Verdi’s
of his birth with
Otello, which was
composed in 1887 12 drawings
of Hamlet”
140
Shakespeare in other media
141
Shakespeare
burlesques of Hamlet rendered into comic because they exploit and enhance the tragic
rhyming couplets. Best received have tone as well as the plot of the original. The
been the translations into new media musical version of the same play, West Side
that have retained mood as well as basic Story (stage 1957 and film 1961), remains a
plot or character. Verdi’s Otello (1887) and powerful work because, in addition to its
Falstaff (1893) are enduringly popular, not skillful updating to immigrant communities
least because they retain and explore the in New York, its music and lyrics (Bernstein
tone – tragic in one, comic in the other – of and Sondheim) and dance (Robbins) support
their source material. Similarly, the ballet and complement Shakespeare’s plot.
versions of Romeo and Juliet that use Just as Shakespeare himself drew heavily
Prokofiev’s music (there have been at least on the work of others for the basis of his
six, choreographed by Lavrovsky, 1940; plots, so now creative people, worldwide,
Ashton, 1955; Cranko, 1958; MacMillan, 1965; exploit his familiarity and fame to craft new
Neumeier, 1974 and Nureyev, 1977) work works in new media.
BELOW Shakespeare has been used to advertise beer, cigars, breakfast cereals and here “Draper’s Ink” Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
1840–93
143
Shakespeare - The Exhibits
ITEM 16
A ticket for part of the Jubilee celebrations
A ticket for part of the Jubilee celebrations on 6 September 1769. The Jubilee
festivities were organized principally by the actor-manager David Garrick.
ITEM 17
Ticket for the
tercentenary
celebrations
One of the tickets
issued for the
tercentenary
celebrations
in 1864 which
commemorated the
birth of Shakespeare.
144
The Exhibits
ITEM 19
Design for
role of
King Lear
ITEM 18 A design by
Kandis Cook for
Prop letter used for Macbeth the role of King
The prop letter used for a production of Lear, which was
Macbeth by Henry Irving. Ellen Terry played by Corin
took the role of Lady Macbeth and the Redgrave, for
letter was signed by her on the back to the RSC’s 2004
commemorate the 100th performance. production.
145
145
Shakespeare - The Exhibits
ITEM 20
Programme for performance
of Cymbeline
A commemorative programme for a
performance of Cymbeline by Henry Irving
that took place at the Royal Lyceum Theatre
in London on 22 October 1896.
146
The Exhibits
147
Shakespeare: Rebel with a cause
T
wo guards grabbed him tightly and he thought. Damn him and his desire for a streets he was forced to stand. His head
dragged him down a stone corridor, male heir and his lust for Anne Boleyn that was placed in a noose and he was briefly
his shackled legs meaning he was had seen him turn his back on the Catholic hanged. Cut down while still alive, his
unable to keep up the frantic pace faith he had been brought up in. And bowels were removed before his beating
they had set. He was determined damn that German monk Martin Luther heart was dragged from his body and
to show no sign of weakness and tried to whose actions had led the Protestant he was cut into four pieces. His severed
concentrate on the senses around him, Reformation that had swept through head was held aloft. This was England in
such as the rats scurrying by his feet, Europe and ultimately been adopted the late-16th century – Queen Elizabeth’s
the insects crawling on the walls and throughout England. religious compromise wasn’t without its
the warmth on his face from the burning Southwell was levered inside the share of pain and suffering.
torches that illuminated the short path. cramped, dank space. He recognised it This was the world William Shakespeare
How had things come to this? He from the descriptions of others whose fate lived in as he wrote his great works. He
was Robert Southwell, born into a good had brought them here; it was Limbo, the had moved to London from Stratford-upon-
family and a man who devoted his life to most feared cell within Newgate Prison, Avon in 1587, leaving behind his young
God, being ordained a priest in 1584 in inside a gate in the Roman London Wall. family to pursue a career as an actor and a
Rome. But what had been one of the best The door closed and the guards walked playwright with the troupe Lord Strange’s
years of his life had also turned into one away. His heart beating wildly with fear, he Men. He had married Anne Hathaway in
of the most bitter when later the same reflected on his decision to leave Rome in 1582, when he was 18 and she was 26, and
year, the ‘Jesuits, etc Act’ had ordered all 1586 to travel back to England to work as a together they had three children, Susanna,
Roman Catholic priests to leave England. Jesuit missionary, staying with numerous Hamnet and Judith. But the lure of the
They were given 40 days’ grace to do so Catholic families; becoming a wanted man. stage had been too strong to ignore.
and many of his friends had hurriedly Eventually, the door swung open and It had not taken Shakespeare long to
scrambled their belongings together and he was dragged out of his cramped cell. make a name for himself. His first play,
fled the island nation for friendlier shores. He could barely stand as he was taken Henry VI, Part 1, written in 1591, made
These were difficult times to be a Catholic to trial, hauled before Lord Chief Justice its debut a year later. It was successful
in England. John Popham and indicted as a traitor. He enough to make fellow playwrights
Pain ripped through his body as the defiantly laid out his position, admitted jealous. One of them was Robert Greene,
guards swung him around a corner to being a priest and his sentence was arguably the first professional author
and flung open a new cell door for him. passed. He was, Popham said, to be in England. Unlike Shakespeare, he
Looking at the horrible conditions his hanged, drawn and quartered. After being was university educated and urged his
mind raced back. Damn that Henry VIII, beaten on the journey through London’s friends not to give Shakespeare any work,
149
Shakespeare
calling him an ‘upstart crow.’ Shakespeare and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare:
was unmoved by such words. It would be, “Shakespeare’s family are thought to have
academics conferred later, a sign he was been Catholics […] his early years would have
making his mark. echoed to angry discussions of the impact
By 1594, he had written more plays and of fines and imprisonments, the liberties
seen both Venus and Adonis and The taken by the Queen’s commissioners, the
Rape of Lucrese published. He dedicated wreckage under Edward and the wicked
them to his patron Henry Wriothesley, the errors of the old King.”
Earl of Southampton. He liked the Earl. Speaking out against the establishment
Southampton was from a long Catholic was hard – not least for those who wanted
dynasty and he appreciated poetry and to keep their heads. Anyone wanting to
theatre. When the theatres re-opened in put across another point of view had to
1594 following an outbreak of bubonic be smart and Asquith believes the man
plague, he was keen to invite the Earl who would go on to be England’s most
along. After all, Shakespeare’s new troupe, celebrated poet and playwright rebelled and
Lord Chamberlain’s Men, was becoming devised a secret code, inserting messages
popular, with them even invited to perform ABOVE The Spanish Armada tried to overthrow and double meaning into his writing. It isn’t
in the royal court of Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth I’s rule in England with a massive as outlandish as it may sound; cryptology
naval assault
Shakespeare had also bought shares in Lord had been used since ancient times and
Chamberlain’s Men and was becoming a had banished the cult of saints, destroying there were examples of secret codes being
powerful and influential figure. shrines and banning the population of used in this time period. For example, it
The Reformation had changed England’s England from making pilgrimages. Riots is known that Mary, Queen of Scots used
approach to religion, moving the country in 1549 were repressed in the most vicious a cipher secretary called Gilbert Curle to
away from its Catholic roots and into the of ways – the reformers would hang priests handle her secret correspondence. It wasn’t
arms of Protestantism. But it had not been as from church towers and lop off the heads of entirely sophisticated, though, so her plot to
peaceful a transition as is sometimes painted. laymen who refused to obey the new order. overthrow Elizabeth was soon uncovered
Protest leaders who encouraged more than All this affected the Bard; he wasn’t – Catholic double agent Gilbert Gifford
30,000 priests, gentry and commoners to writing in a bubble and nor were the actors intercepted letters that had been smuggled
demand a return to Catholicism in 1536 had who performed his work. Clare Asquith out in casks of ale and reported them to
been executed. Two years later, reformers states in Shadowplay: the Hidden Beliefs Sir Francis Walsingham, who had created a
school for espionage.
With the death of Mary I and the accession Previously James VI, King of Scotland, the Two main forces were at play during
of her half sister Elizabeth I, the religion of union of the Scottish and English crowns Shakespeare’s lifetime in England: the
England changed. Elizabeth took the made him the ruler of both countries, as monarch and religion. The monarch
country towards Protestantism. It is hard to well as Ireland. James was a great admirer held ultimate power over the life of their
overstate just how an important part of of the arts and it is believed Shakespeare citizens, literally the power of life and
everyday life religion was during wrote Macbeth to win his favour. The Lord death. Staying on the right side of those
Shakespeare’s lifetime. During the course of Chamberlain’s Men, the troupe changed in power was obviously a strong inluence
the Bard’s life people believed so strongly in their name to The King’s Company and on the Bard and his plays as it was vital
either Catholicism or Protestantism that received more money and performed for his career and for his life that he
they refused to recant their beliefs even more regularly for James than they had remained in the good graces of those
when they were burned alive at the stake. for Elizabeth. in power.
One of England’s golden monarchs returned For centuries, English society had been a Like all creative writers, Shakespeare was
England to Protestantism but allowed some feudal one with a very clear distinction heavily inluenced by the great writers that
Catholic traditions to continue and argued between the upper and the lower classes. had gone before him. Chaucer, one of
for greater toleration than her sister had. During the his life, this began to change, a England’s greatest poets, was a major
Much of her reign coexisted with that of middle class had started to emerge – social inluence as seen by the fact that several of
Shakespeare. His work became known to mobility was increasing, you no longer had the Bard’s works were based on Chaucer
her and she became one of his patrons. She to born a peer to become a wealthy person. poems. Greek writer Plutarch also provided
was undoubtedly a major inluence on him Shakespeare is a good example of this as, inspiration for his works and Shakespeare
and some of his poems and plays contained although born to a good family, he climbed sometimes copied whole passages of his
passages directly aimed at pleasing her. the social strata through his success. work, with only minor alterations.
151
Shakespeare
The Armada was defeated but it had Puritans and to the ‘high’ church services
succeeded in creating further religious that would include mass as opposed to
and political divisions, so the authorities the ‘low’ services that didn’t. If this theory
were on even greater alert. Within this is true – a matter of some debate – then
world Shakespeare got to work and, at first, it enabled Shakespeare to get specific
kept things simple. “My reading is that the messages across, using characters to
early plays were light, comical, critical and signify the two sides and by using words
oppositional, written for Lord Strange’s Men”, commonly associated with Catholic codes.
asserts Asquith. The earliest plays addressed For example, according to the theory, ‘love’
political reunion and spiritual revival. Their is divided into human and spiritual and
Religious compromise? plots related to divided families, parallels for ‘tempest’ refers to the turbulence of the
an England cut in two. Reformation and Counter-Reformation and
With the death of King Edward VI in Asquith believes the Bard placed certain the Bard used his own terms to disguise a
1553, struck with fever and cough that markers in his texts that signalled a second, message that was pro-Catholic.
gradually worsened, Mary I ascended hidden meaning. He would use opposing At the same time, Shakespeare was
to the throne and called a halt to the words such as ‘fair’ and ‘dark’ and ‘high’ operating in establishment circles. “He was
Reformation. She swung England and ‘low’: ‘fair’ and ‘high’ being indications drawn into the orbit of the court and wrote
irmly back towards Catholicism, of Catholicism while ‘dark’ and ‘low’ would elegant pleas for toleration to Elizabeth, in
causing reformers to run scared and indicate Protestantism. Asquith takes this the elaborate allegorical language she was
lee. Among those displaced was civil as reference to the black clothes worn by used to”, says Asquith. But England was
servant William Cecil, his relief of a
lucky escape palpable as he heard of
the 273 Protestants burnt to death in “He devised a secret code, inserting
Mary’s reign. Terror had been brought
on the Protestants but Cecil had the ear
messages and double meaning
of Elizabeth. She had embraced the
Church of England, so much that she
into his writing”
had been imprisoned for two months
in the Tower of London by her
half-sister Mary, who feared she was
part of a plot to depose her.
When Mary died in 1558, Cecil
wanted to return to a Protestant
England. Elizabeth I succeeded the
throne and Cecil became her advisor.
Within the year, a uniform state
religion had returned. Elizabeth was
conirmed as Supreme Governor of the
Church of England.
The Act of Uniformity in 1558 set the
order of prayer in the English Book of
Common Prayer. Cruciixes and
candlesticks were allowed. Protestants
who had led returned and wanted
their religion to be supreme. Cecil
ensured Catholics would be excluded
from public life but allowed them to INSET The
religious upheaval
worship as long as they didn’t threaten before and during
the queen and did so discreetly. Elizabeth I’s
reign saw many
Catholics who rose would be dealt with people executed
in the most serious of ways.
152
Shakespeare: Rebel with a cause
Titus Andronicus Taming Of The Shrew King Lear The Winter’s Tale
Synopsis: Written between Synopsis: Written between Synopsis: The tragedy is set Synopsis: Suspicious that his
1588 and 1593, the play is set 1590 and 1592, the courtship in the court of an ageing friend is his pregnant wife’s
in the latter days of the of Petruchio is at the heart of monarch. He wants to pass lover, Leontes accuses his
Roman Empire. Bloody in the the play. It shows his the monarchy to his three wife of inidelity and having
extreme, the play explores attempts to tame the wild daughters and asks them to an illegitimate child. Having
the life of a ictional Roman Katherina, a girl he loves but prove they love him the best ordered the newborn baby to
general, Titus, caught in a is rebuffed by until he but one cannot so he splits it be abandoned, he is later
vicious circle of revenge manages to win her over. between two before falling reunited with her, much to
with the queen of the into madness. his delight.
Goths, Tamora. Rebel? Displaying evidence of
the ‘high-low’ opposition Rebel? Lear’s actions caused a Rebel? With the play believed
Rebel? Shakespeare appears language that Shakespeare tumbling efect as various to have been written in 1611,
to be pleading for calm among used to refer to Catholics and people were banished, this was one of Shakespeare’s
England’s dissidents, having Protestants, Katherina is reunited, imprisoned and later plays and it appears to
written a play that highlights “brown in hue.” Her sister is heartbroken. Asquith claims contain a strong message:
sufering and repression while called Bianca, meaning ‘white’ this is an “unvarnished “After all the post-reformation
arguing the case against a and she is the respectable one dramatisation of the state of trauma, the spirituality that
violent rebellion. The message, of the two. This paints James’ England, a inal attempt was lost turns out to have been
claims Asquith, is very much Katherina to be like a reformer to awaken the King to the secretly preserved”, says
about biding time, waiting for and in need of being brought intolerable humiliations and Asquith. As with The Tempest,
help in the guise of a promised into line. Asquith says the suferings of his Catholic Pericles and Cymbeline, The
invasion and, as such, it “oddly political language” subjects.” She tells us the Winter’s Tale started with
mirrored the rhetoric of used by the chastened shrew is message within is clear: “If you sufering and ended with
Catholic leaders who stressed “meant to alert us to the play’s exile true Christian spirituality happiness. It showed a
England would be saved via secondary level.” For those – and both puritans and transition that could put past
diplomacy or invasion rather accustomed to inding deeper Catholics were exiled – the remorse to bed, highlighting
than an internal uprising. “It is meanings, the message would country descends into amoral the possibility that evils can be
a gory portrayal of just the have been obvious, according anarchy.” She adds: “It is worth defeated and overcome and
kind of state atrocities to her. She says: “The play noticing that though he that a true home can be found
conducted in the mid-1590s, shows England as a warring discourages mob-led rebellion, for spiritualism if it is wanted.
and in the previous reign as family, the monarch helpless he includes nine invasions in It would have encouraged the
well. Yet it discourages equally to stop vengeful puritans his work, and they are all audience to keep the faith and
bloody revenge”, says Asquith. baiting afflicted Catholics.” portrayed as positive events.” not give up hope.
153
Shakespeare
becoming more violent again. Shakespeare’s meaning that transcended the literal sense
patron, the Earl of Southampton, rebelled of the text.
against Elizabeth I, becoming Robert, When King James assumed the throne in
Earl of Essex’s lieutenant in an attempt 1603, Catholics had assumed that he would
to raise the people of London against lend them greater support than Elizabeth,
the government. The Essex faction had given that his mother was a staunch Catholic.
ordered a performance of the ‘deposition’ But that was not to be and Shakespeare
play Richard II just before the rebellion and must have been well aware of a growing
Shakespeare’s company had their work political and religious resentment against
cut out afterward denying complicity. The ABOVE The Gunpowder Plot was a politically and the monarchy, with a feeling of rebellion
plan ended in failure in 1601, but in that religiously charged conspiracy to blow up the Houses growing. His plays in this period became
of Parliament
same year, Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, more cynical, which some have speculated
encouraging action against unjust rule. “His was a consequence of the world he was
more critical work supported the cause of on spiritual heritage, with the play Two living in.
the Earl of Essex against the [William] Cecil Gentlemen Of Verona cited as evidence of Matters came to a head with an explosive
regime”, says Asquith. If this is true, then this. The more elaborate plays retained the event in 1605. Five conspirators, Guy
Shakespeare really was one of the defining puns, wordplay and double meanings so Fawkes, Thomas Wintour, Everard Digby
rebels of the period. beloved of audiences in Elizabethan times, and Thomas Percy hired a cellar beneath
Critics have said for decades that the but Asquith notes that some of Shakespeare’s the Houses of Parliament for a few weeks,
writer was against populist rebellions and characters came to be increasingly dramatic spending time gathering gunpowder and
supported authority and the rule of law, “but and allegorical; they had a hidden spiritual storing it in their newly acquired space. Their
plan was to blow the building sky high,
154
Shakespeare: Rebel with a cause
He was an Italian
Those who argue Shakespeare was not
quite who he claims he was are called
anti-Stratfordians. One of their theories
is that Shakespeare – or Michaelangelo
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Carlton Books would like to thank the following for Downey, (tr) Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library, Topfoto; 103: Topfoto/Woodmansterne; 104: (bc)
their help in the production of this book: Andrew Washington; 49: (cl) RSC/William H. Sullivan, (tl) MEPL; 104&105: BAL/The Holburne Museum of Art,
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Extra special thanks to David Howells, Curator, and Collection; 54: (tr) RSC/Angus McBean; 54&55: (b) Topfoto/Fotomas, (b) Corbis Images/Historical
Helen Robson of the Royal Shakespeare Company RSC; 55: (tl) RSC, (tr) Topfoto; 56: (l) RSC/Alix Stone, Picture Archive; 110: (bl) Corbis Images/Stapleton
for their patience and hard work behind the scenes. (tc) SBT/Malcolm Davies Collection, (br) SBT/The Collection, (tl) Corbis Images/ Bettmann, (tc & br)
Thos. F. and Mig Holte Photographic Collection; 57: MEPL; 111: (br) MEPL, (t) RSC; 112: (br) SBT, (tr) Corbis
Picture Credits (tr) SBT/Malcolm Davies Collection, (tl) SBT/Reg Images, (bl) Corbis Images/Historical Picture
The publishers would like to thank the following Wilson, (bl) RSC, (br) SBT/Malcolm Davies Archive; 113: (tr) MEPL, (tl) RSC; 114&115: (b) Topfoto;
sources for their kind permission to reproduce the Collection; 58: (cl) Corbis Images/Godfrey Thurston 115: (tr) Corbis Images/Bettmann, ( c) Corbis/
pictures in this book. Hopkins/Hulton-Deutsch Collection, (tr) Topfoto/ Hulton-Deutsch Collection, (b) Topfoto; 116: (tl)
Abbreviations Fotomas; 59: (tl) BAL/William Hogarth/Walker Art Mander and Mitchenson, (bl) Birmingham City
BAL = Bridgeman Art Library Gallery, National Museum, Liverpool, (tr) BAL/Centre Council/reproduced by permission of Birmingham
MEPL = Mary Evans Picture Library Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, France/ Library and Information services and the Sir Barry
RGA = Ronald Grant Archive Archives Charmet, (br) RSC; 60: (t) RSC/Reg Wilson, Jackson Trust; 117: (tr) Corbis Images/John Springer
RSC = The Royal Shakespeare Company (br) RSC/J. Dockar-Drysdale; 61: (tr) BAL/engraved by Collection, (tl) Rex Features/Guy Drayton, (cl) RSC/
SBT = The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Edward Fisher/after Jean Baptiste Vanloo/Private Reg Wilson; 118: (bl) Corbis Images/Hulton-Deutsch
Collection, (b) RSC/John Haynes, (tc) RSC/Reg Collection, (tl)Corbis Images/Pierre Vauthey/Corbis
8: RSC,: 9: BAL/( b)Yale Center for British Art, Paul Wilson; 62: (t) BAL/Victoria and Albert Museum, Sygma; 119: (tl) RSC/Reg Wilson, (tr) Craig Holmes/
Mellon Fund, USA; 10: (tr)Topfoto, (cl) MEPL; 11: BAL/ London, (br) RSC; 63: (tr) Corbis Images/Hulton- Loop Images/Corbis, (cl) RSC/Reg Wilson; 120: (br)
Nicholas Hilliard/Walker Art Gallery, National Deutsch/Gordon Anthony, (tl) RSC, (bl) SBT/Joe SBT, (t) Corbis Images/Kaveh Kazemi; 121: (tr) Corbis
Museums, Liverpool; 12: (tl) BAL/Nicholas Hilliard/ Cocks Studio Collection; 64: (bl) Topfoto/Michael Images/Archivio Iconograico, S.A.; 122: (bl) Stratford
Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, (tr) Topfot/ Ward, (t) SBT/Malcolm Davies Collection; 65: RSC; Festival Archives, Ontario, (br) Ruphin Coudyzer;
Fotomas, (br) Topfoto/Public Record Oice/HIP; 13: 66: (br) BAL/James Northcote/Manchester Art 123: (tl) SBT, (tr) Folger Shakespeare Library,
(b) Topfoto/RHR, (tr) Topfoto/RHR, ( c) Corbis; 14&15: Gallery, (tr) RSC; 67: BAL/Benjamin Wilson/®Yale Washington, (br) Corbis Images/Adrian Dennis/EPA;
(b) National Portrait Gallery, London; 15: (tr) MEPL; Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, USA, 132: (cr) RGA, (t) Corbis Images/John Springer
16: (cl) Topfot/Fotomas, (br) Topfoto/Fotomas; 16&17: Paul Mellon Fund; 68: (t) Shakespeare Theatre Collection; 133: (tr) RGA/Alpine Films, (tl) AKG
(t) MEPL; 17: (tr) MEPL, (br) Topfoto/Fotomas; 18&19: Company, Washington, USA/Carol Rosegg, (br) RSC/ London/United Artists/Album; 134: (cr) RGA, (tr)
(b) National Trust Photo Library; 19: (r) Topfoto//PAL; Manuel Harlan; 69: (tr) Topfoto, (br) RSC/Reg Wilson, Topfoto, (tl) RGA/Two Cities; 135: (tr) AKG, (tl)Rex
20: (tr) Topfoto/Woodmansterne; 21: (tr) Vanessa (bl) RSC/Reg Wilson, (tl) University of Birmingham/ Features/SNAP; 136: (bl) RGA/Toho, (br) Corbis
Daubney, with kind permission of Stratford-upon- The University of Birmingham Collections; 70: RSC/ Images/Sunset Boulevard; 136&137: (t) RGA/
Avon Town Trust, ( c) Topfoto/Spectrum Colour Reg Wilson; 71: (tr) MEPL, (tc) RSC/John Bury, (bl) Bazmark; 137: (br) RGA/Lenilm, (tr) Corbis Images/
Library, (b) Topfoto/ Woodmansterne, (t) MEPL/ RSC/Donald Cooper; 72: (tr) Topfoto, (tl) RSC/Angus Christopher Felver; 138: (bl) RGA/Castle Rock
Bruce Castle Museum; 22: National Trust Photo McBean; 73: (cl) SBT/Joe Cocks Studio Collection, (tl) Entertainment; 138&139: (b) Corbis Images/Bureau
Library; 23: (b) Rex Features/Nicholas Bailey, (tr) RSC/Angus McBean, (tr) Rex Features/Everett L.A. Collection, (t) Corbis Images/Sygma; 139: (cr)
Vanessa Daubney, with kind permission of the Dean Collection, ( c) RSC; 74: Topfoto; 75: (b) SBT/Reg RGA/Filmways, (br) RGA/Titus Productions; 140: (l)
and Chapter of Southwark; 24: ( r) Vanessa Daubney, Wilson; 76: (tl) Thelma Holt Limited, (bc) MEPL, (tr) Corbis Images/Fabian Cevallos; 142: (tl) Corbis
with kind permission of Stratford-upon-Avon Town SBT/Joe Cocks Studio Collection; 77: ( c) RSC/Manuel Images/Hulton-Deutsch Collection, (tr) Corbis
Trust, (tar) MEPL, (tl) Topfoto; 26: (r) MEPL; 26&27: (t) Harlan, (cr) AKG London, (tl) Corbis Images/Condé Images/Robbie Jack, (tl) Corbis Images/Roger Wood;
Topfoto/Corporation of London/HIP; 27: (bl) BAL/ Nast Archive/Cecil Beaton, (bl) RSC; 80: (tr) RSC/Joe 144: (tl) Picture Desk/The Art Archive; 144&145: (br)
studio of Daniel Mytens/Private Collection, Philip Cocks, (cr) AKG London/Sotheby’s; 80&81: (b) RSC/ AKG London/Erich Lessing; 145: (tl)The Advertising
Mould, Historical Portraits Ltd, London; 28: (bl) Reg Wilson; 81: (bl) RSC/Reg Wilson, (tl) RSC/Angus Archive Ltd, (br) Topfoto.
Topham Picturepoint; (tr) BAL/WIlliam Larkin/ McBean, (tr) BAL/Private Collection, (br) MEPL; 92:
Audley End, Essex; 28&29: (t) BAL/Joris Hoefnagel/ (tl) BAL/Hilliard/Victoria and Albert Museum, Every efort has been made to acknowledge correctly
Hatield House, Hertfordshire, (tl) MEPL; 29: (bl) London, (bl) RSC/Reg Wilson, (br) BAL/Lambeth and contact the source and/or copyright holder of
MEPL, (tr) BAL/John de Critz the Elder/Boughton Palace, London; 93: (cr) AKG London (tl) BAL/John each picture and Carlton Books Limited apologizes
House, Northamptonshire; 30: (b) MEPL; 31: ( r) RSC/ Critz/Private Collection; 94: BAL/Titian/Musée des for any unintentional errors or omissions which will
Reg Wilson; (tl)Private Collection; 32: (br) RSC/Reg Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux,France/Giraudon; 95: (bl) RSC, be corrected in future editions of this book.
Wilson; (tr) Topfoto; 33: (tl) RSC/Giles Keyte, (b) SBT; (cr) AKG London/Erich Lessing, (tl) RSC; 96&97: (b)
38: (bl) Topfoto; 39: (br) Topfoto/Corporation of MEPL; 97: (b) Topfot/Hogarth/Specturm Colour Exhibit Credits
London/HIP, (bl) Corbis Images/David Cummings/ Library, (tr) AKG London/Jan Claesz Visscher/British All facsimile exhibits have been reproduced by kind
Eye Ubiquitous, (tl) Topfoto; 40: BAL/Victoria & Library; 98: (tl) Topfoto/Clive Barda/ArenaPAL; permission of the following:
Albert Museum, London; 41: (br) Topfoto, (tl) BAL/ 98&99: (b) Chatsworth/The Devonshire Collection,
Eugene Delacroix/Musée des Beaux-Arts, Reims, Chatsworth. Reproduced by permission of the Bishop of Worcester: Item 2; Kandis Cook: Item 20;
France, (tr) RSC/Reg Wilson; 42: ( r)British Library; Chatsworth Settlement Trustees; 99: ( r) RSC, ( c) The National Archives: Items 8, 9, 11, 12 and 13; Royal
43: (br) Topfoto, (tr) BAL/Private Collection, AKG London; 100&101: Rex Features/Jonathan Shakespeare Company: Items 6 (pages 1, 2, 3 and 6), 7,
Giraudon, France, (tl) Topfoto; 44: (l) RSC, ( r) RSC; 45: Leigh; 101: (bl) Topfoto/The British Library/HIP/ 10 and 15; Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Records
(br) Topfoto/Fotomas, (tr) RSC/Manuel Harlan; George Vertue; 102: (tr) Rex Features/Richard Oice: Items 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 (cover, pages 4 and 5), 14, 16,
46&47: RSC/Angus McBean; 48: (tl) RSC/W & D Gardner, (br) Corbis Images/Dean Conger, (bl) 17, 18 and 19.
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