William Shakespeare was probably born on about April 23, 1564, the date that is traditionally given for his birth. He was John and Mary Shakespeare's oldest surviving child; their first two children, both girls, did not live beyond infancy. Growing up as the big brother of the family, William had three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund, and two younger sisters: Anne, who died at seven, and Joan.
Their father, John Shakespeare, was a leatherworker who specialized in the soft white leather used for gloves and similar items. A prosperous businessman, he married Mary Arden, of the prominent Arden family. John rose through local offices in Stratford, becoming an alderman and eventually, when William was five, the town bailiff—much like a mayor. Not long after that, however, John Shakespeare stepped back from public life; we don't know why.
Shakespeare, as the son of a leading Stratford citizen, almost certainly attended Stratford's grammar school. Like all such schools, its curriculum consisted of an intense emphasis on the Latin classics, including memorization, writing, and acting classic Latin plays. Shakespeare most likely attended until about age 15.
His first printed works were two long poems written in 1593 and 1594. William Shakespeare started writing plays because he realized that he had the potential to be a great playwrighter. He also enjoyed theatre and he realized that he could also act in them.
The Globe Theatre audiences
The Elizabethan general public (the Commoners) referred to as groundlings would pay 1 penny to stand in the 'Pit' of the Globe Theater. The gentry would pay to sit in the galleries often using cushions for comfort. Rich nobles could watch the play from a chair set on the side of the Globe stage itself. Theatre performances were held in the afternoon, because, of course, there was limited artificial lighting. Men and women attended plays, but often the prosperous women would wear a mask to disguise their identity. The plays were extremely popular and attracted vast audiences to the Elizabethan Theatres. There were no toilet facilities and people relieved themselves outside. Sewage was buried in pits or disposed of in the River Thames. The audiences only dropped during outbreaks of the bubonic plague, which was unfortunately an all too common occurrence during the Elizabethan era. This happened in 1593, 1603 and 1608 when all Elizabethan theatres were closed due to the Bubonic Plague (The Black Death).
The video above is a contemporary version of a midsummers nights dream - the difference between now and then is very apparent and the obvious is the obvious - firstly there are woman in the production which would have never happened prior so thats is a big big difference which comes with the development of society also it is done in a bollywood style which is stunning and vibrant and this would have never happened not only would it have been done in a traditional style there would be no actors in the cast of another ethnicity then white - even othello was played by a white man - and with the billywood style comes dancing unless there were reacting a ballroom scene or something along those lines there would have never been dancing or any singing or music that was not in the script - the use of acrobats in the modern day interpretation looks beautiful but would be seen as a circus performance and not be tolerated in the theatre. its very existing to see shakepeares work done in a variety of different ways because it keeps his work relevant and vibrant even though his words do stand the test of time.
Hamlet at the national
Coriolanus at the national
these two adaptions are done quite traditionally but there are also some advance changes that would never had been possible in the 15th and 16th centuries - lighting for a start is something that add so much to a scene add drama and suspense which could of never been possible in shakespeares time - also the use of woman again is different - black actors would have never been used because of rasism at the time. stage production values will also be very different the money put into these modern plays are so great but this was not the case for the era.
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