A big thank you to Tudor Society member Nancy Mortensen Volgamore for sharing this thesis on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with us. With it having been the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death recently, it seems fitting to share this now.
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Around 23 April 1564, a great mind was born in a small English market town. Such an immortal mind was baptised on 26 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire. With inauspicious beginnings as the third of six children born, first to survive infancy, to a leather merchant and landed heiress, William Shakespeare would go on to lead the life of an intellectual lion, whose roar can still be heard throughout the world today.
Shakespeare’s first poems, “The Rape of Lucrece” and “Venus and Adonis” were dedicated to his patron, Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, in the early 1590s. Beginning around 1594, Shakespeare joined a theatrical company known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, with the name changing to the King’s Men upon the accession of James I in 1603. Shakespeare is credited with writing more than 154 sonnets and 37 plays.
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Today, 23rd April 2016, is the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare on 23rd April 1616, a day which is also traditionally his birthday.
Now I’m fond of Shakespeare, not only because I grew up just 12 miles from Stratford-upon-Avon, bis birthplace, but also because I love his work. I studied his plays at school and university, and I was fortunate to see a few of his plays being performed by the RSC. I have vivid memories of seeing Jonathan Pryce and Sinead Cusack in Macbeth and Jerome Flynn and Sophie Thompson in As You Like It. To this day, I can still recite Macbeth Act 1 Scene 1 by heart and a fair few lines of Hamlet’s To be or not to be soliloquy. And one of my favourite films is Baz Luhrmann’s version of Romeo and Juliet. Yes, it’s safe to say that I love the Bard!
[Read More...]As part of the celebrations for Shakespeare 400, the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death on 23rd April 2016, Shakespeare Lives, FutureLearn and the British Council are running a six-week online course – Exploring English: Shakespeare.
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The National Archives have “carried out innovative archival and scientific research into the will of one of the world’s greatest ever playwrights: William Shakespeare” and you can read all about it on their website.
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An exhibition telling the story of Shakespeare’s life in London through the paper trail left behind.
Discover the stories behind key moments in Shakespeare’s life, from the birth of the Globe theatre in London to his last days in Stratford-upon-Avon, 400 years ago.
[Read More...]As this week has been the anniversary of William Shakespeare’s marriage I thought I’d test your knowledge of the Bard. Have fun with this quiz and good luck!
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In today’s Claire Chats, I share with you some information on Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare was baptised and buried, along with photos Tim took on our recent visit.
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On this day in history, 11th July 1564, the plague hit Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare, in Warwickshire, or rather the first death from the disease was recorded in the parish.
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