VICKY:

Around the world, William Shakespeare is known as England´s most famous playwright.
Also, he was an actor of the Renaisance era, who was born on April 23rd in 1564. He grew
up in a small town called Stratford-upon-Avon from England. He was the third child of
eigth children of Jonh Shakespeare and Mary Arden.
A few records exist of Shakespeare's childhood and virtually none regarding his
education. He most likely attended the King's New School, which taught reading, writing
and Latin. He attended until he was 14 or 15 and didn't continue to university.
When Shakespeare was 18 years old, he married Anne Hathaway, on November 28,
1582. Their first child was born on May 26th in 1583, and they named her Susanna. Two
years later, the twins, Judith and Hamnet, were born. So, he had three children in three
years!
After the birth of his twins, there are seven years of Shakespeare's life where no records
exist. But some scholars believe that between 1585 and 1592 he was in London, working
as an actor and playwright and possibly had several plays produced.
In 1594, he joined Lord Chamberlain's Men, the London acting company that he worked
with for the duration of his career. Later when King James came to the throne in 1603, he
chose Shakespeare’s group of actors to become “The King´s Men”. Around this time,
Shakespeare wrote some of his most famous tragedies.
He likely spent the last three years of his life in Stratford. He died on his 52nd birthday,
on April 23rd, in 1616.
ANTO:
It’s difficult to determine the exact chronology of Shakespeare’s plays, but over the course
of two decades, from about 1590 to 1613. Now, I´m going to describe the 5 main plays.
1. "Hamlet” is a tragedy about the moral dilemmas of Danish prince, Hamlet, who seeks
revenge for his father’s murder by his uncle, now king. Moreover, he has to cope with
madness and mortality. Famous for the line "To be, or not to be”. Shakespeare wrote this
play between 1600-1601.
2. “Romeo and Juliet” (1595-1597) is a tragedy that centers on the ill-fated love between
Romeo and Juliet, two teenagers of feuding families in Verona. Although their families’
enmity, they fall in love and marry in secret. The play explores themes of love, family
conflict, and the consequences of impulsive actions.
3. “Macbeth” (1606) is a tragedy that follows the rise and fall of the Scottish general
Macbeth. After hearing a prophecy from three witches, driven by ambition and the
encouragement of his wife, murders King Duncan to take the throne. However, his guilt
and paranoia drive him to violence.
4. “Othello” (1603) is a tragedy that tells the story of a Moorish general in the Venetian
army. He is manipulated by his subordinate, Iago, who convinces him that his wife,
Desdemona, has been unfaithful. The play explores themes of jealousy, betrayal and
racism.
5. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a comedic play that takes place in a magical forest
where the lives of humans and fairies intertwine. The plot follows the life of four Athenians
whose relationships are complicated by the fairy king Oberon and his servant, Puck.
Shakespeare wrote this play between 1595-1596.
MALE:
1. His dad was a beer taster and a glove maker. His family were in the middle –
meaning not rich, but not poor either. His dad had a number of jobs including selling
leather and wool, tasting beer and as a glove maker, and the family lived above a glove
shop.
2. He couldn’t spell. Although William was taught Latin at his local school, spelling was
not part of lessons and everyone spelled words how they wanted. He spelled his name a
number of different ways, including: Willm Shakp, William Shaksper, Wm Shakspe,
William Shakspere and Willm Shakspere. There are over 80 recorded variations of the
spelling of Shakespeare's name, but there isn´t record of him writing it as “William
Shakespeare,” as it is known today.
3. He tried to be an actor first. Shakespeare went to London to be an actor and his
brother Edmund followed him to the city to do the same. However, Will had better luck
writing plays than acting. He learned fast and produced gory tragedies, rom-coms and
comedies.
4. He was very productive. William wrote at least 37 plays in his life, that we know of –
these averages out to two per year. He also wrote a lot of poetry, mostly poems called
sonnets. In one year alone, 1609, he published 154 of them.
5. Shakespeare lived through and survived a pandemic, one of a number of waves of the
bubonic plague. Very sadly, however, his son Hamnet when he was 11, died of the plague.
This affected William’s writing and themes like disease, death and grief ran through many
of his plays. Although no one knows for certain, it’s likely that Shakespeare named his
most tragic character, Hamlet, after his son
6. “The Royal Shakespeare Company” sells more than half a million tickets a year for
Shakespeare productions in the theatres in Stratford-on-Avon, London and Newcastle.
TOMI:
7. As well as being a creative writer, William was a savvy businessman. He co-owned his
theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and the theatre Globe. He even opened
up a second theatre, a posh indoor one called Blackfriars
8. Shakespeare’s continuing success meant that, in 1597, he bought the biggest house
in Stratford-upon-Avon, which had maybe as many as 30 rooms.
Also, six years later, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men became The King’s Men, the official
performers for the new King James I of England and King James VI of Scotland. William
had officially made it big, and his family were granted a special family crest, meaning he
was now a gentleman.
9. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Shakespeare wrote nearly one-tenth
of the most quoted lines ever written or spoken in English. In fact, according to the Literary
Encyclopedia, Shakespeare is the second most quoted English writer after the authors of
the Bible.
10. William was considered a controversial figure when he married an older woman who
was pregnant with his child. Anne Hathaway was 26 years old when William married her,
and he was only 18. Six months after the wedding, Anne had the baby.
11. No one knows Shakespeare's birth date. It falls on April 23, three days before his
baptism, which was recorded on April 26. However, since he was born according to the
old Julian calendar, whatever was April 23 during William's lifetime would actually be May
3, according to the current Gregorian calendar.
JUAN CRUZ:
The Globe was a theatre in London that was built by William Shakespeare’s theatre
company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, in 1599, and it was on Maiden Lane (now known
as Park Street) in Southwark on the South side of the River Thames.
This was an open-air amphitheater shaped like a doughnut. It had a seating capacity of
up to 3,000 spectators. There were shelters over the seats and the stage, but the middle
section was open to the sky. The sun was the only source of light, so plays were
performed in the daytime instead of at night as they are now. No candles were used for
lighting because the Globe was built using very flammable materials like wood and
plaster, which meant it was vulnerable to fire.
What happened to the first Globe?
Disaster struck the Globe in 1613. On 29 June, at a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry
VIII, some small cannons were fired. They didn’t use cannon balls, but they did use
gunpowder held down by wadding. A piece of burning wadding set fire to the thatch. The
theatre burned down in about an hour.
The company built a second Globe on the brick foundations of the first. It was the same
size and shape, but was much more extravagantly decorated; the company could now
afford it. It also had a tiled roof, not a thatched one.
The Globe was closed down by the Puritans in 1642 when they issued an order for the
closure of all the theatres in London. The building itself was pulled down from 1644 to
1645 to make room for housing tenements.