Fine Arts--Theatre
Shakespeare
Home
What is Theatre
Festivals and Origins
Dionysus
Sophocles
Aristotle
Elements of Classical Tragedy
Renaissance Theatre in England
Elements of Revenge Tragedy
Shakespeare
Elizabethan and Shakespearean Acting
French Neoclassicism
French Neoclassicism II
French Theatre--16th and 17th C.
The Nineteenth Century--World Views
The Nineteenth Century--Production Changes
Nineteenth Century--The Well-made Play
Theatre of the Absurd
Absurdism as Philosophy
Existentialism--Search for Meaning
Naturalism--Emile Zola
Realism--Henrik Ibsen
Contemporary Drama: Black Theatre
Terms

Enter subhead content here

IV.  Shakespeare (brief bio)

            He was christened on April 26, 1564. April 26 is Saint George's Day; Saint George was the patron saint of England.

             In 1582, he married Anne Hathaway, 8 years his senior,and his daughter Susanna was born 6 months later.  They had twins Hamnet and Judith in 1585.  Hamnet died at age 11.

Apparently he left Stratford on Avon, his hometown, in 1585 to tour with an acting troupe.

Under two monarchs, Elizabeth I and James I, he ran acting troupes: first the Lord Chamberlain's Men then the King's Men.

             Robert Greene's pamphlet  mentions an Aupstart crowas a reference to Shakespeare.

In 1593, Shakespeare dedicated his poems to the Earl of Southampton.

By 1595, he was a "sharer" (partner) in the Lord Chamberlain's acting company.

His steady income from his share of the profits of The GLOBE (theater) allowed him to purchase a home, New Place, in Stratford on Avon in 1610.

He died on April 26, 1616.

 

Hemminge and Condell published First Folio, 1623, 36 plays, adding 20 to the 16 published in Quarto form

 

Dilemma that affects the theme and plot of many of his plays involved the question of what would happen to England when Elizabeth I died without a child.

 

Enter supporting content here

Fine Arts-Theatre with dr.b