Shakespeare factoids

• Shakespeare born 1564

• Stratford-on-Avon

• Christened on 26th April 1564

• Married to Ann Hathaway 

• By 1592, publication (Green’s Grotesworth of Wit) first mentioned him as an actor 

• 1594: Becomes a sharer in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men(Longest lasting company of the period)

  • Is also actor and main playwright

• 1595: King Richard II written and performed

• 1596: Merchant of Venice written and performed

• 1599: The Globe was built after The Theatre burned down

• 1603: Queen Elizabeth I dies, James IV and I becomes king, Lord Chamberlain’s Men become the Kingsmen

• 1604: Othello first written and performed

• 1608: Shakespeare’s company obtains Blackfriars Playhouse

  • Indoor playhouse

  • Causes plays to be written in Act structure

• 1611-1614: Shakespeare retires 

• 1616: Shakespeare dies

• 1623: First Folio Published

  • First collection of all the plays published

• 1642: Puritans shut down theatres 

• Theaters: 

  • Starts at The Theater which is owned by Richard Burbage (first permanent playing structure in the area - 1576)

  • 1599: To the Globe (The Rose (The Lord Admiral's Men) was the rival and stunk of pee (which the Globe didn’t))

  • 1608: Acquires Black Friars indoor theater

  • 1613 Globe burns down, moved to 

  • 1642: Puritans Close the Theatre because of the English Civil War

• Patron system to be legitimized  

• Richard Burbage: Main actor in the Lord Chamberlain’s/King's Men. 

  • Shakespeare wrote roles specifically for him 

Stage Set up

• ¾ Thrust Stage

• Balcony

• Three doors on main stage/ Discovery space

• “The heavens”/”hell”

• Universal Lighting

  • Made by the sun

• Blackfriars: Candle lighting 

Terms:

• Stage directions 

• Catharsis

  • the effects of tragedy on the audience. 

• Dramaturgy 

  • Orientation of events in a play/ structure 

• Dramatic Irony

  • Where the audience knows something that a character doesn’t

• Speech Prefix

  • A shortened name of a character in a play that appears before each of their lines

• Company 

  • ex.) Lord Chamberlain’s Men

• Patron

  • Authorized and legitimized the play companies

• Repertory

  •  The fact that Shakespeare 

•  Boy Actor

  • Boy actors played women in plays

  • No women actors

• Scene, act,  monologue, soliloquy

• An aside 

  • Spoken either to another character on stage without other actors hearing, or only to the audience and the other characters don’t hear

• Folio, Quarto 1, Quarto 2

  • Quarto: a book made from a large sheet of paper folded in half TWICE

    • Most plays printed in this form 

  • Folio: only folded ONCE

    • Reserved for important texts like Bibles and Kingswords?

• Foulpaper, Fair Copy, Licensed Copy

  • Foulpaper: an author's working drafts

  • Fair copy: final, corrected transcription of author’s original working drafts

• Memorial Reconstruction

  • People reconstruct plays from memory or notes. 

  • Not official

• Cue Scripts

  • Only have the actors lines, stage directions, and the cue line before you speak

• Prose

  • Everyday language

  • Not in verse

• Verse

  • Constructed by meter and rhyme scheme

• Iambic   

  • Unstressed syllable followed by stressed syllable                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

• Iambic Pentameter 

  • Five iterations of iamb in a line of verse 

  • eg.) I am a pirate with a wooden leg 

• Blank verse 

  • Regular meter but with not rhyming