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An introduction to the life of the: Copyright © 2011 TES English www.tes.co.uk/askshakespeare
An introduction to the life of the:
Copyright © 2011 TES English www.tes.co.uk/askshakespeare
NAME: Shakespeare is most commonly used although Shakespeare himself spelt his name in other ways too. He used: Shakespere, Shakespear, Shackspeare and Shaxpere!
FIRST NAME(S):
William. Just William.
DATE OF BIRTH:
Baptised on April 26th, 1564. Birth certificates did not exist at the time. Therefore, it is difficult to state his exact date of birth. However, baptisms generally happened three days after birth and so most people agree that Shakespeare was born on April 23rd.
PLACE OF BIRTH:
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
SIBLINGS: The third of eight children, though the two before him had died, making him the oldest of six. *
* His youngest brother, Edmund, also became an actor.Copyright © 2011 TES English www.tes.co.uk/askshakespeare
• Just one class with children from the ages of 7 – 13.
• Children attended school SIX days a week, every week of the year.
• The boys (no girls allowed!) who attended the school studied Latin – mostly just Latin.
What was Shakespeare’s schooling like?First of all, answer the following questions about
your school life.Make a note of your answers.1. How old are your classmates?2. How many days a week do you attend school?3. What time does your school day begin? And end? So how
long is your day?4. How many subjects do you study?
Shakespeare’s school
King Edward VI School
Copyright © 2011 TES English www.tes.co.uk/askshakespeare
The GlobGlobee
London,1610
Copyright © 2011 TES English www.tes.co.uk/askshakespeare
It was moved from the north to the
south of the Thames in 1599. Most of Shakespeare’s plays were
performed here. On 29 June 1613 the Globe Theatre
went up in flames during a
performance. A cannon, used in the
production, misfired and ignited the
wooden beams and thatching. It was
then rebuilt. The Globe was closed in 1642 and
demolished in 1644 by the Puritans. Today, you can visit the new Globe,
built on almost the same site, in
London.
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Most of the audience could neither read nor write, so the plays had to be
entertaining or the theatres would have made no money… and Shakespeare was a
very rich man!
3,000 people could fit into the Globe.
1,700 of them paid one penny to stand in the yard where there was no roof. They were called groundlings. This is a groundling’s point of view.
Copyright © 2011 TES English www.tes.co.uk/askshakespeare
So, how did Shakespeare attract his audiences?
A very important feature of the plays are their dramatic openings. Here are some examples:
A HUNCHBACKWitches
A FIGHT
A GHOST
Richard III Hamlet
Romeo and Juliet
Macbeth
Can you think of some reasons why these openings would have enthralled Shakespeare’s audiences? Think about the social class of the audience as well as the world of theatre. Discuss your ideas in small groups.
Copyright © 2011 TES English www.tes.co.uk/askshakespeare
The importance of HUMOUR!
the biggest
stars were
the clowns
Will
K
em
pe
Robert
Arm
in
Shakespeare became so cross with Kempe’s fame (and improvising) that he sacked him!
ha ha!
ha
ha!
ha ha ha
haaa!
he he
heee ha!
waaaha ha
ha!
Copyright © 2011 TES English www.tes.co.uk/askshakespeare
…the ghost in
Hamlet……and Adam in As You Like It…
We know that he played… …and he appeared in the
Jonson play Sejanus.
However, the star of
Shakespeare’s company was
Richard Burbage, who
played all the leading parts.
Burbage’s father owned ‘The Theatre’, the first public theatre in England.
Copyright © 2011 TES English www.tes.co.uk/askshakespeare
Copyright © 2011 TES English www.tes.co.uk/askshakespeare
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/rwb/www/teaching/engl209/pics/globe-groundling.jpg
http://www.zunal.com/myaccount/uploads/feather20pen20clipart.jpg
http://www.raucousroyals.com/images/richardIII_humpback.jpghttp://www.mgoodliffe.co.uk/images/ghost.jpg
http://www.pjproductions.co.uk/blog_images/Romeo-and-Juliet-The-Globe-Photo-Pete-Jones-5.jpg
http://www.darienps.org/teachers/jginsburg/macbeth%20three%20witches.jpg
http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/Images/Laugh3.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KPMJWwxXC7M/TQNvRsEe17I/AAAAAAAABgo/6z_mk6V2qUA/s1600/william+kempe.jpg
http://www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/images/c24c1tpsml.jpg
http://radiomagnetic.com/images/shows/magnetism/magnetism_hamlet_ghost_450.jpg
http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/shakespeare/ayli1a.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Sejanus_his_Fall_1616.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/RichardBurbage.jpg
http://thedestinationcenter.com/images/tourimages/03536200_1226540870.jpg
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