Shakespeares+theatrical+life

William Shakespeare was born in some time in April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His father was John Shakespeare and mother Mary Ardens. He went to Stratford Grammar School and then married Anne Hathaway in 1582. During the next three years they had a daughter Susanna and twins Judith and Hamnet.

Seven years later in 1592 Shakespeare left Stratford and went to London to pursue his career. He was recognized as a s uccessful actor, as well as a leading poet. He was a member of 'The Chamberlain's Men'. A rival playwright, Robert Greene, refers to him as "an upstart crow" in //A Groatsworth of Wit//.

A few years after this he joined up with one of the most successful acting troupe's in London: The Lord Chamberlain's Men. When, in 1599, the troupe lost the lease of the theatre where they performed, (appropriately called The Theatre) they were wealthy enough to build their own theatre across the Thames, south of London, which they called "The Globe."

The new theatre opened in July of 1599, built from the timbers of The Theatre, with the motto "Totus mundus agit histrionem" (A whole world of players) Then in June 19, 1613, when a canon fired from the roof of the theatre it set fire to the thatch roof and burned the theatre to the ground.

On May 19, 1603 Shakespeare's acting troupe 'The Lord Chamberlain's Men' became 'The King's Men'.

The next spring the company had the theatre "new builded in a far fairer manner than before." Although Shakespeare invested in the rebuilding, he retired from the stage to the Great House of New Place in Statford that he had purchased in 1597, and some considerable land holdings ,where he continued to write until his death in 1616 on the day of his 52nd birthday.

During his time alive William wrote 13 Comedies, 13 Historical Plays, 6 Tragedies, 4 Tragicomedies, as well as many sonnets (154), most of them were dedicated to his patron, Henry Wriothsley, The Earl of Southampton.

Shakespeare’s theatre came to an end in 1642. In that year, on the eve of the Civil War, all the playhouses were closed by order of Parliament. Those which were still structurally sound were either converted into dwellings, or demolished so that their timbers could be reused elsewhere. The players could no longer perform their plays in public.

1564 - William Shakespeare is born in April (probably the 23rd) in Stratford-On-Avon (94 miles from London.) 1582 - Marries Anne Hathaway on November 27. 1583 - Susanna Shakespeare is born. 1585 - The twins Judith and Hamnet Shakespeare are born. 1592 - After leaving Stratford for London, William was recognized as a successful actor, as well as a leading poet. He was a member of 'The Chamberlain's Men'. 1596 - Hamnet dies at the age of eleven. Shakespeare becomes a "gentleman" when the College of Heralds grants his father a coat of arms. 1597- He bought a large house called "The Great House of New Place". 1599 - The 'Globe Theater' is built from the pieces of 'The Theater' in July. 1603 - 'The Lord Chamberlain's Men' became 'The King's Men' on May 19. 1613 - The 'Globe Theatre' burns during a performance of Henry VII when a canon fired on the roof sets fire to the straw thatch. The theatre is rebuilt, but Shakespeare retires. 1616 - April 23, in Stratford, on his 52nd birthday he died.

Shakespeare began his career not long after the first public playhouses were established in London. His earliest plays were given at the Theatre, an open-air playhouse in Shoreditch. Many of his plays were written for the Globe, rebuilt from the timbers of the Theatre on Bankside. A number of Shakespeare’s later plays were created for the very different surroundings of the indoor playhouse at Blackfriars.

Shakespeare, a player as well as a dramatist, belonged to a company of players. His company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (from 1603 the King’s Men) competed with others, notably the Admiral’s Men, for audiences. Like most leading players, Shakespeare was a sharer in his company and was able to enjoy its profits. He also had to suffer its losses - for example, when the first Globe burnt down in 1613. His plays were created with his company’s players in mind. Such players as the tragedian Richard Burbage and clowns like William Kemp influenced the roles within Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare’s theatre came to an end in 1642. In that year, on the eve of the Civil War, all the playhouses were closed by order of Parliament. Those which were still structurally sound were either converted into dwellings, or demolished so that their timbers could be reused elsewhere. The players could no longer perform their plays in public.

It is not known exactly when Shakespeare began writing, but contemporary allusions and records of performances show that several of his plays were on the London stage by 1592.[|[26]] He was well enough known in London by then to be attacked in print by the playwright [|Robert Greene]:

...there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his //Tiger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide//, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute //Johannes factotum//, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country.[|[27]]

Scholars differ on the exact meaning of these words,[|[28]] but most agree that Greene is accusing Shakespeare of reaching above his rank in trying to match university-educated writers, such as [|Christopher Marlowe], [|Thomas Nashe] and Greene himself.[|[29]] The italicised phrase parodying the line "Oh, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide" from Shakespeare’s //[|Henry VI, part 3]//, along with the pun "Shake-scene", identifies Shakespeare as Greene’s target.[|[30]] Greene’s attack is the first recorded mention of Shakespeare’s career in the theatre. Biographers suggest that his career may have begun any time from the mid-1580s to just before Greene’s remarks.[|[31]] From 1594, Shakespeare's plays were performed only by the [|Lord Chamberlain's Men], a company owned by a group of players, including Shakespeare, that soon became the leading [|playing company] in London.[|[32]] After the death of [|Queen Elizabeth] in 1603, the company was awarded a royal patent by the new king, [|James I], and changed its name to the [|King's Men].[|[33]] In 1599, a partnership of company members built their own theatre on the south bank of the [|Thames], which they called the [|Globe]. In 1608, the partnership also took over the [|Blackfriars indoor theatre]. Records of Shakespeare's property purchases and investments indicate that the company made him a wealthy man.[|[34]] In 1597, he bought the second-largest house in Stratford, [|New Place], and in 1605, he invested in a share of the [|parish] [|tithes] in Stratford.[|[35]] Some of Shakespeare's plays were published in [|quarto] editions from 1594. By 1598, his name had become a selling point and began to appear on the [|title pages].[|[36]] Shakespeare continued to act in his own and other plays after his success as a playwright. The 1616 edition of [|Ben Jonson]'s //Works// names him on the cast lists for //[|Every Man in His Humour]// (1598) and //[|Sejanus, His Fall]// (1603).[|[37]] The absence of his name from the 1605 cast list for Jonson’s //[|Volpone]// is taken by some scholars as a sign that his acting career was nearing its end.[|[38]] The [|First Folio] of 1623, however, lists Shakespeare as one of "the Principal Actors in all these Plays", some of which were first staged after //Volpone//, although we cannot know for certain which roles he played.[|[39]] In 1610, [|John Davies of Hereford] wrote that "good Will" played "kingly" roles.[|[40]] In 1709, Rowe passed down a tradition that Shakespeare played the ghost of Hamlet's father.[|[41]] Later traditions maintain that he also played Adam in //[|As You Like It]// and the Chorus in //[|Henry V]//,[|[42]] though scholars doubt the sources of the information.[|[43]] Shakespeare divided his time between London and Stratford during his career. In 1596, the year before he bought New Place as his family home in Stratford, Shakespeare was living in the [|parish] of St. Helen's, [|Bishopsgate], north of the River Thames.[|[44]] He moved across the river to [|Southwark] by 1599, the year his company constructed the Globe Theatre there.[|[45]] By 1604, he had moved north of the river again, to an area north of [|St Paul's Cathedral] with many fine houses. There he rented rooms from a French [|Huguenot] called Christopher Mountjoy, a maker of ladies' wigs and other headgear.[|[46]] [|It is not clear for which companies Shakespeare wrote his early plays. The title page of the 1594 edition of]//[|Titus Andronicus]//[| reveals that the play had been acted by three different troupes.][|[][|100][|]][| After the plagues of 1592–3, Shakespeare's plays were performed by his own company at The Theatre and the Curtain in Shoreditch, north of the Thames.][|[][|101][|]][| Londoners flocked there to see the first part of]//[|Henry IV]//[|, Leonard Digges recording, "Let but Falstaff come, Hal, Poins, the rest...and you scarce shall have a room".][|[][|102][|]][| When the company found themselves in dispute with their landlord, they pulled The Theatre down and used the timbers to construct the Globe Theatre, the first playhouse built by actors for actors, on the south bank of the Thames at Southwark.][|[][|103][|]][| The Globe opened in autumn 1599, with]//[|Julius Caesar]//[| one of the first plays staged. Most of Shakespeare's greatest post-1599 plays were written for the Globe, including]//[|Hamlet]//[|,]//[|Othello]//[| and]//[|King Lear]//[|.][|[][|104 ]] After the Lord Chamberlain's Men were renamed the [|King's Men] in 1603, they entered a special relationship with the new [|King James]. Although the performance records are patchy, the King's Men performed seven of Shakespeare's plays at court between 1 November 1604 and 31 October 1605, including two performances of //The Merchant of Venice//.[|[105]] After 1608, they performed at the indoor [|Blackfriars Theatre]during the winter and the Globe during the summer.[|[106]] The indoor setting, combined with the [|Jacobean] fashion for lavishly staged [|masques], allowed Shakespeare to introduce more elaborate stage devices. In //Cymbeline//, for example, [|Jupiter] descends "in thunder and lightning, sitting upon an eagle: he throws a thunderbolt. The ghosts fall on their knees."[|[107]]

The actors in Shakespeare's company included the famous [|Richard Burbage], [|William Kempe], [|Henry Condell] and [|John Heminges]. Burbage played the leading role in the first performances of many of Shakespeare's plays, including //Richard III//, //Hamlet//, //Othello//, and //King Lear//.[|[108]] The popular comic actor Will Kempe played the servant Peter in //Romeo and Juliet// and [|Dogberry] in //Much Ado About Nothing//, among other characters.[|[109]] He was replaced around the turn of the sixteenth century by [|Robert Armin], who played roles such as [|Touchstone] in //As You Like It// and the fool in //King Lear//.[|[110]] In 1613, Sir [|Henry Wotton] recorded that //Henry VIII// "was set forth with many extraordinary circumstances of pomp and ceremony".[|[111]] On 29 June, however, a cannon set fire to the thatch of the Globe and burned the theatre to the ground, an event which pinpoints the date of a Shakespeare play with rare precision.[|[111]]

he first written reference to Shakespeare's existence in London occurred in 1592, when Shakespeare was in his late twenties. He seems to have been fairly well established in the theatre by that point, since the reference, written by another playwright, hints of jealousy at Shakespeare's success. With his two patrons, the Earls of South Hampton and Pembrooke, Shakespeare rose quickly in the theater as both an actor and an author. He joined the Lord Chamberlin's Men, an acting company which was protected by the Queen, becoming a shareholder and senior member in 1595. Because of his success in London, he was able to purchase New Place, the largest and most elegant house in his home town of Stratford, when he was in his early thirties (1597). In addition to his popularity as both an actor and playwright, Shakespeare became joint owner of the famous Globe theater when it opened in 1599. His share of the company's management added heavily to his wealth. Shakespeare's financial success in the London theatre enabled him to retire and return to his home in Stratford around 1610. He lived there comfortably until his death on April 23, 1616 (it is popularly believed that he died on his birthday). He is buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon. Though Shakespeare is most closely associated with the Elizabethan period, his career can be categorized as both Elizabethan and Jacobean, as several works were completed after James I became king in 1603.

