Oct 29, 2018
Halloween is coming up a few days from now, and it seems like a good opportunity to explore the origins to the holiday, which began as a religious celebration. Of course, since then it’s grown into a fun night of candy and costumes for us here in the US, but for William Shakespeare, ghouls, ghosts, and witches had...
Oct 22, 2018
From the Chandos portrait to first folio engraving, all of our visual depictions of William Shakespeare show him with a full face beard. Was this grooming style typical for Elizabethans or was William Shakespeare stepping outside the norm with his choice of facial hair? We think of Shakespeare as a hipster artist guy...
Oct 15, 2018
When we think about William Shakespeare, we almost synonymously think of him holding a quill pen, or furiously scratching away on a piece of parchment with ink on his hands creating a masterpiece. When it comes to the history of writing, pens in particular, and even references to writing that happens inside...
Oct 8, 2018
Between 1590 and 1642, there were about twenty companies of actors in London and only 4-5 of them played in London proper at one time. In addition to these companies, there were more than a hundred provincial troupes. The fact that there were many more provincial troupes than city-playing companies demonstrates that for...
Oct 1, 2018
For years, historians have ruminated on the state of William Shakespeare’s father, John Shakespeare, and the financial troubles that were speculated to have caused the bard to leave Grammar School before graduation around age 14. Without any real substantial evidence to confirm or deny what actually happened to John...