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That Shakespeare Life

Dec 30, 2019

William Shakespeare lived in a time when politics and religion ruled the strategy of Kings and Queens throughout Europe, but perhaps the most notable method of securing peace for the self-styled King of Peace was through marriage. Bringing his own form of stability back to England through his marriage and children on...


Dec 23, 2019

When Hamlet and Laertes duel in the final act of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, they are using a very specific style of fencing called rapier and dagger fencing. It’s called for in the stage directions and the dialogue of the text as well. Other plays like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as well as King Lear also use very...


Dec 16, 2019

One of the greatest mysteries about the life of William Shakespeare is where, precisely did the bard first encounter theater. Was it the roving theater companies which speckled the countryside with their pop up performances for which Shakespeare’s father was the town alderman, and therefore would have had to approve...


Dec 9, 2019

In Elizabethan England, much of what we know about how theaters were operated comes from the diary of a man who ran dozens of theaters during Shakespeare’s lifetime: Philip Henslowe. Henslowe was enterprising and ambitious, setting up the Bear Garden for bear baiting, and establishing the Rose, the Fortune, and the...


Dec 2, 2019

There were only a few hundred Jews living in England during Shakespeare’s lifetime, and of the ones who were there, they would meet and worship in secret. Outwardly, these Jews would either have converted to Christianity or lied about their faith to keep from coming under suspicion. As callous as it seems for the...