Shakespeare’s Globe

London Theatres First London theatre built in 1576 All theatres on South Bank because theatres were… Source of “immoral acts” Helping spread Bubonic Plague

Elizabethan Theatre All male casts Divided into companies, which were sponsored by wealthy benefactor – Ex: The King’s Men were sponsored by King James – Plays were property of acting company, not author Companies performed a different play every afternoon. No advertising - flags used as code

Shakespeare’s Globe Built from remnants of first 1576 theatre, in 1599 (23 years after first London theatre) Shakespeare bought shares in the Globe to support its building Open-air amphitheatre No curtain! 3000 spectators - no bathrooms Beer, oranges, apples, hazelnuts Burned down in 1613

The Globe Today

Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare’s version written in 1594 – The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet, 1562, by Arthur Brooke – Based on old Italian poem from 1476, called Mariotto and Gianozza, by Masuccio Salernitano The same: Secret marriage; forced marriage, tragic end Different: Mariotto is caught and beheaded, and Gianozza dies of grief – Mercutio and Paris are Shakespeare’s inventions – Huge, popular, box office hit

Shakespeare’s Life Born 1563, died 1616, in Stratford, England John Shakespeare, glovemaker, and Mary Arden Anne Hathaway (m. 1582), wife and mother of his children London

Shakespeare is not Shakespeare The Possible “Real” Shakespeares – Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford – Francis Bacon – Queen Elizabeth – Shiek Zubayr bin William, 16th cent. Arab Shiek Reasons for Conspiracy Theories – Son of illiterate glove-maker; no portraits; bad handwriting; court knowledge; retired too early

A Theme in Romeo & Juliet: Free Will versus Fate Why do Romeo and Juliet die? Is it free will or fate? Is it a result of the family feud, the fathers’ indifference to their children, adolescent passion, Friar Lawrence, or just bad luck? Romeo: “My mind misgives/ Some consequence yet hanging in the stars,” and later, “O, I am fortune’s fool!” Mercutio: “O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.”