Background Information

 Born in Stratford-on-Avon in 1564  Married Anne Hathaway in 1582  His daughter, Susanna, was born on May 26, Two years later, on February 2, 1585, twins Hamnet and Judith were born,. Hamnet later died of unknown causes at age 11.  After twins’ birth – there are seven years (“lost years”) where there is no information about Shakespeare.  The Lord Chamberlain’s Men – company of players and writers, including Shakespeare and Richard Burbage was created in  By 1597 Shakespeare published 15 plays.  In 1599 – Shakespeare and his business partner built the Globe.  1617 Shakespeare dies – 37 plays are attributed to him

 R&J was first performed in the outdoor theatres  R&J appears in print, bootlegged, with many errors  R&J appears in print again with may corrections and a longer length  The First Folio (leather bound, full page books) of thirty-six of Shakespeare’s play is published. R&J is further modified and appears in the “Tragedy” section.

 There were three periods of performance, in which R&J changed:  The Grand Repertory Period ( )  The Star System Period ( )  The Multi-media and Variable Expansion Era (1919- Present)

 Boys played all roles (only four female roles in R&J )  Performances took place in outdoor theatres, like the Globe Theater  Shakespeare would play various roles in the play  Actors had to compete with whatever was going on in the audience.

 Built in 1599  Destroyed in a fire in 1613  Second theatre was built, then closed.  Up to 100 feet in diameter  Based on the Roman Coliseum but built on a much smaller scale  An open arena design & structure  The Pit (the Yard) - the area located around the stage. The stage structure projected halfway into the ' yard ' where the commoners (groundlings) paid 1 penny to stand to watch the play. They would have crowded around the 3 sides of the stage structure.  The seats were more expensive and reserved for the wealthy  Stage had a balcony to hold musicians, a trap door, and backstage area.