Shakespeare

Timeline of Shakespeare's playsShakespeare's plays reflect the society, history and culture of the world in which he was writing. Despite his significant popularity, surprisingly…

Click on this link to explore the timeline of Shakespeare's Plays in connection with Shakespeare's Life, as well as the general historical context in which his plays were written.

Biography of "The Bard" William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April (see When was Shakespeare born), which is also believed to be the date he died in 1616.

Altogether Shakespeare's works include 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and a variety of other poems. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays are known to exist today. It is actually thanks to a group of actors from Shakespeare's company that we have about half of the plays at all (For a fictionalized account of this collection, see The Book of Will by Lauren Gunderson). They collected them for publication after Shakespeare died, preserving the plays. These writings were brought together in what is known as the First Folio ('Folio' refers to the size of the paper used). It contained 36 of his plays, but none of his poetry.

For more on Shakespeare, go to the site: https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/william-shakespeare/william-shakespeare-biography/

Stuffy Shakespeare?

Though Shakespeare can typically be seen as stuffy, boring, or overdone, there are always new opportunities use creative liberty to refresh these timeless stories. Adam's concept is a great example of having fun with the story provided and not having to do the typical puffy pants and stockings (You know what I'm talking about). An example on the right is pulled from https://goodticklebrain.com/twelfth-night

Look at the carousel of pictures underneath to see how different people have made Shakespeare their own!

Listen to Shaina Taub Musical Version of Twelfth Night on Spotify!

How Did Shakespeare Write a Play?The second in our four-part lecture series from Professor Sir Stanley Wells; 'What Was Shakespeare Really Like'

Did Shakespeare write in a 5 Act Structure?

Though we read and perform Shakespeare in acts and scenes, The Bard did not write in that format. Here are some articles that talk about the continuous flow that Shakespeare wrote in and why his predecessors chose to divide it into the act and scene structure.