Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was born the the 23rd of April and died in 1616. During his Career Shakespeare the most influential playwright in history. Shakespeare's reputation was established in London by 1592. It was during this time that Shakespeare wrote his earliest plays, including Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Titus Andronicus, though it is often debated which of these plays was actually the first. Shakespeare's first printed works were two long poems, 'Venus and Adonis' (1593) and 'The Rape of Lucrece' (1594). These two of Shakespeare's poems were both dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, who had become his patron.

Famous Works:

• Romeo and Juliet.
• Macbeth.
• A Midsummer Night's Dream.
• Julius Caesar.
• Othello.
• Hamlet.

The Globe Theatre, where many of Shakespeare's plays were performed, was an open-air, doughnut-shaped amphitheatre. It was built in 1599 in Southwark by Shakespeare's playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men. The first play to be performed in the theatre was Julius Caesar and it was a huge success. 

Shakespeare's Impact on theatre:

William Shakespeare had a huge influence language, literature, theatre, and other elements of culture at the time. One example being making theatre accessible to all classes. Originally theatre was reserved for the wealthy and educated however Shakespeare changed this. Not only did this massively increase ticket sales and popularity for Shakespeare, but it changed theatre forever making the class divide smaller. 

As the audience had changed the type of theatre had to change to - theatre was often a mirror of privileged life. To make his performances more engaging and relatable they often imbued with universal truths of human existence. Shakespeare helped change the way we tell stories. For example, the way in which Shakespeare's plots move forward has helped define modern play-writing. Similarly, Shakespeare's complex characterizations have brought a new type of storytelling in which characters' choices drive plots forward. As a result, journeys in his plays are dynamic and his characters undergo a significant amount of change while on them.

Nearly all of Shakespeare's plays can be sorted into the categories: tragedies, comedies and histories. The key features of a Shakespearean tragedy include: the tragic hero, supernatural elements, exceptional suffering, fate and chance, (hero's) death and tragic waste. The hero is usually a noble, well respected, strong character who has a fatal flaw which eventually leads to their downfall. An example of this is Macbeths ambition which leads to him turning to evil. During the downfall of the hero they will usually experience lots of internal conflict between their desires and morals. However, they are normally pushed over the edge by external pressure, this can be from other characters or even dark supernatural spirits (e.g. Lady Macbeth and the Witches). The hero will experience extreme suffering as they are fighting this battle of good vs evil. Shakespeare would often include the themes of fate and chance in his plays due to the belief at the time. Finally, at the end of a Shakespearean tragedy the hero will almost always die! Shakespeare would also include scenes where the main idea was to appeal to the King (King James for example) in order to gain funding from the King/ Queen in order to continue putting on performances. 

Shakespeare's effect on theatre still lasts today, almost all of his plays have modern renditions as the themes presented in the play are nearly all still relevant today. Even if the themes aren't relevant there are still modern versions as the idea of the story is very entertaining. For example: 'The Taming of the Shrew'  which is about a man called Lucentio who loves Bianca but cannot court her until her shrewish older sister Katherina marries. The eccentric Petruccio marries the reluctant Katherina and uses a number of tactics to render her an obedient wife. The modern version called 'Ten things I hate about you'  which is the same plot but different characters and modern dialect. 

Jaramillo, C. (2016). Shakespeare's Influence on Theatre | William Shakespeare Contributions. [online] Octane Seating. Available at: https://octaneseating.com/blog/the-impact-of-william-shakespeare-on-theater/.

THE GLOBE (2019). The Globe | Shakespeare's Globe. [online] Shakespeare's Globe. Available at: https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/discover/shakespeares-world/the-globe/.