William Shakespeare* -(1564-1616)

William Shakespeare* -(1564-1616)

1591 - His career is documented beginning with this date so it may be useful to take a moment to outline his life and work. This year (or the following one) we hear of him as a well established actor and dramatist. He writes at least 36 plays. During his life 16 are printed (in quarto form), apparently pirated and without his permission. After his death, in 1623, his acting company (now called the King's Men*) puts out all 36 in folio form. Because of the lack of information from the published versions the exact dates of the first performance of each play are uncertain. Generally speaking they seem to go like this:

1591 Henry VI Parts II, III*, Love's Labour's Lost*. 1592 Henry VI Part I*, The Comedy of Errors*. 1593 Richard III*, Two Gentlemen of Verona*.

1594 Titus Adronicus*, The Taming of the Shrew*. 1595 Romeo and Juliet*, Richard II*, A Midsummer Night's Dream*. 1596 King John*, The Merchant of Venice*. 1597 Henry IV, 1 and 2*, The Merry Wives of Windsor *. 1598 Much Ado About Nothing*. 1599 Henry V*, Julius Caesar*, As You Like It*. 1600 Twelfth Night*. 1601 Hamlet*. 1602 Troilus and Cressida*, All's Well That End's Well*. 1604 Measure For Measure*, Othello*. 1605 King Lear*. 1606 Macbeth*. 1607 Antony and Cleopatra*, Timon of Athens*. 1608 Pericles*, Coriolanus*. 1609 Cymbeline*. 1610 A Winter's Tale*. 1611 The Tempest*. 1613 Two Noble Kinsmen*, Henry VIII* (both of these with Fletcher).

1592 - The influence of Hroswitha* shows up in a movement that produces many morality plays. The title of a collection of such plays by Cornelius Schonaeus*published this year shows the trend, Christian Terence, or Sacred Comedies*. Shakespeare* is doing Henry VI Part I*, The Comedy of Errors*.

1592-93 The plague is pretty bad in London (15,000 dead) and the theatres close so the players go off to tour the countryside.

1593 - Christopher Marlowe* dies in a brawl in a tavern (possibly killed because of his secret service activities.)

By this time the English theatre is no longer dominated by the Universities. Shakespeare* is doing Richard III*, Two Gentlemen of Verona*.

1594 - In Italy they are inventing opera*. Another of those classical academies, the Camerata of Florence* is concerned with Greek music and how it relates to Greek drama. They try to create something similar to the ancient Greek tragedies and come up with Dafne* (text by Ottavio Rinuccini* and music by Jacopo Peri*) which turns out to be the beginning of opera. They recite or chant the words to musical accompaniment. This type stuff is only done in the academies and in the courts for the next forty years. Later it will become the most popular dramatic form in Italy after the Commedia dell'Arte*.

Shakespeare* is doing Titus Adronicus*, The Taming of the Shrew*. 1594 The Vatican is giving people a hard time over that theory of the universe worked out by

Copernicus*. 1595 The French king, Henry IV*, declares war on Spain. The Spanish are still trying to do

something massive to England. They land on the English coast of Cornwall and burn Penzance and Mousehole.

The Dutch begin to colonize the East Indies. Francis Drake* sails to the Spanish Main (in the Americas) and up the Orinoco River in South

America. England finally bows to progress and abandons the bow as a weapon of war. 1595 - Sir Philip Sidney*'s critical work on theatre, An Apologia for Poetry*, is published

posthumously. Shakespeare* is doing Romeo and Juliet*, Richard II*, A Midsummer Night's Dream*. 1596 - James Burbage* (c. 1530-97) buys another part of that old ex-monastery where the

boys troupe played (between 1576-84) and rebuilds it as the second Blackfriars theatre* to use in the winter. He doesn't get permission to open it. It won't be used by adult companies until 1603.

Shakespeare* is doing King John*, The Merchant of Venice*. 1597 Sir Francis Bacon* (1561-1626) publishes his first work, Essays, Civil and Moral. He

will continue to write, publish and hold governmental offices. One of the great philosophers of all time, he will do best under the Stuarts.

1597 - Shakespeare* is doing Henry IV, 1 and 2*, The Merry Wives of Windsor*. 1597 - In London a new company made up of some men from other major companies is

formed under the Lord of Pembroke. They perform at the Swan* and in July come out with a play called The Isle of Dogs*. This hasn't survived but apparently it's the last effort in a running battle among dramatists (since 1592) getting nastier as it progresses. [An effort of the previous year by Nashe* is regarded as one of the finest pieces of scurrilous abuse in the English language.] The Isle of Dogs* is a satiric comedy written by Nashe and Ben Jonson* among others. It causes a terrific scandal (referred to as lewd, mutinous, seditious and slanderous.) The Lord Mayor of London closes the playhouses and three of the company formed under the Lord of Pembroke. They perform at the Swan* and in July come out with a play called The Isle of Dogs*. This hasn't survived but apparently it's the last effort in a running battle among dramatists (since 1592) getting nastier as it progresses. [An effort of the previous year by Nashe* is regarded as one of the finest pieces of scurrilous abuse in the English language.] The Isle of Dogs* is a satiric comedy written by Nashe and Ben Jonson* among others. It causes a terrific scandal (referred to as lewd, mutinous, seditious and slanderous.) The Lord Mayor of London closes the playhouses and three of the company

1598 - That Italian designer, Angelo Ingegneri* who did the first show in the Teatro Olimpico, comes out with an influential book, Discourse on Representational Poetry and the Manner of Staging Plays*. He is big on the importance of lighting and pushes the idea of a front light batten with reflectors to light the actors faces and a valence to conceal the light source from the audience. He also pushes for darkening the auditorium, but audiences want to

be seen so this doesn't happen for quite a while. Even far from home in the New World the Spanish love theatre. In El Paso (now Texas) they produce a comedia.

Shakespeare* is doing Much Ado About Nothing*.