In Antony and Cleopatra the classical restraint of Julius Caesar gives way to the fine excess of language, of dramatic action, and of individual behaviour. The action is amazingly fluid, shifting with an ease and rapidity that causes bewilderment to ages familiar with the conventions of Shakespeare’s theatre. ibid.
Pericles: The complex textual background of Pericles should not be allowed to draw attention away from the merits of this dramatic romance. ibid.
Coriolanus is an austere play, gritty in style, deeply serious in its concern with the relationship between personal characteristics and national destiny, but relieved by flashes of comedy. ibid.
A Winter’s Tale: A mid-sixteenth-century book classes ‘winter tales’ along with ‘old wives’ tales’; Shakespeare’s title prepared his audiences for a tale of romantic improbability, one to be wondered at rather than believed. ibid.
Cymbeline: The tone of Cymbeline has puzzled commentators. Its prose and verse style is frequently ornate, sometimes grotesque. Its characterization often seems deliberately artificial ... The play as a whole is a fantasy, an experimental exercise in virtuosity. ibid.
Shakespeare wrote The Tempest during the later part of 1610 or in 1611 ... He appears to have devised the main plot himself ... The supernatural, a strong presence in all Shakespeare’s late plays, is particularly pervasive in The Tempest. ibid.
Cardenio: A Brief Account: Many plays acted in Shakespeare’s time have failed to survive ... No more information about this play survives from the seventeenth century. ibid.
All is True (Henry VIII): In 1850, James Spalding (prompted by Tennyson) suggested that Shakespeare collaborated on it with John Fletcher. ibid.
The Two Noble Kinsmen: When it first appeared in print, in 1634, The Two Noble Kinsmen was stated to be ‘by the memorable worthies of their time, Mr John Fletcher, and Mr William Shakespeare’. ibid.
Macbeth is aware from the very beginning that the deed he contemplates is evil. He admits that its ‘horrid image’ makes his hair stand on end, and his heart knock against his ribs. Although he never discusses with his wife the morality of the murder, which she always mentions euphemistically, and although he hardly faces it himself, every word he speaks shows that he is struck to the soul with a realization of the horror of the deed. Kenneth Muir, The Arden Shakespeare: Macbeth
400 years ago Shakespeare’s plays were collected together in a book. It remains the greatest literary work ever created. Little is known about the man who created it. Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius I, BBC 2023
Towards the end of William Shakespeare’s life he was alone in London away from his family. He was producing masterpiece after masterpiece. In a single year: Othello, Macbeth and King Lear. ibid.
The plays Shakespeare left us are not only works of genius but they also provide a collection of clues as to who he was – the struggles he faced and the forces that drove him. ibid.
How a glover’s son from Stratford Upon Avon became the greatest writer who ever lived. ibid.
Shakespeare had been to Stratford Grammar, one of the best schools in the country, where he developed a passion for history and literature. But his education was cut short. At the age of 18 he had fallen in love with Anne Hathaway who became pregnant, and they quickly got married. ibid.
Titus is a success but Shakespeare is making his debt at a dangerous time for theatre. Many of England’s political elites are religious fanatics. ibid.
Shakespeare, sensing audiences want something new, persuades the theatre to stage Henry VI instead. But will audiences really prefer his new play about English history to Marlow’s cold-blooded revenge tragedies? ibid.
But some of Shakespeare’s rivals in Marlow’s circle are not impressed. ibid.
Shakespeare now has to write plays to be performed for Queen Elizabeth herself. So he chooses a subject deliberately targeted to winning her favour – the story of Richard III. ibid.
Shakespeare is called to Elizabeth’s court to perform his play. ibid.
William Shakespeare’s childhood was scarred by tragedy. When he was just 14 his younger sister died of plague. His father, John Shakespeare, a successful glovemaker who had risen to become mayor of Stratford, was exposed for illegal business deals and was forced to resign. The Shakespeare family lost everything. Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius II
In 1595 William Shakespeare is on top of the world. A few years earlier he arrived in London a broke nobody. Now he is the most famous playwright in England. ibid.
He wants to make theatre respectable by building a new kind of playhouse. Indoors and bespoke with a small capacity of higher paying higher class people. ibid.
In Stratford his son Hamlet lies ill. ibid.
By Spring 1599 work is completed on Shakespeare’s new Bankside Theatre. With a capacity of 3,000 this is the biggest theatre ever built in London. ibid.
Shakespeare completes work on the most personal play he has ever written. He calls it Hamlet. ibid.
By the time William Shakespeare is 40 years old he has spent nearly 2 decades in London. He rarely goes back to Stratford to see his wife Anne and his now grown daughters. Shakespeare is reaching the end of his career. Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius III
King James doesn’t share Queen Elizabeth’s love of theatre. ibid.
William Shakespeare will now be known as the King’s man. ibid.
Othello is a Moorish general in the Venetian army who at the start of the play marries a nobleman’s daughter … Othello is Shakespeare’s darkest work so far. ibid.
What it means to murder the king as a representative of God ... Almost Salvador Dali … ibid.
He calls it King Lear … ‘On its deepest level it’s about rejection.’ ibid. ibid.
Shakespeare has screwed it up. ibid.