When Hamlet and Laertes duel in the final act of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, they are using a very specific style of fencing called rapier and dagger fencing. It’s called for in the stage directions and the dialogue of the text as well. Other plays like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as well as King Lear also use very specific fencing terminology that demonstrates a knowledge of contemporary fencing styles at the highest level of the fencing industries and Shakespeare’s indoor playhouse, the Blackfriars was even a professional fencing school before it was bought by the Burbages for use as a theater. But what does that mean William Shakespeare knew about fencing, and did he work with some of the famous fencing masters of the 16th century like Rocco Bonetti, Vincento Saviolo, and others? Here to take us back to the 1590s, as Shakespeare was writing some of his most famous fight scenes in plays like Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, and even Henry V, to share with us where the life of William Shakespeare overlaps with the history of fencing, and explore where Shakespeare learned about swordsmanship, as well as the role of professional fencing in the theater, is our guest professional fight coordinator for stage and film, Jared Kirby.