One of the greatest mysteries about the life of William Shakespeare is where, precisely did the bard first encounter theater. Was it the roving theater companies which speckled the countryside with their pop up performances for which Shakespeare’s father was the town alderman, and therefore would have had to approve the players when they appeared in Stratford? Or was it at Grammar School, where students used theater to learn their Latin, English, and transcription? Well, for many one of the most tantalizing suggestions about where Shakespeare first saw a large scale theater production was when he was just 11 years old. That year, in 1575, Robert Dudley used an elaborate theatrical display as part of his presentation to Elizabeth I where he tried to woo, and propose to the queen. Though his efforts ultimately proved in vain, the fact that many of the features of the performance that day show up in Shakespeare’s plays later in life, lead many historians to speculate that the Shakespeare family, and young William in particular, just might have made the relatively short journey from Stratford to Kenilworth Castle, being drawn in by the promise of a grand display and the potential for a glimpse of the Queen. 

Here today to help us explore the story of Kenilworth Castle, Robert Dudley’s proposal, and how likely it might be for Shakespeare to have attended, is our guest, Philippa Brewell. Philippa visited with us for our very first episode of That Shakespeare Life and we are simply delighted to welcome her back to the show. 

In Elizabethan England, much of what we know about how theaters were operated comes from the diary of a man who ran dozens of theaters during Shakespeare’s lifetime: Philip Henslowe. Henslowe was enterprising and ambitious, setting up the Bear Garden for bear baiting, and establishing the Rose, the Fortune, and the Hope theaters, among others. Throughout his dealings with numerous playing companies including Shakespeare’s The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Henslowe kept a diary about who he paid to perform, what productions were done, and even what props and costumes were used. The result is a fascinating tale of bits and pieces that give a real insider's look into the daily operations of what it meant to hire actors, collaborate across playing companies, and even part of how Henslowe was able to achieve a royal office in the court of James I as a theater owner in Shakespeare’s lifetime. Since we do not have a similar diary of Shakespeare’s dealings at The Globe, Henslowe’s records help us see into the world of Shakespeare’s theater to get an idea of what it was like to build dragons, stage the Battle of Shrewsbury, and where exactly the resources came from to pull off the grand feats of performance these theaters have gone down in history as having accomplished. 

Our guest this week, Amy Lidster, returns to the podcast for her second visit here at That Shakespeare Life to talk with us about Henslowe and his diaries.

There were only a few hundred Jews living in England during Shakespeare’s lifetime, and of the ones who were there, they would meet and worship in secret. Outwardly, these Jews would either have converted to Christianity or lied about their faith to keep from coming under suspicion. As callous as it seems for the nation to have been suspicious of Jews, famous Jewish people in high places, like Roderigo Lopez, physician to Queen Elizabeth I, gave the nation cause to be scared of them as Lopez was arrested for trying to poison the Queen. Despite the suspicions around Jewish people, and their faith, many Jews were employed at universities like Oxford and Cambridge during Shakespeare’s lifetime, as teachers of Hebrew, and even at the Bodleian library helping with the Hebrew collections there. In light of Shakespeare’s very Jewish play,  Merchant of Venice, we have our guest, Dr. Athony Bale, here this week to help us explore the presence, reputation, and reception of Jews, and characters like Shylock, by the average playgoer during Shakespeare’s lifetime. 

There are several references to Indians in Shakespeare’s plays, which were being written right at the same time famous American Indians like Squanto and Pocahontas were interacting with explorers like Sir Walter Raleigh from the courts of Elizabeth I and later, under King James I. All of these explorations were big news back home in England, with many round trip voyages across the Atlantic to connect Shakespeare with England’s first colony, Virginia. As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week here in the United States and our minds turn to prominent figures of our history, like Captain Miles Standish, John Smith, and Chief Massasoit, we are honored to welcome the foremost expert in the intersection of Shakespeare’s life with the founding of Jamestown and establishment of early America, Dr Alden Vaughan.

One of the biggest and grandest events occurring in London every year was the elaborate Bartholomew Fair. Celebrated in conjunction with St. Bartholomew’s Day, this fair took over the city in Shakespeare’s lifetime for three whole days of merriment that included the selling of wares, drinks and food vendors, as well as performances from stilt walkers, jugglers, puppeteers, and more. Here this week to share with us the history of Bartholomew Fair in Shakespeare’s lifetime, as well as how this festive carnival was born from pious means, is our guest, Alicja Zelazko.