That Shakespeare Life

Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford Upon Avon sits just outside the famous Cotswolds Hills, where wool was the primary industry. It’s even thought that shepherds in the area taking care of their sheep are responsible for the first discovery of graphite that would go on to be used in pencils. In Shakespeare’s plays, there are references to sheep, lambs, fleeces, wool, and shepherds in almost all of his works, leading us to wonder how personally connected to sheep and the wool industry William Shakespeare might have been.

Here as our guest this week to help us explore Shakespeare’s history with sheep is the person in charge of the actual living sheep kept in Shakespeare’s name, and a representative part of his history at Mary Arden’s Farm in Stratford Upon Avon, is Lizzy Dobbin [Assistant Farm Manager at Mary Arden’s Farm], at Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Good artists copy, great artists steal. That's the line they tell us about what it takes to be great at art, but was it true for William Shakespeare? The bard borrows heavily from sources like Holinshed, Ovid, and others in the writing of his plays but does it impact how we understand the story? This week we welcome our guest, JM Pressley of the Shakespeare Resource Center to walk us through the history of sources as it applies to Shakespeare's plays. Turns out, the reality of life in 16th century England might surprise you when it comes to examining how to bard developed his plot lines.

M. Pressley has a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts and an M.A. in Writing, both from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. He has been the author, designer, content editor, and webmaster of the Shakespeare Resource Center since it began, over 20 years ago.

Many times when Shakespeare would perform a play, there would be a bawdy and comical song and dance show performed after the play, even if the play was a tragedy or something more serious. A traditional part of Elizabethan theater, the jig was a not only an expected part of playhouse performances but they represent a slice of culture from Shakespeare's liftime. Many of the song and dance routines performed were inspired by, or examples of, Elizabethan pop culture. The tunes were a kind of street music, and the stories represented popular tales that would influence playwrights like William Shakespeare. Here to share with us the history of broadside ballads and the Elizabethan jigs is our distinguished guest, Lucie Skeaping

John Fletcher was a prominent playwright during William Shakespeare's lifetime, whose work came close to eclipsing that of the bard during the height of his popularity in early modern England. Friends, as well as colleagues with The King's Men, Shakespeare and Fletcher collaborated on several key plays of Shakespeare like Henry VIII as well as Two Noble Kinsmen. John Fletcher was so prominent and important during the life of the bard that after Shakespeare's death in 1616, it would be John Fletcher who took over the healm of the King's Men to run the playing company under James I. Understanding the life of John Fletcher provides a unique window into the life and times of William Shakespeare and our guest today has done an extensive amount of research into John Fletcher as well as his relationship to Shakespeare. We are delighted to welcome Lucy Munro as our guide into the life of John Fletcher and his friendship with William Shakespeare. Lucy Munro, is a professor of early modern literature at King's College London, and author of an entire chapter on John Fletcher in the recent book The Shakespeare Circle.

John Fletcher was a prominent playwright during William Shakespeare’s lifetime, whose work came close to eclipsing that of the bard during the height of his popularity in early modern England. Friends, as well as colleagues with The King’s Men, Shakespeare and Fletcher collaborated on several key plays of Shakespeare like Henry VIII as well as Two Noble Kinsmen. John Fletcher was so prominent and important during the life of the bard that after Shakespeare’s death in 1616, it would be John Fletcher who took over the healm of the King’s Men to run the playing company under James I. Understanding the life of John Fletcher provides a unique window into the life and times of William Shakespeare and our guest today has done an extensive amount of research into John Fletcher as well as his relationship to Shakespeare. We are delighted to welcome Lucy Munro as our guide into the life of John Fletcher and his friendship with William Shakespeare.

Lucy Munro, is a professor of early modern literature at King’s College London, and author of an entire chapter on John Fletcher in the recent book The Shakespeare Circle.  

While many of the castles and great homes of the monarch in England already contained luxurious bathrooms, it would be Henry VIII--in a style true to his flamboyant reputation, that would create elaborately accessorized bathrooms for palaces like Whitehall and Hampton Court. While these bathrooms were used by the monarchy in Shakespeare's life, such as Queen Elizabeth, the average Tudor, and Shakespeare himself, had a much simpler version of bathing, not to mention a variety of myths and legends to accompany popular opinion of keeping clean. Here to walk us through a brief history of soaps, bathing, and the act of cleanliness in Shakespeare's lifetime is Natalie Grueniger. Natalie is the host of the Talking Tudors podcast, as well as the author of the blog "On the Tudor Trail." I've asked Natalie to visit with us today to talk with us about two excellent blog articles she wrote specifically about Tudor bathing, examining the common practices, methods of making soap, and the inside details about those bathrooms in Whitehall Palace.

If the saying is true that you are the sum of your five closest friends, then one great way to get to know William Shakespeare is to take a look at the lives of his closest friends. John Heminges and Henry Condell helped form the foundation of the shareholder agreement Shakespeare made at The Globe and the Lord Chamberlain's Men. They would remain loyal to Shakespeare from Elizabethan England into Jacobean England as the company became the King's Men under James I. Acting in plays together, writing plays, surviving the Globe's famous fire, and watching each other get married, have children, and grow old together is a stronger definition of friendship than many people ever get to experience, and by all historical accounts, Heminges and Condell were just such strong friends for William Shakespeare not just until his death in 1616, but through the publication of the 1623 First Folio, and continuing ever after.

As our guest this week, we are delighted to have Paul Edmondson, the Head of Research at Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and the author of one chapter about Heminges and Condell that appeared in the recent book he edited called The Shakespeare Circle. We welcome Paul today to discuss his chapter on Heminges and Condell and help us get to know Shakespeare's extraordinary friends.