FirstNews the weekly newspaper for young people Special Edition FirstNews This special edition has been IN FOCUS produced in association with From early theatre… …to Shakespeare today ’t know Sh dn ak i es d p Tudor society u e o a y r e t a i n h s p W i r e d t o d a y e Gunpowder Plot and other news at that time PLUS location and character pro les from Shakespeare’s most famous plays Pages 4-5 THE MAKING OF A PLAYWRIGHT Shakespeare’s early life and career. Who is Pages 6-7 SHAKESPEARE’S ENGLAND What was life like in Tudor times? S Page 8 INFLUENCING SHAKESPEARE How issues in society infl uenced anyway? Shakespeare’s plays. E is the most famous writer of all time, widely considered to be the Page 9 THE THEATRE Hgreatest playwright the world has ever seen and a ne poet, too. From the fi rst playhouse to a theatre boom. His plays have been performed, read and studied all over the world for the past 400 Pages 10-11 A PERFORMANCE years and his work translated into almost every language on Earth. Shakespeare What was it like to watch a play at the time? festivals take place across the globe, and it is likely that every day of every year, Pages 12-13 NEWS AT THE TIME a Shakespeare play is being performed The news headlines in Shakespeare’s day. somewhere on the planet. But the truth is that many aspects of Shakespeare’s life remain a mystery. is Pages 14-15 SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON is because very few records of his life and What London was like when Shakespeare times have survived, so a lot of detective work has been done by experts over the lived there. last few hundred years to try to piece together Shakespeare’s story. Pages 16-17 THE GLOBE THEATRE Although he was a successful writer Shakespeare’s Globe: then and now. in his lifetime, Shakespeare also earned a living from acting and, from around the turn of the 17th century, from his Pages 18-19 SHAKESPEARE’S HEROES share in the Globe theatre (see p16) and Leading characters from the plays. the property he owned around Stratford. perform his plays in the Royal Court. He began to gain a lot of recognition for is special edition of First News will look his writing towards the end of the reign of at Shakespeare, his work and the dramatic Pages 20-21 NEWS AT THE TIME Queen Elizabeth I, and was invited by her to times he lived in. More news headlines from the time. Pages 22-23 SHAKESPEARE’S WORLD European locations of Shakespeare’s plays… from S SCHOOL DAYS: As a young boy, Athens to Verona. Shakespeare went to a grammar school in fact fi le Stratford, which still exists and is called the Pages 24-25 THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND King Edward VI School today. Children spent How Shakespeare became the legend he is today. BORN: 1564 – the exact date is unknown, a lot of the school day studying Latin and but Shakespeare was baptised on 26 April. they also learned rhetoric, which is the art of persuasive speaking and writing. Pages 26-29 SHAKESPEARE IN THE 20TH PLACE OF BIRTH: Stratford-upon- AND 21ST CENTURIES Avon in the Midlands. is would become RELIGION: Shakespeare would almost Shakespeare’s main home, though from certainly have had a religious upbringing, Shakespeare today, from theatre to musicals. around 1590 he split his time between taking his con rmation at age seven and Stratford and London. being a regular churchgoer. Page 30 GLOSSARY CHILDHOOD: William was one of eight ENGLAND: Shakespeare grew up in Explanations of the words in blue that you’ ll fi nd children. As a baby, he survived a terrible Tudor times, with Queen Elizabeth I ruling throughout this newspaper. bout of plague that killed one in ve of the the country. Her reign is described as the population of Stratford. Elizabethan era. In 1603, James I was crowned King. Page 31 WALL OF FAME BACKGROUND: Shakespeare’s parents The A-listers who have starred in Shakespeare. were well-o (and therefore able to educate MARRIAGE: He married Anne Hathaway, their children, unlike many people at the a farmer’s daughter, in 1582 when he was time). Mum Mary was a farmer’s daughter just 18 years old and she was 26. SHAKESPEARE TODAY Page 32 and dad John was a glove-maker, local baili NICKNAME: He was probably referred to The world’s a stage – picture gallery. and uno cial wool trader (he was later ned as Will by friends and family. He has since for this). been nicknamed e Bard. FirstNews IN FOCUS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE S “Love all, trust In total, in numbers Shakespeare is thought to have written a few, Do 36 plays featuring more More than than 1,000 characters. 500,000 people In addition, he co-wrote attend the Royal two plays. Shakespeare Company’s – the age at which wrong to none” productions of e Bard’s Shakespeare died. plays every year. – William Shakespeare, All’s Well at Ends Well, act I, scene I – the number of Shakespeare plays translated into – believed to be the It is thought his Klingon, a made-up number of Shakespeare last play, e Two Noble alien language in the plays lost and never Kinsmen, was co-written sci- franchise Star ere are found. Experts think with a writer named Trek. e plays lm and the play is called 420 John Fletcher in are Hamlet and TV adaptations Cardenio. 1613. e two also Much Ado About of Shakespeare’s worked together Nothing. A Star Trek fan plays. dressed as a on a history play Klingon called Henry VIII. John Fletcher Shakespeare wrote 1.5 plays Shakespeare wrote 5 Shakespeare a year between is the best-selling 1589 and 1613. poems playwright of all time and 154 sonnets. 102 million – the number of sites ere are about Shakespeare 16 comedies, that appear in a A 1979 production of history 4 Shakespeare’s tragedy 10 – the Google search. plays and billion King Lear 12 total estimated sales tragedies. of Shakespeare’s plays and poems. D thee ? Why Shakespeare has long been considered by academics, MOST men in Shakespeare’s time married theatre critics and theatre fans to be both the greatest in their mid-twenties. William married writer in the English language and the greatest writer of young because his girlfriend was pregnant. all time. Not only did he write and act in a large number eir rst child, Susanna, was born six of plays, but he wrote great work in three di erent months after the wedding. genres: comedy, tragedy and history. His writing is clever and realistic, his use of language very original and inventive and the drama in his plays has kept audiences gripped from the 1500s to the present day. As well as changing drama forever, Shakespeare has also had a big for the words in blue throughout LOOK OUT in uence on the English language (see page 5). this newspaper. ey appear in the glossary on page 30. 4. e making of a playwright FirstNews IN FOCUS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE B of a genius HAKESPEARE will always be associated with the Midlands town of Stratford-upon-Avon. e house where he was born and grew Sup is still standing on Henley Street in the town. Shakespeare spent the rst ve years of his marriage to Anne living at this house, which is now a major tourist attraction. He and his wife had three children: Susanna, born bought 107 acres of land there, so he probably visited in 1583, and twins Hamnet and Judith, born in 1585. fairly often. Tragically, Hamnet died at the age of 11, although there Stratford in the sixteenth century was an important is no record of the cause of death. and busy market town. Situated on the River Avon, When e Bard’s children were still very small, he farmers and villagers from far away would cross the began to enjoy success on the London stage both as river to attend the town’s markets. It is very likely that an actor and writer, and so he very likely spent a lot the town was visited frequently by acting companies less time at his family home in Stratford. e London performing plays, which is how Shakespeare’s love for theatre scene was growing very quickly in the late 16th theatre developed. century and Shakespeare knew he had to be in the city e town has been home to the Royal Shakespeare The house in Stratford- to ful ll his dream career. Company since it was founded in 1961 but, before that, upon-Avon where But in 1597 he bought New Place, one of the largest in 1879, the Shakespeare Memorial eatre opened in Shakespeare was born houses in the Stratford area, and ve years later he Stratford and put on several of e Bard’s plays. member throughout the rest of his career. e Lord Chamberlain’s Men became the most important company in London, though they had big rivals in the Lord Admiral’s Men. e competition between these T two acting companies was a bit like the rivalry between Shakespeare was born at a great time for an actor and Hollywood studios such as 20th Century Fox and a writer. Plays were becoming a popular and respected Paramount Pictures today. form of writing and when Shakespeare was just two It is with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men that years old, the rst play written entirely in English prose Shakespeare’s plays were rst performed.