William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, from Shottery, in 1582. She was the eldest of eight and living one mile from Stratford. William was 18, and Anne was 26. Anne was also pregnant.

While many things about theaters and plays have changed since the late 1500s and early 1600s, from stages, to who could be an actor, to even pronunciation itself, at least when we go see a Shakespeare play today we can be confident that one thing is virtually unchanged: The story.

Shakespeare retired from writing around 1613. He moved back to New Place to take care of his business concerns and his family. On April 23, 1616, at the age of 52, Shakespeare died after what is believed to be a brief illness.

During this past year, the crisis around Covid 19 has had a huge effect on live theater performances. Broadway is still closed, and theater companies are just beginning to open again with safety measures in place.

Shakespeare’s London was a vibrant city full of many entertainments. The growing merchant and trade class had disposable income that they were eager to spend around town. This in turn created new opportunities for the arts.

Let’s talk about the actors that would have been in Shakespeare’s play during his lifetime. We are lucky enough to have records from the time that give us some idea about what would have been required of stage actors.

The Early Modern English of Shakespeare’s England is not known for consistency of spelling. In fact, it wasn’t until 1755 that any type of standardization was attempted.

One of the things that would have been quite different during Shakespeare’s day compared to our own is the very pronunciation of the English language.

William Shakespeare never wrote for an actress during his lifetime. This has been dramatized in the film Shakespeare in Love, where a great (fictional) scandal happens when a woman acts on the English stage.

Here is an easy game of luck based on the life of Shakespeare. You'll need a die and a pawn (button, coin, M&M! for each player.

William Shakespeare is best known today for writing his plays and sonnets. But he also worked as a professional actor, and we can see the influence that Shakespeare had based on the recorded history of theater companies and their changing patronage.