William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England in 1564. He likely attended the King Edward VI School where students studied Latin for long days from ages 7 to 13. As an adult, Shakespeare wrote plays that were performed at the Globe Theatre in London, which he part owned. His plays enthralled audiences through dramatic openings and humor. Leading actors like Richard Burbage performed Shakespeare's plays.

1. An introduction to
the life of the:
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2. NAME: Shakespeare is most commonly used although Shakespeare himself
spelt his name in other ways too. He used: Shakespere,
Shakespear, Shackspeare and Shaxpere!
FIRST NAME(S): William. Just William.
DATE OF Baptised on April 26th, 1564. Birth
BIRTH: certificates did not exist at the time.
Therefore, it is difficult to state his exact
date of birth. However, baptisms
generally happened three days after birth
and so most people agree that
Shakespeare was born on April 23rd.
PLACE OF Stratford-upon-Avon,
BIRTH: Warwickshire, England.
SIBLINGS: The third of eight children, though the * His youngest brother,
two before him had died, making him the Edmund, also became an
oldest of six. * actor.
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3. What was Shakespeare’s schooling
like?
First of all, answer the following questions about your school life.
Make a note of your answers.
• How old are your classmates?
• How many days a week do you attend school?
• What time does your school day begin? And end? So how long is your day?
• How many subjects do you study?
King Edward VI
School
Shakespeare’s
Justschool
one class with children from
the ages of 7 – 13.
Children attended school SIX days a
week, every week of the year.
The boys (no girls allowed!) who
attended the school studied Latin –
mostly just Latin.
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4. London,1610
The
Globe
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5. t was moved from the north to the south of
the Thames in 1599.
ost of Shakespeare’s plays were performed
here.
n 29 June 1613 the Globe Theatre went up in
flames during a performance. A cannon, used
in the production, misfired and ignited the
wooden beams and thatching. It was then
rebuilt.
he Globe was closed in 1642 and demolished
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6. 3,000 people could fit into the Globe.
1,700 of them paid one penny to stand in
the yard where there was no roof. They
were called groundlings.
 This is a groundling’s point of view.
Most of the audience could neither read nor write,
so the plays had to be entertaining or the theatres
would have made no money… and Shakespeare was
a very rich man!
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7. So, how did Shakespeare attract his audiences?
A very important feature of the plays are their dramatic openings.
Here are some examples:
A HUNCHBACK A GHOST
Witches
A
FIGH
T
R omeo and Macbeth
Richard III Ha m l et Juliet
Can you think of some reasons why these openings would have enthralled
Shakespeare’s audiences? Think about the social class of the audience as well as
the world of theatre. Discuss your ideas in small groups.
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8. The importance of HUMOUR!
ha ha!
ha ha!
the biggest
Robert Armin
he
stars were t
clowns
he he
heee
ha!
ha ha
Will Kempe
waaa ha
ha ha
haaa!
ha!
Shakespeare became so cross with
Kempe’s fame (and improvising) that he
sacked him!
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9. We know that he played…
…the ghost in
d in the
…a n d … and he appeare
u s.
Jo nson play Sejan
H amlet… A d a m in
As Y o u
L ik e I t …
However, the star
of Shakespeare’s Burbage’s father
company was owned ‘The
Richard Theatre’, the first
Burbage, who public theatre in
played all the leading England.
parts.
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10. Copyright © 2011 TES English www.tes.co.uk/askshakespeare

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