Shakespeare, William - Life and works (2)

The early years

Shakespeare's early career

We do not know much about By 1592

The successfull playwright
Shakespeare became first a member of and then a sharer in the “Lord Chamberlain’s Men”, one of London’s leading companies of players(on the accession of james I the company took the name of “King’s men”). He was the most successful playwright of his time, very popular with the London audiences and much appreciated at court. He excelled in all dramatic genres then in vogue: comedies, tragedies and historical plays. Shakespeare also became co-owner of the Globe theatre whan it opened in 1599. The Globe, an open air public theatre, was used in summer while in winter the company acted in the indoor private Blackfriars theatre.

Shakespeare's retirement and legacy

Thanks to his great success as a playwright Shakespeare earned enough to be able to retire to Stratford in his later years and buy several properties there. He died in Stratford in 1616.

Riassunto
He was the leading playwright of his time, he was a member of one of the best companies of players : the Lord Chamberlain’s men(after 1603, the king’s men). They performed at outdoor Globe theatre in summer and at the indoor Blackfriars theatre in winter. He excelled in all the dramatic genres then in vogue: comedies, tragedies and historical plays. He is also one of England’s greatest poets, as his collection of sonnets (1609)testifies.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (1599) - The building in context

The Globe Theatre's origins

London’s first professional playhouse – known as “The Theatre”- was built in 1576 by James Burbage, in the suburb of shoreditch just outside the northern gate of the city. When in 1599 difficulties arose over the lease of the property the two sons of James Burbage, Cuthbert and Richard, pulled down the building and transported all the materials to the south side of the thames. The new theatre they built was called “The Globe” and part of the cost was met by Shakespeare and his fellow players. These sharers, as they were called, shared both the expenses and the profits of the thatre. It was a public outdoor playhouse, attended by both the upper classes and the ordinary people; performances took place in the afternoon, and so in daylight.

The Globe Theatre's significance

The rounded structure of the Globe and its stage which projected itself in the middle of the arena(spectators were all around it), were the visible architectural expression of the great commonplace of the Elizabethan theatre: all the world is a stage. The idea is central to Shakespeare’s plays : it finds its best expression in Macbeth’s tragic speech after his wife’s death, where he compares man to a poor actor and life to a brief play. We also find it in The tempest, where the island corresponds to the theatre and Prospero to the playwright. The association was even more obvious to Shakespeare’s contemporaries: not only the name itself “Globe” recalls the world, but at the entrance of the picture of Hercules carrying the world on his shoulders, and a latin inscription saying : “the actor makes the world go round”.