Did you know that Shakespeare had his own coat of arms? Sometime after William Shakespeare’s father John Shakespeare applied unsuccessfully to become a gentleman William took his father to the College of Arms to secure their own family coat of arms. The application cost 30 guineas and was granted from the Garter King of Arms [...]
A common mistake we’re to make when trying to transpose any Shakespearean expression from Renaissance English to contemporary modern English is to ignore its context and see it in the context of our own time. This often gives rise to charge against Shakespeare of such modern concepts as ‘racism,’ ‘anti-semitism’ or ‘sexism.’ Another complication is [...]
It’s so very much easier for us, in the twenty-first century, to extend our physical horizons, than it was in previous centuries. Going on short rail breaks from London, for example, allows us to enjoy all manner of pleasures in any part of the country we choose. We can visit the Lake District for a [...]
I often come across the question ‘Why is there so little of Christmas in the works of Shakespeare?’. In all of his works, Shakespeare uses the word ‘Christmas’ only three times. Well the answer is simple, really. The way we celebrate that jolly season is effusive, full and sumptuous, but its roots are in the [...]
That’s right folks, along with our Facebook page and twitter presence, No Sweat Shakespeare has now launched a Google+ page! It’s early days – and we’re really only just figuring out how it all works – but we’ve kicked things off with a few postings, including a rather nice collection of original drawings and etching [...]
London is the world’s top tourist destination, and so it should be. There are far more beautiful great cities, regarding their natural settings – Cape Town, Sydney, Rio – and more beautiful cities architecturally – Venice, Amsterdam – but there is no place as historically and culturally exciting as London. When I recently saw a [...]
Last week I went to the theatre to see a contemporary play set in an English stately home. When the stage lights came up the audience was confronted with an elaborate, detailed set – the sumptuous library of the Earl. There was oak paneling, huge, filled bookshelves, a big mahogany desk, antique chairs, Persian carpets and [...]
What have Hamlet, Tony Blair, H.G. Wells, David Frost, the Emperor Nero, Brian Clough, the White Rabbit and Kenneth Williams got in common? This is an easy one: they’ve all been played by the flavour of the month actor, Michael Sheen. The Welsh actor has played Tony Blair in three films – The Deal, The [...]
Emotions around the current, revived debate about the Shakespeare authorship are raging. Shakespeare scholars are ‘infuriated,’ ‘outraged,’ ‘angry’ about the implications of the film Anonymous, that de Vere wrote the plays and that Shakespeare was just a country bumpkin, turned actor, used as a cover by de Vere. If I were capable of any emotions [...]
William Shakespeare was nine years old when the first theatre in England was opened. The idea of a dedicated building for the performance of plays was conceived as late as 1576, when James Burbage, the father of Shakespeare’s future acting colleague, Richard Burbage, built a theatre in Shoreditch, London, which he called ‘The Theatre.’ These [...]