Shakespeare's special year

Shakespeare was born 450 years ago this year.
There will be lots of events to celebrate his life
.He belonged to the Elizabethan Golden Age.

 Although not much  seems to be known about him, a lot is known about the times he lived in.


Just to refresh your memory - William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, the son of a glove-maker. He went to the local grammar school and married Anne Hathaway when he was 18 and she was 26. Shakespeare seems to have lived a rather uneventful life, but in very eventful times. Queen Elizabeth was on the throne. Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh were his contemporaries. A lot is known about what life was like then. London was a busy, lively city, but there was often plague going around.

Shakespeare was an actor before he was a play writer. He soon realized that his best talent was to write, rather than to be an actor, so he turned to injecting new life into old repertory pieces.

Romeo and Juliet was originally a novella by an Italian called Luigi Da Porto. Shakespeare found a voice that speaks to everyone, all over the world, in any historical contest. His brilliant wit and commitment to life is something all cultures can relate to. From people falling in love, marriages going wrong, jealousy, immigration, he has something for everyone.

At school we used to take a whole year just to study one play. While we were studying Romeo and Juliet we were taken to see the play at the theatre. We  knew how it would end, but we  came back on the coach close to tears.


Now, something just came back to me, talking about Anne Hathaway. In Just William, a series of books about a little boy by Richmal Compton, there is a lovely story, when an American comes to William's village and asks him where Anne Hathaway's cottage is. William takes him to a pretty cottage and the American ends up very happy with his visit and gives William a big tip. If you're not familiar with these stories, do look out for them.

I haven't studied Shakespeare since school, but have enjoyed his plays in a variety of settings from open air theatres to cinemas. We once saw Macbeth performed like Men in Black.

As we are nearing "Twelfth Night", I will quote a song from the play.

O Mistris mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and heare, your true loves coming
That can sing both high and low.
Trip no further prettie sweeting,
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise mans sonne doth know

What is love, tis not heereafter,
Present mirth, hath present laughter:
What's to come, is still unsure,
In delay there lies no plentie,
then come kisse me, sweet and twentie:
Youths a stuffe will not endure.