Today, 23^rd April is both the birthday of William Shakespeare and also the day he died aged just 52, so we thought it was appropriate to celebrate the life of our of greatest playwright as his legacy extends so far beyond the 16th Century world he lived in.

 

Born in 1564 the son of a provincial glovemaker in Stratford upon Avon, the Bard initially struggled for acceptance as he did not have a classical education and had not travelled extensively, yet still managed to write plays with universal appeal.  Enough high brow references to defer to the educated but enough low brow slapstick to appeal to the common man.  Four hundred years later a good production of Midsummer Night’s Dream – such as the recent Nicholas Hytner version at the Bridge Theatre is still achingly funny, while the tragedy of a family watching a parent – King Lear - sinking into dementia, is no less heartbreaking today.

 

Shakespeare spent much of his time in London but significant outbreaks of plague during his lifetime when the authorities shut down the city and all the theatres (plus ca change!), sent him back to his family in Stratford to write some of his best works, and for a final time in 1613 after the original Globe Theatre burned down.

 

He signed his final will (leaving his second best bed to his wife Anne - a private joke between the two according to the film All is True), within one month of catching a bad chill and dying – apparently after a heavy night out with Ben Johnson, who despite his greater level of education and higher social standing bowed to Shakespeare’s talent and wrote the epithet that he was ‘not of an age but for all time’.

 

We have several trips that explore his history and achievements – so Happy Birthday Will and thank you!