Review: Shakespeare’s Background

• Born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon to a middle-class family

• Married Anne Hathaway in 1582• Became an actor & playwright in 1594 for

Lord Chamberlain’s Men• Became partner in The Globe Theater in

1599• Died in 1616

Theatre in Shakespeare’s Time

REPERTORY SYSTEM

Theatre performed by a company of actors that presents and performs a number of different plays or other works during a season, usually alternating works

The Globe Theatre

• London playhouse built in 1598

• Staged most of Shakespeare’s plays

• Burned down in 1613; rebuilt 1614

• Destroyed in 1644 by the Puritans

New Globe Theatre

Built in 1997; modeled after original

Structure of the Globe

• Octagonal building

• Thatched roof

• 84 feet in diameter

Diagram of the Globe

Stage

The yard

Flag announcing performance

Lords’ Rooms

Middle Gallery

Area behind: tiring house

Elizabethan vs. Modern Theatre

• No curtain; nothing separates actors from audience—very intimate experience

• Curtain acts as psychological barrier between audience and actors

• No lighting on stage;

daylight is only source

of light

• Lighting only on

stage—audience in

dark to further separate

the two

Elizabethan vs. Modern Theatre

• 2-3 acts

• Minimal scenery & few props

• Scenery & props cue viewers

• Quiet, reserved audience

• All male actors • Male & female actors

• 5 acts

• Loud, boisterous audience

• Most likely written by Shakespeare in 1600

• Play derived from the legendary story of Hamlet (Amleth) recounted in the Danish History from the 12th century, a Latin text by Saxo the Grammarian

Background to Hamlet

Background to Hamlet

• This version was later adapted into French by Francois de Belleforest in 1570

• Shakespeare most likely knew this version or a later version (presumably by British author Thomas Kyd)

A play of questions

With so many people masking their true

identities, how do we know what is true and

what is false? What is real, and what is

imagined?

“There is matter in these sighs, these profound heaves: you must translate…” --Claudius, Act 4, sc. 1

Hamlet: The Role of a Lifetime

John Barrymore

Edwin Booth

Richard Burbage

Hamlet: Lawrence Olivier

Hamlet, 1948Directed by Lawrence Olivier

Hamlet: Mel Gibson

Hamlet, 1990Directed by Franco Zeffirelli

Hamlet: Kenneth Branagh

Hamlet, 1996Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Hamlet: Hawke

Hamlet, 2000 Directed by Michael Almereyda

The Many Editions of Hamlet

• The power of self-reflection

• The question of revenge

• The meaning of loyalty and duty

• The importance of personal relationships

• The expectations of gender

• The link between thought and action

As you read, consider the following concepts…

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