The Story of Shakespeare in 5 Acts - and a 3 Act Movie Version

ACT 1

William Shakespeare was born and grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon. His father was a successful man. He was a leatherer, but he also owned land that he rented, and also was active in the civil life of Startford. John Shakespeare was alderman of Stratford-upon-Avon for a time, the equivalent of the Town Mayor. John Shakespeare's wife, Mary Arden, mother to William Shakespeare, came from a wealthy family.

Every year the guilds would put on Morality Plays based on stories from the Bible and the life of Jesus. Games of football were also played in the 1500s. Then called Medieval football. There were also other sports and activities for young people.

In 1571, At Age 7, young William would have had to show a basic understanding of Latin grammar and beginning vocabulary to be able to study at the local Grammar School, The King's New School, the equivalent of today’s public schools. Instead of studying in English, they studied Latin exclusively. There it were school exercises in Latin practiced all day long, and the school days were long, with the students not leaving until late into the afternoon.

All day they would study Latin and the writings of Roman authors. They studied Lily’s Latin textbook to learn the language. Henry VIII brought about the revolution in public schools with the help of Erasmus of Rotterdam and others who were reading the Latin and Greek classics. The Renaissance in Europe had been underway, and the public school education instituted in England was based on the Humanistic learning system the Italians created in the 1400s.

Students would learn to read, write, converse, and give speeches in Latin. They would translate lines from Latin into English and back into Latin again. They studied the Rhetoric of Cicero. The senior students performed Comedies of Plautus and Terence. Although children probably weren't allowed to play Medieval football, there being other activities for them, including archery, Medieval football was still played at the time.

All throughout Shakespeare’s Childhood, there were two constants: going to school, and hearing stories from his father about work and life. No other playwright had been the son of a Town Mayor, although all the playwrights came from the masses of common-folk, not from any Nobility. Oh, and it was childhood, so there was probably alot of kids being kids.

In 1576, at age 12, William would have completed the five years of Grammar School. He would have acted in a school performance of a Plautus or Terence comedy given in Latin. After finishing school, Shakespeare likely worked for his father, John Shakespeare. John Shakespeare was a glover and leatherworker. He and his wife Mary had 8 children together, 3 dying in infancy or early childhood. 5 lived and survived into adulthood, including William, with some living much longer than William himself. Of them, William, Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund probably would have traded stories about their travails at studying Latin at the King's New School, while sisters Joan and Anne listened. William was the eldest of the Shakespeare children who survived. After he finished his five years at Grammar School, he may have helped his brothers Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund with their Latin as they went through the rigors of learning Latin.

ACT 2

His courting of Anne Hathaway provides scenic and rustic images of young love. Even though Anne Hathaway was Shakespeare’s senior by a few years. Any anonymity they previously enjoyed was lost when Anne became pregnant. The two of them married in 1582, when Shakespeare was 18. By 1585, Shakespeare himself became a father of two girls, Susanna and Judith, and a boy, Hamnet.

In 1580s, Shakespeare would see The Queen’s Men perform in Stratford. The Queen’s Men were formed by Queen Elizabeth, a theater company and travelling actor’s troupe composed of the finest actors of the day.

Shakespeare’s frst play was The Taming of the Shrew, dated between 1589-92. He started as an actor, so he was definitely acting by his time. London at this time was saturated with books and the book reading culture of the 1500s. A cosmopolitan city for it’s day. Londoners were traveling and trading with Europe at such a pace that some were warning of the moral degradation traveling to Italy might cause to the young people.

Shakespeare was probably working with Thomas Kyd, author of The Spanish Tragedy, and possibly the author of the Ur-Hamlet. In the 1580s, The Queen’s Men performed plays throughout the English countryside, performing plays that included works about Richard III and King Lear. The former based on a history written by Sir Thomas More.

The comedies of Plautus and Terence were read in the Grammar Schools. Ovid’s Metamorphosis was a favorite of Shakespeare. Also in print publicationwere translations of Seneca’s Tragedies, and Virgil’s epic poem The Aenied, Rome’s epic poem on the scale of Homer’s Odyssey. For poetry, there was Tottel’s Miscellany. By the 1800s was Edmund Spencer’s first work The Shepard’s Calender.

ACT 3

Shakespeare got his plays first performed in the early 1590s. The early 1590s was new plays every year. Henry VI Parts 2 and 3, The Two Gentleman of Verona, Titus Andronicus, Henry VI Part 1, Richard the 3. Comedies, tragedies, and histories.

James Burbage founded The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. He built the playhouse The Theatre 1576, one of England’s first playhouses along with The Curtain and The Red Lion.

Burbage became the leading actor of Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1594, remaining so until his death in 1597. Burbage played and say it all. Below are some of the more well known plays performed in the early years of the English Theater (see below).

The 1590s saw the London Theatre make amazing strides and turns. Shakespeare secured his fame by the end of the decade, and yet would still go on to write what would become his most famous plays in the 1600s.

Shakespeare was only one of several playwrights in London, writing for several Playhouses. Playhouses and Plays played in the courtyards of Inns already had a rich tradition by the 1590s.

Shakespeare belonged to The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, founded in 1594. It was named the Lord Chamberlain’s Men after Henry Carey, the then Lord Chamberlain who was in charge of Court Entertainments. These entertainments included many things, including dances, balls, and holidays entertainments. The company was later renamed The King’s Men after the ascension of King James I in 1603.

The outbreak of the Plague in London shut down the playhouses. Shakespeare moved back to Stratford. There he would have time to spend with his family and time to write Sonnets and his two poems Venus and Adonis the The Rape of Lucretius. His son Hamnet was then old enough to be attending Grammar School by 1592. So Shakespeare would hear stories, and probably a lot of complaining, from his son about the rigors of the school curriculum.

In 1594, seemingly with The Plague over, Shakespeare kept to his classical sources by adapting Plautus’s play, Menaechmi, translated as The Brothers Menaechmus or The Two Menaechmuses, into Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors. Shakespeare also wrote Love’s Labours Lost in 1595.

In 1596, tragedy struck the Shakespeare household when son Hamnet died of unknown causes.

The mid 1590s in London saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, and Much Ado About Nothing in 1598.

ACT 4

1599 saw the opening of The Globe Theatre. Burbage had been involved in English theater from its beginnings. He acted and directed The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Imagine Shakespeare working for a man who had played throughout the 1570s and 80s. Burbage would have known all the plays of those years, and probably had the published versions as well.

By the end of the 1590s, Shakespeare had written two Historical cycles, other histories, and many, many a Comedy, 20 some plays in total. 20 some plays in only 10 years. The Year 1589 saw the beginning of Shakespeare’s playwriting, while the Year 1599 saw Henry V, As You Like It, and Julius Ceasar. In between those years he worked with the best actors in one of London’s best theatre companies.

1600-1601 saw Hamlet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, and Troilus and Cressida.

ACT 5

In 1603, Jame I of Scotland ascended the nglish Throne. It was a tremendous event and year for England. The Lord Chamberlain's Men continued on, being renamed The King's Men in honor of England's new King.

Here is the Story of Shakespeare in 3 Acts, for a movie screenplay. It's the same story as the 5 Act story, just organized into 3 Acts instead of Five.

THE STORY OF SHAKESPEARE, as above, in 3 Acts.

ACT 1

William Shakespeare was born and grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon. His father was a successful man. He was a leatherer, but he also owned land that he rented, and also was active in the civil life of Startford. John Shakespeare was alderman of Stratford-upon-Avon for a time, the equivalent of the Town Mayor. William's mom, Mary Arden, came from a wealthy family.

Every year the guilds would put on Morality Plays based on stories from the Bible and the life of Jesus. Games of football were also played in the 1500s. Then called Medieval football. There were also other sports and activities for young people.

In 1571, At Age 7, young William would have had to show a basic understanding of Latin grammar and beginning vocabulary to be able to study at the local Grammar School, The King's New School, the equivalent of today’s public schools. Instead of studying in English, they studied Latin exclusively. There it were school exercises in Latin practiced all day long, and the school days were long, with the students not leaving until late into the afternoon.

All day they would study Latin and the writings of Roman authors. They studied Lily’s Latin textbook to learn the language. Henry VIII brought about the revolution in public schools with the help of Erasmus of Rotterdam and others who were reading the Latin and Greek classics. The Renaissance in Europe had been underway, and the public school education instituted in England was based on the Humanistic learning system the Italians created in the 1400s.

Students would learn to read, write, converse, and give speeches in Latin. They would translate lines from Latin into English and back into Latin again. They studied the Rhetoric of Cicero. The senior students performed Comedies of Plautus and Terence. Although children probably weren't allowed to play Medieval football, there being other activities for them, including archery, Medieval football was still played at the time.

All throughout Shakespeare’s Childhood, there were two constants: going to school, and hearing stories from his father about work and life. No other playwright had been the son of a Town Mayor, although all the playwrights came from the masses of common-folk, not from any Nobility. Oh, and it was childhood, so there was probably alot of kids being kids.

In 1576, at age 12, William would have completed the five years of Grammar School. He would have acted in a school performance of a Plautus or Terence comedy given in Latin. After finishing school, Shakespeare likely worked for his father, John Shakespeare. John Shakespeare was a glover and leatherworker. He had married Mary Arden, and the two of them had 8 children together, 3 dying in infancy or early childhood. 5 lived and survived into adulthood, including William, with some living much longer than William himself. Of them, William, Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund could have traded stories about their travails at studying Latin at the King's New School, while Joan and Anne listened. William was the eldest of the Shakespeare children who survived. While he had finished school, he may have helped Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund with their Latin as they went through the rigors of school.