1. Contents and introduction.
2. William Shakespeare: life in Stratford-upon-Avon.
3. The Globe Theatre.

5. English Literature
6. Culture.
7. Bibliography.

Introduction

The following project is a piece of work constructed by myself to show four aspects of William Shakespeare’s life and surroundings. I hope you get as much pleasure from reading this book as I gained from writing it.

Yours sincerely,

<name here PLS>

The birth of William Shakespeare is said to have taken place on the 23^rd of April 1564. It is known for sure, though that he was baptized on the 26^th of April the same year, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire (his home for 26 years). He was the son of John Shakespeare, a local merchant, and Mary Arden, daughter of a Roman Catholic member of the landed gentry.

In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, and in 1583 his wife gave birth to his first daughter Susanna. Two years later twins Hamnet and Judith were born, although the boy; Hamnet died eleven years later.

His eldest daughter, Susanna married twice. First to Thomas Nash, then to John Barnard, before dying aged 62.

Shakespeare himself led a very eventful life aside from losing four brothers, one son and one grandson. He also wrote 154 sonnets and 38 plays, which are still regarded widely today as the most famous pieces of English literature.

Many of the plays that Shakespeare wrote all those years ago are still performed in theatres such as the Globe (pg. ), and still seen by a wide variety of people.

Many people know Stratford–upon-Avon, as the birth- place of William Shakespeare. They don’t know it to be a city in Canada. However it is. It is situated at the foot of Perth County, southeastern Ontario, Canada, on the Avon River. Stratford is a manufacturing and tourist centre. Factories provide furniture, vehicle parts, printed materials, metal and plastic goods and clothing.

The Globe Theatre was first built in the 17^th century on London’s Southwark. Most notable for productions of William Shakespeare’s works but also showed the "dramatic works", of Ben Jonson and Beaumont and Fletcher among others. When the lease for the theatre expired in 1598 brothers Richard and Cuthbert Burbage, dismantled it’s timbers and took them by cart to a site outside the city to it’s now home Southwark. Its roof was embellished with a globe and a Latin quotation from Petronius," totus mundus agit historionem". ("All the worlds a stage"). It staged its first play in 1599. It had an octagonally shaped outer wall that enclosed a roofless inner pit (the stage projected into this). There were three galleries; the top one was roofed with thatch. During a production of Henry VIII in 1613, a cannon was set off and caused the thatch to burn. Although they rebuilt the roof, it was razed 30 years later by the Puritans.

In 1970 American actor Sam Wanamaker started a campaign to rebuild the theatre on the site of the original. It took many years to overcome fund raising problems, but eventually building work began in 1987. The first production began in 1996. It was Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

The Globe project is still not complete: for example there is only a temporary stage in the main building. There are also plans for further buildings such as an educational centre and an indoor theatre. It is hoped that this work shall be completed by autumn 1999, in time for the 400^th anniversary of the original Globe.

Overleaf is a picture of today’s Globe