THE GLOBE THEATRE TODAY When how and who

THE GLOBE THEATRE TODAY

When, how and who wanted its reconstruction? In 1987 theatre was rebuilt thanks to a politico-cultural operation which had a considerable difficulty and some criticism. The theatre, unquestionably associated to Shakespeare figure, however, has become the symbol of Britishness around the world and it is at the centre of a thriving industry linked to the great playwright: there are real tour where you can visit emblematic places of Shakespeare’s life including the Globe Theatre. SAM WANAMAKER The reconstruction of theatre was strongly supported by the actor and director Sam Wanamaker and began in 1987 and was be completed in 1997, by which time Wanamaker had disappeared.

What can you do here The Globe Theatre annually hosts a large theatre season that runs from May to September, following Sam Wanamaker’s will, programming each year at least one of Shakespeare’s work performed by a company completely masculine and using Elizabethan costumes. The Prologue Season , which is the very first season of the shows in Shakespeare’s Globe Rebuilt opened in 1996 with The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare. Nowadays who takes care of the artistic direction of theatre is the actor and British director Mark Rylance.

Its reproductions There are many copies of the Globe in the world. There is a copy in a park of Rome another in Berlin. In Sweden there is even a copy of The Globe, built only in ice, which was made for the Ice Hotel in Laplant.

THE GLOBE THEATRE IN THE PAST

History The first Globe Theatre was built in 1559 by Shakespeare's theatre company. To cover the cost of the new playhouse, James Burbage’s sons Cuthbert and Richard, offered some members of the company shares in the building. Shakespeare was one of four actors who bought a share in the Globe. By early 1599 theatre was up and running and for 14 years it thrived, presenting many of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. In 1613 it burned and it was rebuilt in 1614, but in 1642 the Puritans ( the religious group who believed in simplicity and hard work) closed it. It was demolished in 1644.

The theatre in the Elizabethan Period

Suppose we' re in London. It’s a Summer afternoon in 1606, outside the Globe… someone cries “ let‘ s go in!” the ticket costs only a penny. Inside, theatre is made of wood. It is Circular and it has a open roof. Ordinary people stand below the stage while the nobles sit in the galleries above…there almost 2000 people!

On the stage there are no curtains and no lights (there is not electricity). The play is Antony and Cleopatra, but the costumes are ordinary 16 th century clothes, and Cleopatra is a young boy dressed as a woman! In fact there are no woman on the stage at all! You’ve just been in Shakespeare’s time

SHAKESPEARE’S TIME

ELIZABETH I (1558 -1603) Elizabeth I was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. In 1534 Henry broke away from the Church in Rome, when the pope didn’t agree to the divorce from his first wife. He started a new church, the Church of England. Elizabeth was the first Protestant queen. Elizabeth’s reign is known as the Elizabethan Age. Elizabeth refused to marry, saying that she was already married to her country; during the time many people saw Elizabeth as a strong ruler. Her Catholic cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, wanted to become queen, and in 1587 Elizabeth ordered her to be executed for treason. In 1588 Spanish ship tried to attack England. Elizabeth remained queen for two more years until her death in 1603.

JAMES I (1603 -1625) When James I became king, he was already King VI of Scotland, and so for the first time Scotland England had one ruler. In 1605 a man named Guy Fawkes and a group of Catholics planned to kill James and destroy the Parliament. The plot was discovered. From that moment on, James I decided that all Catholics were his enemies. It is believed that Shakespeare wrote the play Macbeth especially for James because he wanted to write a Scottish play for the King.

SHAKESPEARE‘S EARLY LIFE

Though no birth records exist, church records indicate that a William Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26, 1564. From this, it is believed he was born on or near April 23, 1564, and this is the date scholars acknowledge as William Shakespeare's birthday.

From roughly 1594 onward he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men company of theatrical players. Written records give little indication of the way in which Shakespeare’s professional life melded his artistry. All that can be deduced is that over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote plays that captured the complete range of human emotion and conflict.

Located 103 miles west of London, during Shakespeare's time Stratford-upon-Avon was a market town bisected with a country road and the River Avon. William was the third child of John Shakespeare, a leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a local landed heiress. William had two older sisters, Joan and Judith, and three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard and Edmund. Before William's birth, his father became a successful merchant and held official positions as alderman and bailiff, an office resembling a mayor. However, records indicate John's fortunes declined sometime in the late 1570 s

Scant records exist of William's childhood, and virtually none regarding his education. Scholars have surmised that he most likely attended the King's New School, in Stratford, which taught reading, writing and the classics. Being a public official's child, William would have undoubtedly qualified for free tuition. But this uncertainty regarding his education has led some to raise questions about the authorship of his work and even about whether or not William Shakespeare ever existed.

SHAKESPEARE GOES TO LONDON

London in Shakespeare’s plays Then, as today London was the wealthiest and biggest in England. With many houses, shops, people, and places of entertainment, London was an exciting city to be in. In their free time, Londoners often went to inns, where they could see shows. Later they went to the new, circular, open theatre.

Shakespeare arrives to London. Shakespeare arrived in London at a time when theatre was becoming more popular. The theatre companies often asked students and educated young men to write plays for them, because it was cheaper than using professional writers. At that time, theatre companies needed patrons " important" rich men who gave the company money to put on their plays.

SHAKESPEARE THE BUSINNESSMAN Shakespeare was a good businessman. He owned part of this theatre company and two of theatre where the company performed : Blackfriars and the Globe. He soon had enough money to buy two houses: one for himself in London and one for his family in Stratford upon-Avon.

William Shakespeare’s Works

: e r a e p s e k a h S m a li il Some works by W • Hamlet • Othello m a e r D s t' h ig N r e m m u • A Mids , t e li u J d n a o e m o R • enice V f o t n a h c r e m e h T • • The Tempest • Macbeth

HAMLET It is one of the most famous Shakespeare’s tragedies and was written in the summer between 1600 and 1602. It is set in Denmark PLOT: The ghost of the late King killed by his brother to his son Hamlet appears and asks to be avenged. Hamlet believes it's better to find out the truth while making believe crazy

OTHELLO The tragedy was written surroundings to 1603 the first documented performance took place around November 1604 in the Whitehall Place in London.

PLOT Othello, a Moorish general of Venice, has promoted Cassio as his lieutenant; Iago, who was hoping for the promotion himself, makes plots against both Cassio and Othello to exact revenge. Othello has secretly married Desdemona, the beautiful daughter of the. Venetian senator Brabantio, and Iago determines to use Desdemona as the means of his revenge. Intent on revenge, Iago hatches a devious plan to plant suspicions in Othello’s mind that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with Cassio. He orchestrates a street fight, for which Cassio is wrongly blamed, and is then dismissed from his post by Othello. Desdemona takes up Cassio’s case with her husband, which only further inflames his suspicions that the pair are lovers. In the meantime, Iago manages to procure a treasured handkerchief from Desdemona that was given to her by Othello. He plants it on Cassio so that Othello sees it, then concludes that it is proof of their affair. Maddened by jealousy, he orders Iago to murder Cassio, and then he strangles Desdemona. Immediately afterwards her innocence is revealed, and Iago’s treachery exposed. In a fit of grief and remorse Othello kills himself. Iago is taken into custody by the Venetian authorities.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" deals with the universal theme of love and its complications: lust, disappointment, confusion, marriage. The plot focuses on three parallel stories: the trials and experiences of two sets of lovers camping in a magical forest, the world of the Fairy King and Queen and their elves, and a group of rough craftsmen attempting to stage a production of "Pyramus and Thisby" for the wedding of the Duke of Athens. Hermia is in love with Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius. To escape the arranged marriage, she and Lysander elope into the woods. Demetrius follows them, and he is pursued by Helena, who nurses an unrequited passion for him. A love quadrangle develops among the young lovers when mischievous Puck plays Cupid. "The course of true love never did run smooth" says Lysander. Meanwhile, a group of amateur actors rehearses a badly-written play in the woods, and soon all find their lives changed by the doings of Oberon and Titania, the warring king and queen of the fairies. Magic, action, love and humor are the ingredients for this unforgettable spell.

ROMEO AND JULIET The love story between two teenagers whose families are in fighting. The two lovers get secretly married but Romeo is involved in a street quarrel in which his friend Mercutio is killed by Tybalt. in revenge Romeo kills Tybalt and is exiled to Mantua. Meanwhile Juliet to escape to her parents idea to marry Paris she takes a drug and she looks like death. Romeo would be advice about it but there is an misunderstood so Romeo Thinks that Juliet is died, he comes back to Verona and kill himself in her tomb. When she awakes and sees his lover's body she takes his dagger and kills herself. Romeo and Juliet was written between 1594 and 1596 it is set in Verona. It is one of the most famous love stories in the world taken even as a symbolic value

The play was probably written between the 1596 and 1597 A young Venetian, Bassanio, needs a loan of three thousand ducats so that he can woo Portia, a wealthy Venetian heiress. He approaches his friend Antonio, a merchant. Antonio is short of money because all his wealth is invested in his fleet, which is currently at sea. He goes to a Jewish money lender, Shylock, who hates Antonio because of Antonio’s anti-semitic behaviour towards him. Shylock nevertheless agrees to make the short-term loan, but, in a moment of dark humour, he makes a condition – the loan must be repaid in three months or Shylock will exact a pound of flesh from Antonio agrees, confident that his ships will return in time. Meanwhile, two of Antonio’s ships have been wrecked and Antonio’s creditors are pressurizing him for repayment. Word comes to Bassanio about Antonio’s predicament, and he hurries back to Venice, leaving Portia behind. Portia follows him, accompanied by her maid, Nerissa. When Bassanio arrives the date for the repayment to Shylock has passed and Shylock is demanding his pound of flesh. But Portia decides that Shylock can have the pound of flesh as long as he doesn’t draw blood, as it is against the law to shed a Christian’s blood. Since it is obvious that to draw a pound of flesh would kill Antonio, Shylock is denied his suit. Moreover, for conspiring to murder a Venetian citizen, Portia orders that he should forfeit all his wealth. Half is to go to Venice, and half to Antonio gives his half back to Shylock on the condition that Shylock bequeath it to his disinherited daughter, Jessica.

The Tempest It is considered the penultimate opera of Shakespeare’s production and it can be considered his spiritual testament. The Tempest finishes with Prospero that renounces magic with a monologue and many historians have connected it with Shakespeare that with this drama left theatre. The Tempest belongs to the group of “romances” but Shakespeare added fantastic character and fairy-tale elements. This drama is one of the great comedy plays by William Shakespeare. The themes illustrated in the play are freedom, friendship , repentance and forgiveness and feature different temperaments illustrating temperance and intemperance. The plot starts when King Alonso of Naples and his entourage sail home for Italy after attending his daughter's wedding in Tunis, Africa. They encounter a violent storm, or Tempest. Everyone jumps overboard and are washed ashore on a strange island inhabited by the magician Prospero who has deliberately conjured up the storm. Prospero and Miranda live in a cave on the island which is also inhabited by Ariel, a sprite who carries out the bidding of Prospero, and the ugly, half human Caliban. Various plots against the main characters fail thanks to the magic of Prospero. The play ends with all the plotters repenting the Tempest is calmed.

Genre: Original story Tragedy in 5 acts ' The tempest ' by William Shakespeare is considered the penultimate opera of its production and it can be considered his spiritual testament. The Tempest finishes with Prospero that renounces magic with a monologue and many historians have connected it with Shakespeare that with this drama left theatre. The Tempest belongs to the group of “romances” but Shakespeare added fantastic character and fairy-tale elements. Author : William Shakespeare Time: 1611 first Representation in 1911 Theme: adventure Set: Mistery Island The Tempest Plot Alonso, king of Naples, together his crew and with Antonio, while backing home in Italy, after his daughter’s wedding in Tunis, encounter a violent Tempest. This strong tempest causes a shipwreck and the survivors finish on a strange Island where lives Prospero. It was Prospero to cause the storm because many years before he was exiled with his daughter by his brother Antonio and by Alonso. In really Prospero was the Duke of Milan. Prospero and his daughter Miranda live in a cave on the Island together to Ariel, a spirit that Prospero freed because it was imprisoned in a tree, and Caliban a half human. On the Island the castaways are a plot but fail thanks to Prospero’s magician. In the meantime Miranda and Ferdinando (King’s son) falling in love and for their love Prospero decides to make peace with his brother ant to renounce magic.

THE TEMPEST by William Shakespeare

PROSPERO He is the real Duke of Milan and he is a magician. He doesn’t live in Milan but he lives on a small island with his young daughter, Miranda. His bad brother, Antonio, sends him on the island taking his role of Duke of Milan and Prospero cannot return to the city.

MIRANDA Miranda is the fourteen-year-old daughter of Prospero. She is pretty naive, but that's part of what makes such an endearing figure, Miranda is a romantic creature, we can think she's a looser, but it’s not true because when she has the chance takes her fate into her own hands.

CALIBAN Who or what is Caliban? Caliban is the island's only native, he is the product of the witch Sycorax's hook-up with the devil. At the beginning Prospero treats Caliban "with human care“, he teach him to speak, but, when Caliban tried to rape Miranda, Prospero get angry, enslaves and punishes him. "Demi-devil. " "Poor credulous monster. " "Strange fish. "

ARIEL Ariel is Prospero's "tricksy" spirit servant and attends to Prospero's every need. Unlike Caliban, Ariel has a (mostly) warm and loving relationship with Prospero, who saved Ariel when he arrived on the island. Even though Ariel is affectionate toward Prospero, we learn early on that Ariel isn't a servant by nature; he primarily wants his liberty, but, knowing that it will come, serves Prospero wholeheartedly and happily. Ariel is notable for his use of white magic in the play, but also for his empathy and goodness.

ROMEO AND JULIET

Original story Genre: Shakespeare's primary source for Romeo and Juliet was a poem by Arthur Brooke called The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Iuliet, written in 1562. He also could have known the popular tale of Romeo and Juliet from a collection by William Painter, tragedy in 5 acts Author : William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet Time: 1594 -95 first published in 1597 Plot Theme: Love an unhappy romantic love of youth Set Verona an Italian city The love story between two teenagers whose families are in fighting. The two lovers get secretly married but Romeo is involved in a street quarrel in which his friend Mercutio is killed by Tybalt. in revenge Romeo kills Tybalt and is exiled to Mantua. Meanwhile Juliet to escape to her parents idea to marry Paris she takes a drug and she looks like death. Romeo would be advice about it but there is an misunderstood so Romeo Thinks that Juliet is died, he comes back to Verona and kill himself in her tomb. When she awakes and sees his lover's body she takes his dagger and kills herself. entitled The Palace of Pleasure, which was written sometime before 1580. Shakespeare also likely read the three sources on which Brooke's poem and Painter's story were based -- namely, Giulietta e Romeo, a novella by the Italian author Matteo Bandello, written in 1554; a story in a collection called Il Novellio, by the widely-popular fifteenth-century writer Masuccio Salernitano; and the Historia Novellamente Ritrovata di Due Nobili Amanti or A Story Newly Found of two Noble Lovers, written by Luigi Da Porto and published in 1530.

Romeo Montagues is one of the main protagonists of the tragedy by William Shakespeare “Romeo and Juliet”. He is the only son and heir of a prominent family of Verona Montagues, was born into nobility and has a personal servant, Baldassarre. Romeo is a sixteen years old boy, handsome, intelligent and sensitive, though it is impulsive and immature and is proficient in the use of the sword, is also a player of love poems and in his quest typically youthful love, tries to emulate ideal love sonnets in vogue at the time. His passion and his idealism make an appreciated and loved man. Despite living in the middle of a fight between his family and the Capulets , he is not interested in violence, his interest is love.

JULIET Juliet is the female protagonist and one of two title characters in William Shakespeare's romantic love tragedy Romeo and Juliet is the only daughter of Capulet, the patriarch of the Capulet family. The story has a long history that precedes Shakespeare himself.

Mercutio is a fictional character of the famous play by William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet. Relative of the Prince, the ruler of the city-state of Verona, is a good friend of Montague, especially the young Romeo. Mercutio has a facility to perform in long speeches suggestive, and is considered to be a "free spirit“. MERC UTIO

In the story Tybalt appears as the nephew of Lady Capulet. Man very conceited and always looking for a fight in the street, will die at the hands of Romeo, Mercutio revenge killing. Tyb alt

PARIS count Paris is a kinsman of Prince Escalus and seeks to marry Juliet. He is described as handsome, somewhat selfabsorbed, and very wealthy. Paris makes his first appearance in Act I, Scene II, where he expresses his wish to make Juliet his wife and the mother of his children. Capulet demurs, citing his daughter's young age as a reason and telling him to wait until she is more mature.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Genre: Original story: romantic The protagonists are Saturnine, a beautiful young nun from a convent of Forlì and Auretto, a young man of Florence, "a wise, practical, wellmannered and heard of all things" in order to know that, having heard praising the fame, you friar and become a chaplain in the monastery where he locked the young. The two fall in love and, at least to be able to see, they will agree to meet every day at a certain time in the parlor where, to console and try to curb their ardent love, they tell a story. At the end of each story, and then at the end of each day, the two young men, alternately, utter a song or ballad. Author: William Shakespear Merchand of Venice Period: 1596 -1598 Theme: a lost love and a twisted story Set: Venezia in a Italian city Plot: The Merchant of Venice is a comedy in five acts, in verse and prose. The Venetian nobleman Bassanio asks his friend Antonio, a wealthy merchant of Venice, 3000 ducats to worthily rich Portia. Antonio borrows money jew usurer Shylock that claims as an obligation, if the sum will not be paid on the day fixed, the right to take a pound of flesh on the body of Antonio. Bassanio accompanied by his Graziano, get the hand of Portia overcoming a proof established by her father. Graziano bride maid Nerissa Portia. Meanwhile, Jessica, Shylock's daughter fled with the Christian Lorenzo, subtracting money to his father, the disinherited. Comes the news that Antonio's ships have been wrecked and who has not paid the debt on its expiry. Shylock demands his pound of flesh. Portia disguised as a lawyer pleads the cause of Antonio in front of the Doge, showing that Shylock has the right to the meat without being paid a single drop of blood, if you do not want to be executed for attempt on the life of a Venetian. The doge grace Shylock but confiscation of its assets, which are divided between Antonio and the Venetian state. Antonio gives up his part provided that Shylock will face Christian and tie his assets to Lorenzo and Jessica. The ship of Antonio arrives into the port without damage.

Shylock is a Jewish moneylender, father to Jessica, enemy to Antonio, and one of the most complex characters of The Merchant of Venice – and arguably of all of Shakespeare's work. Over the years, theater and film productions of the play have portrayed Shylock in various ways. As literary critic Ann Barton points out in The Riverside Shakespeare, "Shylock has sometimes been presented as the devil incarnate, sometimes as a comic villain gabbling absurdly about ducats and daughters.

NERISSA Nerissa Portia's waiting-maid; clever, selfconfident, and coquettish. Nerissa is Portia's woman in waiting. At the beginning of the play, she acts as a sounding board to Portia. She listens to Portia complain about her life and the unfairness of the casket contest and tells her to suck it up and be glad her father was wise enough to plan for his daughter's future. This, of course, tells us that Nerissa is a very practical girl. This must be why she agrees to marry Graziano if Bassanio can win Portia.

ANTONIO Antonio is the character that gives its name to the comedy , the merchant , for his friendship towards Bassanio , he agrees to sign the contract with Shylock , which endangers his own life. Antonio is a character quite changeable , sometimes inexplicably melancholy and , as Shylock highlights , possessed by a incorrigible aversion to Jews. Despite this , Antonio is well-liked by his friends and tries a feeling of pity for Shylock .

Porzia Portia is a rich heiress who lives in Belmonte. She is a woman whose beauty is matched only by his intelligence and his fame has crossed the boundaries of Venice and Italy itself. After the death of his father she must get marry. His father, wise man, had come up with a gimmick to select her suitors (the choice among the three caskets containing gold, silver and lead), which will allow it to marry his true love, Bassanio. He is with 'no doubt the character with greater intelligence, which he uses to manipulate it for his luck She disguises herself as a lawyer and can save Antonio in the process in which Shylock demanded his pound of flesh as in default of payment of debt.

Bassanio is Antonio's best pal and the lucky guy who lands Portia, the richest and cutest girl in Belmont. The thing to know about Bassanio is that he loves his lavish lifestyle, but he's really bad with money, which is why he ends up borrowing from Shylock

SHAKESPEARE IN THE MOVIES There are more than 350 films based on Shakespeare’s plays. Here are three types of film version.

Films of Shakespeare’s original plays that are set in the same time and place that Shakespeare set play. For example The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino as Shylock. Films of Shakespeare’s original plays that are set in a different time and/or place. For example: Richard III with lan Mc. Kellen is set in London in the 1930. Films with similar plotos to Shakespeare’s plays, but not using Shakespeare’s words and set in a different time and place. An example is Titanic, which has a lot in common with Romeo and Juliet.

DIRECTORS, ACTORS in SHAKESPEARE’s FILMS Laurence Olivier was one of the greatest English actors of Shakespeare in the 20° century. Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III were all directed by him. More recent films include a 4 -hour, complete version of Hamlet, directed by Kenneth Branagh, and Romeo + Juliet, set in a modern California with Claire Danes and Leonardo di Caprio.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE Shakespeare in Love, about Shakespeare’s love for a beautiful woman, isn’t based on fact, but the idea for the story came from some of Shakespeare’s sonnets. It gives us a very good idea of the Elizabethan theatre

Created by the pupils of 2°F School Year 2014/2015 Scuola media “ G. Rodari” Vermezzo Milano