Vocabulary Notes
alderman – олдермен, член міського управляння, член ради графства
glover – рукавичник
landowning farmer – фермер-землевласник
to baptize – хрестити , давати ім’я
curriculum – навчальний план школи
twins – близнята
peak of sophistication – вершина витонченості
E x e r c i s e s
I. Answer the questions:
1. When and where was born William Shakespeare?
2. Who were William’s parents?
3. Where did Shakespeare study?
4. What do you know about Shakespeare’s matrimonial life?
5. When did Shakespeare start his theatrical career?
6. What are the famous masterpieces of the “Bard of Avon”?
7. How many sonnets did William Shakespeare write?
II. Say what statements are false and what are true; correct the false ones:
1. William Shakespeare is often called England’s national poet and the “Lord of Avon”.
2. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful tailor.
3. His actual birth date remains unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April, St George’s Day.
4. Shakespeare was probably educated at the King’s New School in London.
5. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway with whom he had three children.
6. Another 18th-century story has Shakespeare starting his theatrical career minding the horses of theatre patrons in London.
7. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century.
The globe theatre
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare.
The Globe was owned by actors who were also shareholders in Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The Globe was built in 1599 using timber from an earlier theatre, the Theatre, which had been built by Richard Burbage’s father, James Burbage. The new theatre was larger than the building it replaced, with the older timbers being reused as part of the new structure. It was probably completed by the summer of 1599.The first performance for which a firm record remains was Jonson’s Every Man out of His Humour—with its first scene welcoming the “gracious and kind spectators”—at the end of the year.
On 29 June 1613 the Globe Theatre went up in flames during a performance of Henry VIII. According to one of the few surviving documents of the event, no one was hurt except a man whose burning breeches were put out with a bottle of ale. It was rebuilt in the following year.
Like all the other theatres in London, the Globe was closed down by the Puritans in 1642. It was pulled down in 1644, or slightly later—the commonly cited document dating the act to 15 April 1644 has been identified as a probable forgery—to make room for tenements.
A modern reconstruction of the theatre, named “Shakespeare’s Globe”, opened in 1997, with a production of Henry V. It is an academic approximation of the original design, based on available evidence of the 1599 and 1614 buildings, and is located approximately 750 feet (230 m) from the site of the original theatre.
The Globe’s actual dimensions are unknown, but its shape and size can be approximated from scholarly inquiry over the last two centuries. The evidence suggests that it was a three-storey, open-air amphitheatre approximately 100 feet (30 m) in diameter that could house up to 3,000 spectators.
At the base of the stage, there was an area called the pit where, for a penny, people would stand on the rush-strewn earthen floor to watch the performance. During the excavation of the Globe in 1989 a layer of nutshells was found, pressed into the dirt flooring so as to form a new surface layer. Vertically around the yard were three levels of stadium-style seats, which were more expensive than standing room. A rectangular stage platform, also known as an ‘apron stage’, thrust out into the middle of the open-air yard. The stage measured approximately 43 feet (13.1 m) in width, 27 feet (8.2 m) in depth and was raised about 5 feet (1.5 m) off the ground. On this stage, there was a trap door for use by performers to enter from the “cellarage” area beneath the stage.
The back wall of the stage had two or three doors on the main level, with a curtained inner stage in the centre, and a balcony above it. The doors entered into the “tiring house” (backstage area) where the actors dressed and awaited their entrances. The floors above may have been used to store costumes and props and as management offices. The balcony housed the musicians and could also be used for scenes requiring an upper space, such as the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. Rush matting covered the stage, although this may only have been used if the setting of the play demanded it.