Happy Birthday Mr Shakespeare!

Well good for him. :slightly_smiling_face:

Not that you actually know. :thinking:

Yes, anti Semitism was definitely the major prejudice of the Elizabethan era, not so much against homosexuality or being black

And they also say he wrote exceedingly good plays. I can only take the word of others on all those matters. :slightly_smiling_face:

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16th Century was a lifetime different than today. Will Shakespeare has enriched the lives of all who lives after him. A brilliant man with a remarkable gift of making words speak to us.
Any speculation of his sexual orientation, personal opinions of race, religion, or way of life is/was his own business. Who are we to judge when we weren’t involved or had experience living in that era?

This is my opinion. To take away his gifts to the arts only makes the criticizer seem small and worthless.
Period.

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Well, yeah, he was quite good at it, actually :rofl:

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I have never, ever managed to get the hang of Shakey and the plays wot he wrote. We even had to watch the Kenneth Branagh film versions in 2 or 3 stages because we kept falling asleep.

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well the ‘mixed crowds’ of the day whether working class or royalties seemed to take to him regularly and often boistressly??

Lots of people like that, I think, and the way it’s taught in school doesn’t help

You either get it or you don’t, but when it clicks it’s amazing and gives you such a lot

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I do like the ocassional docos that come about with good actors not only mimicking parts but explaining them too - good stuff

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These things are for foreign tourists. I’m sure Shakespeare’s home is no longer.

I may be wrong. He was born in Stratford and died in Stratford, he may have lived in properties there in childhood and in old age. But spent most of his life in London. Stratford has claimed him, and makes lots of money out of the fact he spent his childhood years there, he’s their biggest commodity. He was from a poor family and I don’t think his birthdate is know, not sure about an address.

Shakespeare became fairly well known in his lifetime and made enough money through London theatre ownership to buy a retirement home back in Stratford. That house is know to have been demolished in the 18th century.

Absolutely, us Londoners know he’s one of our own!

https://londonist.com/london/history/where-in-london-did-shakespeare-live

If his spirit lingers anywhere, I expect it’s over The Globe :two_hearts:

Interesting webpage. Thanks Maree.

Stratford can claim him, but London was where he was at.

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Strange, don’t think anyone has mentioned Anne Hathaway’s abode.

I think you’ve just mentioned it. :slightly_smiling_face:

So I have.

Wasn’t taught at my senior school because Shakespeare wasn’t on the examination board’s curriculum. We had to study Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest for O-level.

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A handbag? :rofl::handbag::handbag:

Did you enjoy it?

If you are lucky and get a good teacher, Shakespeare can open up a whole world for you, it did me

But bad teachers put so many kids off for life

Not sure about taking him off the curriculum, though

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No, not at all. I failed Eng Lit very badly I’m sorry to admit. Having said that, I did see this play performed on TV, I think, with Dame Margaret Rutherford as Lady Bracknell. Now, that had me rolling on the floor.

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Well, it was written as a play, so that was how he meant you to enjoy it, I’m glad it made you laugh

Sometimes I think they should take children to see live performances or films or TV before they study the texts of plays

Just reading something that was supposed to be a performance misses the point, really

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I think you’re on the money there Maree plus the kiddywinks need good quality teachers unlike our Eng Lit master - he was total crap. Not many of the 30 of us in our class actually passed Eng Lit that year, and those that did, I seem to remember, only just scraped in.

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