1960-12-03 — Page 17

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SPECIAL

Shakespeare Memorial

Theatre

The boy who

followed the

roving players

IRST came a trumpeter

the rest of the touring band of entertainers, some on foot, some on horseback with their props in panniers on the backs of donkeys.

CTION

must have made a very deep impression on the boy.

For by the time he was in his early twenties he was him- self a member of one of these companies of actors in Londo.1.

What happened in between we don't know. We know very little about his youth. Accord- ing to one tale he was caught stealing deer from the park of Sir. Thomas Lucy, the local squire, and escaped punish- ment by running, away with passing troupe of players.

}

According to other stories he -worked as schoolmaster, а lawyer, a butcher's boy, a sailor and a soldier: But there is no proof of any of these stories.

What we do know is that around 1590-two years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada he was working at the

first theatre country's

which the

known

was b simply

as

It had been built by James Burbage at Shoreditch, and was copied from the bear-baiting arenas of the time with three

galleries

thatch-roofed

one

above the other around a cir- And as they travelled the cular yard into which projected dusty road they capered and the stage. It had been opened danced and handed out bills in 1576.

announcing details of their Another story says that show juggling, acrobatics, Shakespeare began his career dancing and plays. It was like there as a car park attendant.

only in those days, of circus parade.

the cats were horses. Shake- speare. according to this story,

horses after the

a

No proof

looked

course,

FOR HONGKON

WILL SHAKESPEARE

The acters fought it out with

the landlord's men

-Took sword to save theatre

His first plays,, written be- tween 1587 and 1592, were Andronicus, Henry VI, Titus The Comedy of Errors, The of Taming of the Shrew, Richard III and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

By HENRY

LEWIS

writing them, it was tomary to publish plays.)

not cus-

His popularity has increased steadily over the years since then as his works have been trans- lated into every language.

Today no writer of any age or country has such popularity. More books have been written

There were no girls because wealthy theatregoers while they this was the 16th century. were watching the plays. Queen Elizabeth I was on the But there is no proof of that

So far he caused little stir. Ia throne and it was not consider- tale either.

1592 the plague hit London and ed seemly for women to appear We do

know though that closed the theatre. Shakespeare on a stage; instead there were a Shakespeare began on the turned to poetry, producing tre was reassembled and named. about him than about any other couple of boys who would take ground floor, doing a bit of Venus and Adonis. the female parts in plays, most acting,

The Globe. the helping behind of which were based on Old scenes, copying out parts and Testament stories.

helping rewrite plays. He was And there were no theatres. to become the Sometimes the players perform- writer of all time. ed in halls, sometimes they set

up the stage in the yard of an inn or in a market place.

The place they were coming to now was Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire.

Not everyone welcomed the players. Often they were class- ed with rogues and vagabonds. Some thought 'play-acting was

wicked. Some disliked them for

Stage effects

The

theatre was to become world-famous and be the home most famous When they opened again he of Shakespeare's biggest suc- Plays had to be exciting then soon produced Romeo and Julier, cesses with Richard Burbage in to hold an audience. For they his first big hit. He followed it the starring parts. had to rival the other popular entertainments like cock fight ing, bull and bear baiting and public hangings.

First big hit

Dream, and The Merchant of with A Midsummer Night's

Venice. Now Shakespeare had a following. His talent for puns, his comedy were to the taste of the audience.

man, except Christ. Every, line he wrote has been analysed by literary detectives seeking clues to the man himself.

There have been: critics. who have suggested Shakespeare did not write the plays. The real Shakespeare poured out the author has been claimed to be plays, Much Ado about Nothing, Francis Bacon, the Ear! of Twelfth Nights, As You Like It; Oxford, the Earl of Rutland, the All's Well that Ends Well, Earl of Derby, Sir Walter Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Raleigh, Sir Edward Dyer, Chris- Macbeth, King Lear, Antony topher Marlowe and Lady Pen- and Cleopatra.

broke.

I

He was now the successful

He began on his histories, King Jchn, Richard II, Henry They had to grip a mixed IV. He was summoned to pre-

The argument has never been. the followers they attracted, audience of fashionable men sent his plays before the Queen playwright spending much of so much that any of these have the sneak thieves, pickpockets about town, porters, grooms and'

and she became a regula: his time in Stratford. He wrote written the plays as that William and robbers,

lay-about.

patron. She liked the character his last plays, The Tempest and Shakespeare, the Strafford-on- of fat Sir John Falstaff so much Henry VIII and in 1612 weat Avon grammar schoolboy, could

sor.

The next year, during a par- ticularly exciting play (not one of Shakespeare's) cannons were fired for stage effects. Sparks.set fire to the thatch and the Globe went up in flames. There were, miraculously, no casualties..

not have written them; that be could not have had the wisdom, the turn of phrase, the knowledge and the invention.

A genius

But always the boys of a They had to compete with the town came out to meet them noise from the sideshows out she asked him to write another into retirement. and escort these exciting people side, the jugglers and buskers play with him in, and Shake- into the town. And among the the fortune tellers and the

speare, a fast worker, turned boys who escorted this particu- quacks with their patent medi- out The Merry Wives of Wind- lar troupe into Stratford was a cines. grammar schoolboy named Wil- A trumpet would sound when liam Shakespeare, son of a pro- the play was about to start. Now he was a partner in the minent local businessman his Good acting would be applaud- theatre and making money. He ́interests included glovemaking ed, bad acting booed, for bought the biggest house in

Certain it is that the author of and a butcher's shop-who was audiences were tough.

Stratford for his country home

"Only one man," wrote Sir these plays was no ordinary an alderman of the town.

If a pickpocket was caught at and got his father to buy a coat

Henry Wotton, "had his writer; he stands so far above We know no details of this work hẻ would be tied to the of arms from the College of

breeches set on fire, that would normal playwrights as to be call- particular performance, but it stage and pelted with orange Heralds.

perhaps have broiled him, if he ed a genius. peel during the intervals.

In 1597 old James Burbage From hack work on existing died and the lease of the theatre had not put it out with a bottle

But no one has been able to plays,, knocked together from ran cut. The landlord did not

prove to the world at large that many sources, Shakespeare want to renew it. Shakespeare There years later Shakespeare Shakespeare was not that genius. graduated to writing complete and his partners,

Richard and died at the age of 52 and was works. The only famous Cuthbert Burbage, the sons of buried at Stratford.

And from all over the world, dramatist at this time was James, began to pull down the

from America, even from Russia, Christopher Marlowe, author of theatre and rebuild it on the Like Sir. Walter Raleigh, men come every year to visit Tamburlaine. He was the same south bank of the Thames in Shakespeare was to achieve Shakespeare's birthplace and to age as Shakespeare, but was to Southwark. The landlord sent much greater fame after his attend the performance of his be stabbed to death in a brawl men to stop them. The actors death. It began when his col- plays in the magnificent Shakes. at the age of 29. Shakespeare fought them off with swords, lected works were published in peare Memorial Theatre, Strat- was soon to eclipse him.

daggers and axes and the thea- 1623. (At the time when he was ford.

The 17-21 Club's

five rules

Membership in the 17-21 Club is open to all within that age group. Contributions and all ac- tivities of the Club will be limited to members only. Contributions may consist | of anything that publishable articles, letters, stories, photo- graphs, drawings, verses. But only the best will be printed.

All contributions MUST be original. Written contributions should not consist of more than 350 words, photographs and draw- ings will only be accept- ed in black-and-white,

..

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