FAYE MOSS: Hello! Welcome to Superstars in History. I'm your host, Faye Moss. Today we have another exclusive interview with a famous person from the past. This guest was a playwright who thrilled audiences with his gripping stories. His works are still super popular, and some people regard him as the greatest writer ever. Coming to us straight from history, here's William Shakespeare!
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: How fare you, fair Faye? All the world's a stage, but how good it is to be onstage with you!
FAYE MOSS: Well, hello to you too! Every story needs a good beginning, so why don't we start with yours?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: I was born in 1564 in the village of Stratford-upon-Avon in England. I was the first surviving child in my family. My mother was the daughter of a wealthy farming family, and my father was a glove maker. He was active in local politics, serving in a variety of posts. He provided well for our family but eventually found himself in trouble for conducting unlawful business.
FAYE MOSS: Oh my. But he must have been able to pay for a good education. After all, you are known as a master of the English language. Was that your favorite subject?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: The nearby grammar school required no tuition fee, dear Faye, so there was no expense for my family. As for subjects, pupils did not study English. Schools in my day provided instruction in the great language of Latin. The school curriculum included translating and performing Roman dramas as well.
FAYE MOSS: Dramas? I guess your schooling gave you a head start on becoming a playwright then!
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: I did not become a playwright until later in life, Faye. In 1582, at the tender age of 18, I married a woman named Anne Hathaway. The next year our daughter Susanna was born, and in 1585 our twins, Judith and Hamnet, were born. My family stayed behind in Stratford when I eventually made my way to London and began work as an actor and playwright.
FAYE MOSS: In those days theaters in London were pretty new, right?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Aye, under the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, several playhouses were built in London, and nonreligious plays became a beloved form of amusement. It was an exciting time! I had the fortune to become part owner in a theater company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. We were widely celebrated, and we gave several performances at Her Majesty's court. We even built our own theater, the Globe, on the south bank of the River Thames. Up to three thousand people could watch our performances.
FAYE MOSS: Performances back then were pretty different compared to today—and not very quiet. Audiences often cheered good guys and heckled bad guys. Oh! And there wasn't much scenery or use of props.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Words were my scenery, my lady. If I wanted the audience to visualize the play's setting, I crafted dialogue to paint that picture. For example, in King Lear, I made a character say "such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder" to tell the audience there was a storm.
We had a few props onstage too, including a cannon that caused a slight problem when it burned the theater down during a performance of Henry VIII.
FAYE MOSS: Yikes! Today your most popular play is probably Hamlet. It's a great play, but a bit depressing. Almost everyone dies at the end.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet is a tragedy, which by definition, does not end well! And it is a ghost story and a revenge story. But my tragedies aren't completely tragic. I like to include a touch of humor too. In Macbeth, a drunken gatekeeper makes a funny appearance between serious scenes. The gatekeeper's appearance originally had a practical purpose. It gave the actors who played Macbeth and Lady Macbeth time to change clothes between scenes.
FAYE MOSS: Wow. I'm getting behind-the-scenes info from Shakespeare himself! I'm curious about something else. I hope this won't offend you, but despite your great reputation, you're known for um . . . taking ideas from books and other plays.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Very few of my plays were completely original, wise Faye. I borrowed characters and plots from the mythology of Rome and Greece and was well read on the history of the British Isles. I was also familiar with popular works from the Continent and paid close attention to the tastes of the day. Competition on the London theatrical scene was quite fierce, but my company thrived.
FAYE MOSS: You even performed for many powerful people in your day. What was that like?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: At times it was inconvenient! One night we were hired to give a performance of The Comedy of Errors for a group of powerful lawyers. But on the same evening, Her Majesty had commanded a performance at court, and we couldn't tell our gracious queen that we already had plans! After performing for the queen, we arrived very late to our second engagement, creating much ado! It was nearly midnight, and by then the stage had been dismantled. The entire affair became called "The Night of Errors."
FAYE MOSS: Queen Elizabeth wasn't the only monarch you performed for. Later your company had a royal sponsor.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Yes. When Queen Elizabeth died, King James of Scotland ascended the throne of England, and he became the patron of my company, which became known as the King's Men. We performed at court even more often. In fact, His Majesty greatly influenced Macbeth. I was inspired to include evil witches as characters in the play because the king had a great interest in the supernatural and had even written his own book on the subject. I also included details that would flatter His Majesty's ancestors.
FAYE MOSS: You certainly did have a dramatic career. Thank you for sharing your story with us today. We'll let you get back to history now.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Parting is such sweet sorrow. Good day to you, my lady.
FAYE MOSS: Over his career Shakespeare wrote a large body of work—at least 39 plays and hundreds of poems, including 154 sonnets. He died in April of 1616 at the age of 52. His incredible influence still endures too. Many common words in the English language, such as "fashionable," "gossip," and "puppy dog," were first written down by Shakespeare! And his plays have been translated into hundreds of languages, reaching readers and audiences all around the world.
I hope you enjoyed today's interview. Until next time, I bid you farewell!