Horrible Histories - Shakespeare's Globe

A brief animated video explaining the story of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Again, from Horrible Histories, but can you really blame me?

Horrible Histories - The Catholic Report with Bob Hale

A news-story style sketch from the CBBC show Horrible Histories, explaining the religions of the Monarchy from King Henry VIII through to William and Mary.

Not strictly about Shakespeare, but explains part of the world that Shakespeare was born into. And either way, I love Horrible Histories and got most of my historical knowledge from the show.

Shakespeare: Staging the World

A rather dramatic but beautiful video advertising the Shakespeare exhibit that was a the British Museum at the end of last year.

The Tempest: Shakespeare's Sources

William Strachey's ‘A True Reportory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight’, an eyewitness report of the real-life shipwreck of the Sea Venture in 1609 on the island of Bermuda while sailing towards Virginia, is considered by most critics to be one of Shakespeare's primary sources because of certain verbal, plot and thematic similarities. It has been identified as Shakespeare's "main authority" for The Tempest, and critics say Shakespeare "surely drew" on the account for specific passages in the play.

There has, however, been some scepticism about the alleged influence of the play. Kenneth Muir argued that although "there is little doubt that Shakespeare had read ... William Strachey's True Reportory" and other accounts, "the extent of the verbal echoes of the Bermuda pamphlets has, I think, been exaggerated. There is hardly a shipwreck in history or fiction which does not mention splitting, in which the ship is not lightened of its cargo, in which the passengers do not give themselves up for lost, in which north winds are not sharp, and in which no one gets to shore by clinging to wreckage," and goes on to say that "Strachey's account of the shipwreck is blended with memories of Saint Paul's, in which too not a hair."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest#Contemporary_sources

Gonzalo's description of his ideal society thematically and verbally echoes Montaigne's essay ‘Of the Canibales’, Caliban being a play on the word cannibal. Montaigne praises the society of the Caribbean natives: ‘It is a nation ... that hath no kinde of traffike, no knowledge of Letters, no intelligence of numbers, no name of magistrate, nor of politike superioritie; no use of service, of riches, or of poverty; no contracts, no successions, no dividences, no occupation but idle; no respect of kinred, but common, no apparrell but naturall, no manuring of lands, no use of wine, corne, or mettle. The very words that import lying, falsehood, treason, dissimulation, covetousnes, envie, detraction, and pardon, were never heard of amongst them.’

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest#Other_sources

The Tempest - 2010 film

This 2012 film adaptation of 'The Tempest', although a lot darker then both the original play and our production, bares one key resemblance to our piece: A female Prospero.

The writer and director of the film, Julie Taymor, changed the character's gender to cast Helen Mirren as Prospera. Taymor explained the casting decision, "I didn't really have a male actor that excited me in mind, and yet there had been a couple of phenomenal females who made me think: 'My God, does this play change? What happens if you make that role into a female role?'" 

In the adaptation, Prospera is the wife of the Duke. She is "more overtly wronged" than Prospero; when the duke is killed, Prospera's brother Antonio accuses her of killing him with witchcraft. Antonio makes the accusation to be rid of Prospera and claim her royal title. Taymor said, "She had her whole life taken away from her because she was a woman." Prospera wants to prevent the same thing from happening to her daughter.

Shakespeare The Animated Tales: The Tempest

A half-hour long abridged BBC version of 'The Tempest'. 

When I was 10, and first read 'The Tempest' we studied it and performed an abridged version at school. While studying the play we watched these videos, so that we would understand the play more.

The World in Which Shakespeare was Born

The beginning of the Tudor reign marked the end of the medieval period. During this transition the power balances switched: the church became more separate from the state, the economy was different and new worlds were being discovered, e.g. the Americas. The printing press was invented. Religious movements, Protestants as well as the formation of the Church of England, were sweeping through Europe. Hypocrisy that the Catholics started was diluting. There used to be very poor people and very rich people with little-to-no middle ground, but during the reformation the middle classes were invented. This period is known as the Renaissance or the Enlightenment. It was a period of great creativity, fuelled by a revival for classical culture: art, science, literature and philosophy. Existing beliefs were questioned and nothing was taken for granted. The country was still mainly a catholic country, yet it was a chance to end the hypocritical nature of the Catholic Church.

Henry VIII, in order to divorce his first wife Catherine of Aragon, broke away from the Catholic Church and created the Church of England. He filled the country’s wealth from the church into the state funds, executed anyone who failed to do what he said or anyone who was still very faithful to Catholicism. Henry died in 1547 and his son Edward VI inherited the throne, at the mere age of 9. Edward died of TB in 1553 at the age of 15. Edward was Protestant, and nominated Lady Jane Grey as his successor in his will, bypassing his catholic half-sister Mary. Lady Jane Grey, known as ‘The Nine Days Queen’, was deposed 9 days after taking the throne, when the Privy Council decided to change sides and proclaim Mary I as Queen. During Mary’s 5 year reign, 300 heretics, Protestants refusing to conform, were burned at the stake, earning Mary the nickname ‘Bloody Mary.’ Mary died childless in 1558. There are theories that the nursery rhymes ‘Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary’ and ‘Three Blind Mice’ were based on Mary I’s life and executions. In 1558 Elizabeth I became Queen. She was a Protestant and was obsession with keeping peace and civil security. In Elizabethan England everyone was watched by the crown and transgression from the law of the land came at great cost. It was a policed state.