Shakespeare S Pub

A history of Britain told through the story of one very special pub, from "The Beer Drinker's Bill Bryson" (Times Literary Supplement) Welcome to the George Inn near London Bridge; a cosy, wood-paneled, galleried coaching house a few minutes' walk from the Thames. Grab yourself a pint, listen to the chatter of the locals and lean back, resting your head against the wall. And then consider this: who else has rested their head against that wall, over the last six hundred years? Chaucer and his fellow pilgrims almost certainly drank in the George on their way out of London to Canterbury. It's fair to say that Shakespeare popped in from the nearby Globe for a pint, and we know that Dickens certainly did. Mail carriers changed their horses here, before heading to all four corners of Britain—while sailors drank here before visiting all four corners of the world. The pub, as Pete Brown points out, is the 'primordial cell of British life' and in the George he has found the perfect example. All life is here, from murderers, highwaymen, and ladies of the night to gossiping peddlers and hard-working clerks. So sit back with Shakespeare's Pub and watch as buildings rise and fall over the centuries, and 'the beer drinker's Bill Bryson' (UK's Times Literary Supplement) takes us on an entertaining tour through six centuries of history, through the stories of everyone that ever drank in one pub.

Here Art Thou, True Shakespeare! This accessible new guide to Shakespeare's major plays focuses on the essence of the spoken word and the benefits of watching the plays in performance - on the stage or screen - whenever possible. You'll find tips about plot, theme, famous passages and soliloquies, and how to hear the music within the Bard's verse and wordplay. Remember - Shakespearean theatre is a social art form, and in its earliest days, it was highly commercial. This book brings you closer to the heady world of freelance playwriting and the London playhouses of the 1590s. As a playwright and sharer in the Globe theatre, Shakespeare was at the forefront of Western show business. This book highlights Shakespeare's career, his dramatic influences, and what 16th-century playgoers in London would have experienced inside the theatre. In The Complete Idiot's Guide to Shakespeare's Plays, cultural and historical contexts for the major plays are explored, offering perspectives of the director and actor, in addition to that of the scholar and close reader. In particular, the book takes you behind the scenes with Shakespearean directors, who offer commentary about key challenges presented by the plays, famous roles, and a host of other production concerns. Professional actors also discuss how they've tackled lead roles in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Tempest, among others.You'll find: - Twenty (20) major plays explored in depth, explaining literary terms, and Elizabethan English, with attention to language and verse - A look at how the plays have been staged, from the earliest playhouses to contemporary auditoriums - Appendices spotlighting Shakespeare's likely collaborations, a glossary, suggested further reading, and tips about acclaimed film and audio versions. Perfect for English and drama students, general readers, theatergoers, and actors.

Welcome to the George Inn near London Bridge; a cosy, wood-pannelled, galleried coaching house a few minutes' walk from the Thames. Grab yourself a pint, listen to the chatter of the locals and lean back, resting your head against the wall. And then consider this: who else has rested their head against that wall, over the last 600 years? Chaucer and his fellow pilgrims almost certainly drank in the George on their way out of London to Canterbury. It's fair to say that Shakespeare will have popped in from the nearby Globe for a pint, and we know that Dickens certainly did. Mail carriers changed their horses here, before heading to all four corners of Britain -- while sailors drank here before visiting all four corners of the world... The pub, as Pete Brown points out, is the 'primordial cell of British life' and in the George he has found the perfect case study. All life is here, from murderers, highwaymen and ladies of the night to gossiping pedlars and hard-working clerks. So sit back and watch as buildings rise and fall over the centuries, and 'the beer drinker's Bill Bryson' (TLS) takes us on an entertaining tour through six centuries of history, through the stories of everyone that ever drank in one pub.

"This work is a companion piece to Arthur Sherbo's Birth of Shakespeare Studies: Commentators from Rowe (1709) to Boswell-Malone (1821). The contributions of seven men to the commentary on the plays and poems of Shakespeare have been largely ignored or forgotten. As a result, modern editions of Shakespeare's works have claimed for themselves or for nineteenth-century editors and commentators information and insights that have been anticipated by one or another of eighteenth-century commentators. Shakespeare's Midwives brings to light these earlier commentators, adding a valuable new perspective to Shakespeare studies." "Samuel Johnson, George Steevens, Edmond Malone, and Isaac Reed are names known to all students of Shakespeare's works. They brought the commentary on the plays and poems to a point where future scholars could, for the most part, concentrate on sources and, primarily, on the text of these works. These four men were omnivorous readers; all were great book collectors. And the knowledge they had won through their wide reading in all genres and in a number of languages came to the fore as they edited, either individually or in collaboration, edition after edition of Shakespeare's plays, sometimes with the poems included. But they were not alone in their endeavors, for many of their friends and acquaintances - and even perfect strangers - responded to their public and private pleas for help." "It is with these last, the co-adjutors, that this volume is concerned. Either in direct conversation, in letters, or in the pages of the Gentleman's Magazine or some other periodical, these amateur Shakespeareans made their suggestions or voiced their objections to what they had read in one or more of the editions of Shakespeare. Sometimes they signed their names; more often they cloaked their identity. Thus, one often encounters a suggestion, embedded usually in a note by one of the editors, by "Anon."" "It is, however, identifiable amateur Shakespeareans whom Sherbo has elected to call Shakespeare's midwives. He has tried to do justice to the contributions of each of these seven men, some of whom wrote hundreds of notes on some aspect of Shakespeare's works, but of necessity only part of their contributions could be quoted or cited. Sherbo has also tried to show that a considerable number of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Shakespeareans have either been ignorant of, have ignored, or have mutilated some of the notes of these men. In a number of instances, he shows that nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholars have been anticipated by their eighteenth-century forerunners." "This work makes clear that claims of precedence by later scholars must be made only when the contributions of these seven men and some of their contemporaries, named or unnamed, have been examined."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Of Shakespeare's sonnets we know the crystalline meter, exquisite diction, and exhilarating surprise of the "turn" in the final couplet. By contrast, we know very little of their subjects and motives. This book does not approach the sonnets as Shakespearean autobiography but instead delineates the customs that shaped the poet's world and thus his sonnets. It argues for understanding them as brilliant, edgy expressions of the equally brilliant, edgy culture of the English Renaissance.