The Following images are those used for Unit 1 of the ALRI Shakespeare's Rome course.  Click in the small images or on the links to see larger images.

Shakespeare and his theatres

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The four plays covered in this course are Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Titus Andronicus

   
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Shakespeare's visage (and even his existence) has been widely debated.  Those who refuse to believe that a glovemaker's son from the village of Stratford could have become a world renowned playwrite and who would rather find a noble author are just snobs.  As to his appearance, only recently has a contemporary portrait emerged that confirms that our pictorial image of the man is accurate.  The image above, the "Chandos portrait", is the most familiar.

 
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The picture opposite the dedication page of the 1623 First Folio was engraved for people that personally knew the already dead author and would certainly have been seen by his children and perhaps by his wife, who may still have been alive (she died that year).  If it was inaccurate, they would have objected.


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The bust over Shakespeare's tomb in Trinity Church, Stratford,  was also in place before 1623 and would have been seen by family and friends who knew his appearance.


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Shakespeare's royal patrons were Elizabeth I and James I.  Hence, the appellations Elizabethan and Jacobean for the literature of their periods.


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It has been suggested that some of of Shakespeare's Jacobean plays were meant either to parody the court of James or to present object lessons to King and court.  The royal court and the actions of the king -- especially his relationship with male "favourites" was widely ridiculed:  e.g., "Elizabeth was King and James is Queen".  It is also documented that Shakespeare was a member of the cast in the first production of Ben Johnson's Sejanus, which was a blatant parody of the first Jacobean court  and which caused considerable trouble for its author.

 
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The sources for Shakespeare's classical Roman and Greek plays were English translations of classical authors. It's clear that Shakespeare did not use the sources in their original languages -- he lifted vast stretches of lines from the English translations.


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The performance of the century:  the distinguished Shakespearean Booth brothers acted together for the first and only time in a benefit performance of Julius
Caesar.  John Wilkes Booth, who played Mark Antony, the only non-assassin in the production, finally became one in Ford's Theater.


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Live entertainment was the only kind available in Shakespeare's London, so there had to be many venues.  Shakespeare's plays were first produced in theatres in the northeast of the city.  Later, health restrictions, religious pressure, and a dispute over a lease caused his company to pull up stakes and move to the south side of the Thames.


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Purpose-built English theatres had a round orchestra like ancient Greek theatres (as opposed to the semi-circular orchestras of ancient Roman theatres.  Instead of the sloping caveas of the ancient theatres, the London "O" theatres had several layers of balcony seats where the higher paying customers sat.  They were open to the air and almost always hosted daytime performances.  London theatre companies also played in square or rectangular open courtyards of inns.  The "King's Men", Shakespeare's acting company, eventually also played in the indoor Blackfriars theatre.


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The old Globe theatre was octagonal an was built on the southern shore of the Thames.  The drawing shows it standing in isolation, but on theatre days if would have been surrounded by tents, booths, and kiosks where food and souvenirs were available for the audience which could reach 3,000.


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The old Globe burned in 1613 but was rebuilt for the next year's season. The new theatre was closed by the Puritans when they came to power in 1642 and never reopened.


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The modern Globe, which was built near the site of the derelict 1614 Globe, opened in 1997.  Its thatched roof is the first that was allowed in London since the great fire of 1666.  The roof is heavily treated with fire retardants, and it and the theatre have a complex sprinkler system.


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Interior of the modern Globe


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View from the stage of the modern Globe


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A drawing of the interior of the Blackfriars theatre


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Richard Burbage, the entrepreneur who arranged the King's Men use of the Blackfriars, which had been built by his father on the compound of the old Blackfriars monastery.

 
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Nothing is left of the London Blackfriars Theatre, but a full scale replica is in Staunton Virginia.
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Coriolanus
 
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Coriolanus is a 1608 tragedy by William Shakespeare, based on the life of the legendary Roman leader, Gaius Martius



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The text of the play was first published in the 1623 First Folio.  The detailed stage directions that were printed with the text lead Shakespeare scholars to believe that the play was copied from a performance prompt book.


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The action in Coriolanus takes place in Rome and the towns of the Campania


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The exact location of the town of Corioli, from which the cognomen Coriolanus was derived, already was lost in ancient times although we know its approximate location from references to its former agricultural properties.  A cognomen was a name added behind a person's praenomen and nomen to show a place of origin or a personal or family characteristic. An agnomen was an honorific cognomen given to a person, for example, after a military victory.  Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus had the cognomen Scipio and the agnomen Africanus.  Coriolanus was Gaius Marius with the cognomen Coriolanus.  According to Roman mythology "Coriolanus" was an agnomen he acquired for capturing the town of Corioli, but agnomens did not come into use until several centuries later, so it was probably a cognomen indicating his place of origin.


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After the defection of Coriolanus to the Volsci, he led two campaigns during which he captured highland and lowland towns that had previously been under Roman authority. 

 
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Antium (the headquarters of Aufidius of the Volsci) today and during the 2nd World War


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Anzio beach


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The nymphaeum fountain from Nero's villa in Anzio is now in a museum in Rome


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Remains of Cicero's Antium villa


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Coriolanus takes leave of his mother and his wife


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Virgilia mourns the absence of her husband Coriolanus


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The mother of Coriolanus intercedes with her son


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Shakespeare strongly implied a homosexual relationship between Coriolanus and Aufidius.