That Shakespeare Life

In Shakespeare's Othello , the Second Senator in Act One warns of a Turkish fleet bearing down on Cyprus. Later in that same scene, the Duke of Venice remarks, "The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for Cyprus. Othello, the fortitude of the place is best known to you." References to Cyprus appear again and again throughout the dialogue—calling attention to wars, naval battles, and the conf...

In Shakespeare's plays, we see 6 total references to tennis. Polonius mentions an argument over a tennis game in Hamlet. Henry V and Pericles talk about tennis courts and there's even a couple of references to "tennis balls" showing up in Shakespeare's other plays, talking about them being played with at the game of tennis, as well as being stuffed as part of the process of making a tennis ball. W...

Shakespeare's only reference to Easter comes up in Romeo and Juliet Act III when Mercutio talks about buying a new doublet for Easter. Despite only a single reference to this holiday, for the people of 16-17 th  century England, Easter was a major event. Holidays in Shakespeare's lifetime  largely followed  the life of Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of Jesus that is celebrated on Easter Sunday...

In this episode of That Shakespeare Life , we explore the surprising presence of monkeys, apes, and baboons in early modern England and the role these animals played in the culture of Shakespeare's world. Shakespeare refers to primates dozens of times in his plays, and those references were not purely imaginative—exotic animals were arriving in England through global trade, kept as fashionable pet...

What toys did children play with in Shakespeare's lifetime? In this episode, historian Dr. Julia Martins joins That Shakespeare Life to explore the games, dolls, rattles, hobby horses, and playground activities that shaped childhood in Tudor England—and how these playful details appear in Shakespeare's world.      

Joined this week by historian Susan D. Amussen , we take a close look at the historical evidence that confirms William Shakespeare as a real working playwright and actor in early modern England. Drawing from Susan's book What's in a Name? , we explore the documentary records—from theater company memberships and tax records to property purchases—that trace Shakespeare's life from Stratford-upon-Avo...

In this episode, we explore what the "Ides" actually meant in ancient Rome and how March 15th transformed from an ordinary—sometimes even festive—date on the Roman calendar into one of history's most infamous days. Jörg Rüpke explains how Romans understood their calendar, what rituals or superstitions may (or may not) have surrounded the Ides, and how news of Caesar's assassination would have spre...

In this episode, we explore how time was measured in Shakespeare's England — from weight-driven household clocks to elite pocket watches imported from Germany. With Dr. Jane Desborough, we uncover how early modern clocks tracked not only hours but lunar phases, zodiac signs, and seasons, and why "accuracy" meant something very different before minute and second hands became standard.

In Shakespeare's lifetime, travel wasn't reserved for grand tours or royal progresses — it was woven into daily life. Ordinary Elizabethans crossed rivers, walked muddy roads, boarded boats, hired horses, and rode in wagons for business, family visits, market days, court appearances, and worship. England was constantly in motion. But how did people without titles or servants actually get from plac...

In Shakespeare's play, The Winter's Tale, Autolycus talks about "selling all my trumpery." The reference made me wonder if Autolycus was packing up all his attic junk and random periphery collected over the years to sell them in what might be considered a yard sale for Elizabethan England. Did Shakespeare's England have garage sales where people sold their gently used items to their peers and neig...

There are many men who lived alongside William Shakespeare in turn of the 17th century England, but today's featured contemporary is a man who served as King James' ambassador to Venice in the 1600s. This man was named Henry Wotton. At grammar school, he received the same humanist education as Shakespeare, but unlike Shakespeare, Henry went on to university, studying at Oxford where he was tutored...

From delectable marchpane in Romeo and Juliet, and the herbs of the Merchant of Venice to stew'd prunes of Henry IV, and carving capons in Love's Labour's Lost, there is a wide gambit of meals consumed in Shakespeare's plays that span from bawdy feasts to elite noble banquets, and even popular meals eaten as much to control your behavior as they were seen as nourishment. The details about food fou...

When Shakespeare wrote Hamlet , he gave the melancholy Dane two university friends with peculiarly Danish names—Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. For many centuries, audiences assumed these were simply fictional creations. Yet history reveals that Frederik Rosenkrantz and Knud Gyldenstierne were real men—Danish noblemen who traveled to England during Shakespeare's lifetime as part of an official embas...

When Shakespeare called the sisters in Macbeth "weird," he did not mean what we mean by the word today. In early modern England, "weird" carried deep associations with fate, prophecy, and supernatural power—ideas rooted in classical mythology, medieval folklore, and Renaissance belief. In this episode of That Shakespeare Life , we explore what "weird" really meant in the 16th and early 17th centur...

Today, we think of Christmas as the season of giving—but in Shakespeare's England, it was New Year's Day that reigned supreme as the biggest gift-giving holiday of the entire year.    Shakespeare himself alludes to this entrenched tradition in The Merry Wives of Windsor , where Falstaff quips: "I'll have my brains ta'en out and buttered, and give them to a dog for a new-year's gift." It's a grotes...

When we think of King Arthur, many of us imagine medieval romance—knights in shining armor, enchanted swords, or chivalric quests. But for the Tudors, Arthur wasn't just storybook material. In the 16th century, Arthurian legend was a political tool, a national symbol, and—for some—an actual piece of English history. From Henry VII naming his heir "Prince Arthur," to Elizabeth I being welcomed at K...

"Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?   What masque? what music? How shall we beguile   The lazy time, if not with some delight?"   — A Midsummer Night's Dream , Act V, Scene 1  There are over a dozen mentions of masques, masquers, and masquing in Shakespeare's plays, and when it came to masques in England for the 16-17th century, no one did them better than Ben Jonson, who was known f...

"Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?   What masque? what music? How shall we beguile   The lazy time, if not with some delight?"   — A Midsummer Night's Dream , Act V, Scene 1  There are over a dozen mentions of masques, masquers, and masquing in Shakespeare's plays, and when it came to masques in England for the 16-17th century, no one did them better than Ben Jonson, who was known f...

Merry Christmas! This holiday season, we're taking a trip back to one of the most extravagant Christmas celebrations of Shakespeare's lifetime—the Christmas of 1603, when the newly crowned James I hosted his first royal festivities as King of England. The court was alive with feasting, pageantry, and opulent merrymaking. It was a moment of political transition, and James made sure his first Christ...

Merry Christmas! This holiday season, we're taking a trip back to one of the most extravagant Christmas celebrations of Shakespeare's lifetime—the Christmas of 1603, when the newly crowned James I hosted his first royal festivities as King of England. The court was alive with feasting, pageantry, and opulent merrymaking. It was a moment of political transition, and James made sure his first Christ...

Discover how Anne of Denmark shaped the culture of the Stuart court—from dazzling masques and groundbreaking stagecraft to political influence, artistic patronage, and a powerful performance legacy that helped define the world Shakespeare lived in. In this episode, Clare McManus joins us to explore how Anna's identity, her innovations in court performance, and her role as a cultural force reveal a...

Discover how Anne of Denmark shaped the culture of the Stuart court—from dazzling masques and groundbreaking stagecraft to political influence, artistic patronage, and a powerful performance legacy that helped define the world Shakespeare lived in. In this episode, Clare McManus joins us to explore how Anna's identity, her innovations in court performance, and her role as a cultural force reveal a...

In Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 1 , Falstaff declares on more than one occasion, "I am a rogue." Several exchanges between Falstaff, Henry V, and others like Hostess Quickly and Doll Tearsheet, see characters throwing the word "rogue" back and forth as both an insult and a badge of honor. The term connects to a real form of slang underworld language known as rogue cant. Which was a secret, cr...

In Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 1 , Falstaff declares on more than one occasion, "I am a rogue." Several exchanges between Falstaff, Henry V, and others like Hostess Quickly and Doll Tearsheet, see characters throwing the word "rogue" back and forth as both an insult and a badge of honor.   The term connects to a real form of slang underworld language known as rogue cant. Which was a secret,...

When we think of King Arthur, many of us imagine medieval romance—knights in shining armor, enchanted swords, or chivalric quests. But for the Tudors, Arthur wasn't just storybook material. In the 16th century, Arthurian legend was a political tool, a national symbol, and—for some—an actual piece of English history. From Henry VII naming his heir "Prince Arthur," to Elizabeth I being welcomed at K...