European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 16, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse At right William 8fake s portrait done circa 1800, of Stratford upon avonts famous native son. To a tooth Quot i Ltd Lac Sardis is Attar a it i it a Taw Kaeti -11sis Sak. F tags amps rile a up of of shakespearean items in the room where he was born. Below Hall s Croft where the poet s daughter Susanna and her husband lived. I a by Matt Wolf associated press it s a hot summer weekend and this generation s fans of William Shakespeare Are pouring into Stratford upon Avon by the Busload. The Shakespeare Industry is in full swing in the. Birthplace of the world s most discussed most marketable and most enduring playwright. It is Worth the equivalent of $90 million a year to the Little town in Central England where the tradesman s son was born in 1564 a april 23 is the traditional Date a and where he died in 1616 on his 52nd birthday he was the first son and third child of John Shakespeare and his wife Mary Arden Many local landmarks Are closely associated with the Bard. His Henley Street Birthplace a half timbered building now houses a museum devoted to his life. The foundations and gardens of new Pace the House where he died still can be seen. His Tomb is at holy Trinity Church. He grew up in Stratford upon Avon and married Anne Hathaway in 1582 her family Home a thatched roof farmhouse is about a mile away in the Village of Shottery. They raised three children Shakespeare is believed to have started writing plays in the late 1580s, becoming prominent As an actor and writer with a troupe known As the lord Chamberlain s men from 1594 Onward. From 1599, the troupe based itself at the Globe theater in London renaming itself the King s men in 1603. Shakespeare wrote 36 or 37 plays the number is still disputed As is their precise order. It is commonly believed that he began with the Henry i and Richard Iii history plays moving Between comedy and tragedy and through to the late romances concluding with the tempest in 1611. He is also thought to have collaborated with John Fletcher on several late works. Was Shakespeare really Shakespeare doubters have Long argued that such prodigious and worldly writing of such uniformly High Quality could not have been the work of one Humble trader s son from the South Warwickshire province. Among the authors touted As being Quot the real Shakespeare Quot Are Christopher Marlowe 1564-93 and Francis Bacon 1561 -1626although arguments on their behalf have been largely discredited. Others say the plays were the work of an elizabethan Nobleman Edward 17th Earl of Oxford. Why the fuss now Shakespeare is a Benchmark of Western civilization his benign balding portrait an International icon his language a part of our daily live. Although he died 374 years ago he is in the word of shakespearean director Terry hands Quot still our greatest living according to the Birmingham Shakespeare l Library 11 7 professional productions of the Bard were mounted in Britain in 1988, up from 108 in 1987. Last year s figures Are not yet available. In 1988, there were five major stagings of i he tempest in i Ondon alone. This summer King i ear is on three major British stages. In London the Royal Shakespeare company does a at least eight shakespearean plays a year the Royal National theater across the River thames goes on world tour next month with Richard lit Ami King Lear. Some Penguin editions of Shakespeare s works sell As Many As 40,000 copies a year. The Appeal is the United states averages More than 70 Maffor shakespearean productions every season. Last year As you like it played at the revered comedies Francaise in Paris and russian director Yuri Lyubimov staged Hamlet in the soviet Union using British actors. Romanian actor ton Cara Mil re who brings Bucharest s Bulandr theater Hamlet to London s Royal National Thaler in september said the title character Speaks passionately to his people. Quot Hamlet has something very special in common with our National tragedy. His dilemma is to discover himself the truth of his destiny Quot Caramitru said. Quot that s been our question from childhood to but is the Public is getting too much Shakespeare Quot it is time we stopped giving him such an unfair share of stage space Quot wrote Ronald Hay Mao in the Independent newspaper of London Quot what about the other great plays we never see Quot but . Rowse a retired Oxford University professor and leading shakespearean scholar says the Bard is Quot so much English history s most famous and popular dramatist Quot that he is virtually immune to criticism Quot there Aren t Many people who be Ever resisted Shakespeare Quot he said. Director i lands of the Royal Shakespeare company agreed Quot Shakespeare did t leave his work to critics and academics he left it to us the Public. The Public have Kepi Shakespeare alive Quot his plays continue to inspire manner of popular entertainments they have been constantly updated a Romeo and Juliet featuring switch Blade knives and roller skates troilus and Cressida set in the crimean War in the 1850s, 7he merry wives of Windsor shifted to 1 959 with falstaff in plus fours. West Side Story was a musical updating of Romeo and Juliet return to the forbidden planet this year s award winning London musical draws on a 1956 science fiction movie rooted in the tempest. Why Shakespeare above others one reason is his output which was so much greater than his contemporaries another is the universality of his subject matter the tragic love of a Rineo and Juliet the murderous ambition of Macbeth or Richard i i the political drama of Julius Caesar the tormented soul of Hamlet the hilarity of falstaff and Nick Bottom. Another reason is the language the verse style Shakespeare developed and his Choice of words in an English which in his time was still evolving from its Saxon and French influences. Quot when i read Shakespeare Quot . Tare Rice True wrote Quot i Arn struck with wonder that such trivial people should Muse and Thunder in such pvt ,1 y f lands says Shakespeare t an be done Over and Over Quot Bee Ause the Audien e t on is ant by t hunger. As the Public keeps hanging so the play t director Peter Hall a 7ony nominee plus year for 1 he men Hant of Venn e on Broadway said Quot i Don t like a year to go by without Doin Shakespeare. You really need a fix whenever you can be jul Tor la 1h90 stripes Magazine 3
