The question of who was Will Shakespeare has been argued by academics and theater nerds for years. Could the man who was born to a local merchant, with a basic Elizabethan education and relatively meager prospects really be the man who wrote 36 timeless plays, invented new words and phrases, and whose work has endured nearly 500 years? Or is it possible that man from Stratford was just a pseudonym for someone else of more noble birth and higher education?
Throughout our series, we’ll explore the Man from Stratford’s life, history, and explore textual clues that will prove who owns Shakespeare’s words, relevance, and most importantly his legacy.
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The question of who was Will Shakespeare has been argued by academics and theater nerds for years. Could the man who was born to a local merchant, with a basic Elizabethan education and relatively meager prospects really be the man who wrote 36 timeless plays, invented new words and phrases, and whose work has endured nearly 500 years? Or is it possible that man from Stratford was just a pseudonym for someone else of more noble birth and higher education?
Throughout our series, we’ll explore the Man from Stratford’s life, history, and explore textual clues that will prove who owns Shakespeare’s words, relevance, and most importantly his legacy.
Season 4, Teaser: Will: What Is He Good For? - The First Folio
Will: What Is He Good For?
2 minutes
1 month ago
Season 4, Teaser: Will: What Is He Good For? - The First Folio
Shakespeare’s death in 1616 could have meant the loss of his words forever. Many of his plays existed only in fragile manuscripts and cheap, error-filled quartos. Then, seven years later, two of his fellow actors—John Heminges and Henry Condell—took on the monumental task of preserving their friend’s work.
Their project became the First Folio of 1623: the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays. Without it, we would have no Macbeth, no Twelfth Night, no The Tempest. With it, Shakespeare’s reputation leapt from playwright of his time to literary giant for all time.
Season 4 of Will: What Is He Good For? uncovers the story of the First Folio: how it was assembled, why it mattered, and how one book turned Shakespeare into a legend whose words continue to shape our world four centuries later.
Will: What Is He Good For?
The question of who was Will Shakespeare has been argued by academics and theater nerds for years. Could the man who was born to a local merchant, with a basic Elizabethan education and relatively meager prospects really be the man who wrote 36 timeless plays, invented new words and phrases, and whose work has endured nearly 500 years? Or is it possible that man from Stratford was just a pseudonym for someone else of more noble birth and higher education?
Throughout our series, we’ll explore the Man from Stratford’s life, history, and explore textual clues that will prove who owns Shakespeare’s words, relevance, and most importantly his legacy.