William Shakespeare’s Plays and Interesting Facts About the Plays and the Playwright

COMEDIES

All’s Well That Ends Well – Minden jó, ha vége jó

As You Like It – Ahogy tetszik

Comedy of Errors – Tévedések vígjátéka

Love’s Labour’s Lost – A lóvá tett lovagok

Measure for Measure – Szeget szeggel

Merchant of Venice – A velencei kalmár            

Merry Wives of Windsor – A windsori víg nők

Midsummer Night’s Dream – Szentivánéji álom

Much Ado about Nothing – Sok hűhó semmiért

Taming of the Shrew – A makrancos hölgy

Tempest – A vihar

Twelfth Night or What You Will– Vízkereszt, vagy amit akartok

Two Gentlemen of Verona – A két veronai nemes

Winter’s Tale – Téli rege

HISTORIES

Henry IV, Part I

Henry IV, Part II

Henry V

Henry VI, Part I

Henry VI, Part II

Henry VI, Part III

Henry VIII

King John – János király

Pericles – Periklész

Richard II

Richard III

TRAGEDIES

Antonyand Cleopatra – Antonius és Kleopátra

Coriolanus

Cymbeline

Hamlet

Julius Caesar

King Lear – Lear király

Macbeth

Othello

Romeo and Juliet – Rómeó és Júlia

Timon of Athens – Athéni Timon

Titus Andronicus

Troilus and Cressida

Interesting Facts

Shakespeare wrote 37 plays.

His first published play was Henry VI, Part II.

He worked with a theatre group known as the Lord Chamberlains Men.

He wrote plays for the Globe Theatre 

The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare’s shortest play it is 1770 lines long.

Othello was one of the most popular of his plays throughout the 18th and 19th centuries

Famous poet John Keats kept a volume of Shakespeare near his desk in hopes that the playwright would spark his creativity.         

Shakespeare used the word dog or dogs over 200 times in his works.  

King Lear used to be banished from the English stage for making fun of the monarchy and King George III.

Love’s Labour’s Lost has the highest percentage of rhyming lines of all of his plays.   

There is no record of All’s Well that Ends Well ever being performed in Shakespeare’s lifetime.          

He never published any of his own plays, they were all published by his fellow actors.          

He has instances of suicide an unlucky thirteen times in his works.

He was rumoured to have created over 1,700 words for the English language.

He wrote his first play when he was 25 years old.

He performed in many of his own plays.

Many people didn’t like Macbeth in Shakespeare’s time, because they were afraid of witches. 

The motto of the Globe Theatre was Totus mundus agit histrionem. (All the world’s a stage).

Shakespeare’s first job was holding horses outside the theatres.          

Shakespeare’s original title for Romeo and Juliet is ” The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy  of Romeo and Juliet.”

Romeo and Juliet, alongside Hamlet, is probably Shakespeare’s most performed play and has also been adapted in many forms.

Many of Shakespeare’s plays are based on others’ earlier plays, histories, and poems. This was common practice at that time.

In Shakespeare’s time, theatres had no curtain and used little or no scenery. Playwrights described the setting within the text of the performance.

Shakespeare is the second most quoted writer in the English language – after the various writers of the Bible.

In Elizabethan Theatre:

Acting was not a highly paid or highly respected profession.  Actors were seen as troublemakers who promoted hard living and sin.

In the 16th century, actors travelled from town to town on a cart, looking for audiences to pay to watch them perform.  Playhouses were not constructed in London until 1576.                        

Because acting was not a respected profession, women were not allowed to act until after 1660.  Teenage boys who hadn’t gone through puberty would play the roles of women. 

Going to the theatre was not considered to be a fancy affair.  Plays were often crude (by modern standards). Theatres would compete with other entertainment such as bear baiting (which involved watching and betting on bears killing dogs). 

Poor people were famous for their love of plays.  They would pay one penny to stand in front of the stage in an area called the open yard.                                  

Going to a play was a lively event.  People would frequently talk, yell, and even throw things (rotten produce, etc.) during the play. If the audience liked or did not like the play or the actors, they would let everyone in the theatre know it. Rich people would even sit on stage and make comments to the audience during the play.

The most expensive seats in a theatre were the in the top row of the theatre, farthest from the audience.  The cheap seats were directly in front of the stage, although people in this area stood. Rich people would want to have the most segregated and exclusive seats in the theatre, away from the rowdy, poor people.

People expected to see a new play every day in theatres. This meant many actors and playwrights were employed to meet the demands of audiences.                                                           

Most plays were seen at two o’clock in the afternoon.  

Can you match the Hungarian and English titles of some of Shakespeare’s plays?

1.All’s Well That Ends Well	A. Tévedések vígjátéka
2.As You Like It	B. A velencei kalmár
3.Comedy of Errors	C. Sok hűhó semmiért
4.Love’s Labour’s Lost	D. A makrancos hölgy
5.Measure for Measure	E. Minden jó, ha vége jó
6.Merchant of Venice	F. Vízkereszt, vagy amit akartok
7.Merry Wives of Windsor	G. Téli rege
8.Midsummer Night’s Dream	H. A lóvá tett lovagok
9.Much Ado about Nothing	I. Szeget szeggel
10.Taming of the Shrew	J. A windsori víg nők
11.Tempest	K. Szentivánéji álom
12.Twelfth Night or What You Will	L. A két veronai nemes
13.Two Gentlemen of Verona	M. A vihar
14.Winter’s Tale	N. Ahogy tetszik

Key:

1. E.

2. N.

3. A.

4. H.

5. I.

6. B.

7. J.

8. K.

9. C.

10. D.

11. M.

12. F.

13. L.

14. G.