The Shakespeare Almanac

Description

"The Shakespeare Almanac" is a day by day calendar of Shakespeare's year. It follows the rural farming cycle of lambing to sheep-shearing to harvest home, as they are referred to in Shakespeare's plays and poetry. It lists all the high days and holidays, from Christmas to Easter, Candelmas to Hocktide. Every passing month is supplied with quotations from the plays about changeable weather patterns, or the flowers and plants as they appear, as well as the animals and birds he saw around him. And each day, significant events during Shakespeare's lifetime are recorded. These might be family occasions: the christening of his twins, the marriage of one of his daughters, or the date when he bought his house in Stratford. There are eye-witness accounts of duels and executions, an accident at a bear baiting, a tilt in Westminster, a masque at Whitehall. Some days are accompanied by extracts from influential books of the period. For example on 24 January, reputedly the gloomiest day of the year, there is a piece from Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholia", which is surprisingly funny.

Promotion info

A sumptuously illustrated day by day calender of Shakespeare's year by the Chief Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Author description

Gregory Doran joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as an actor in 1987. He swiftly became an assistant director, and was appointed an Associate in 1996. In the last decade he has directed nearly half of Shakespeare's plays for the company where he is now the Chief Associate Director. He was awarded the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement of the Year in 2003 for the season of rare Jacobethen plays he produced in the Swan Theatre.

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