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About Arlene Schulman
Expertise
I have loved Shakespeare all my life, and as a Stage Director and Actor for over twenty-five years I have had the opportunity to study his work in intimate detail. I would be happy to share my knowledge of his plays. I can also help with acting Shakespeare, working with blank verse, character development, script analysis and interpretation. I don`t have as much knowledge in the area of his sonnets, but I can help to understand their meaning and language. I also have some knowledge of his life and of the Globe theatre where he performed his plays, as well as the Royal Shakespeare Company and his birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon, and can point you in the direction of some wonderful websites on the subjects as well.
Experience
Experience in Theatre
I have been a Stage Director, Dramaturg, Actor and Acting Coach for over twenty-five years and a lifelong devotee of Shakespeare. I am currently studying for an MA in "Shakespeare and Theatre" at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, Uk. Most recently, this summer (2008)I directed my own interpretation of "Hamlet" for the Woodward Shakespeare Festival in Fresno, CA which is based on and will be the basis for my MA dissertation. I will be directing a second production of "Hamlet" next summer in Boston, MA, and will be returning to WSF the following summer to direct either "The Merchant of Venice" or "Antony and Cleopatra". I have been assistant director/production stage manager for "The Tempest", and have studied most of the plays, their textual basis, the acting of blank verse and Shakespeare's characters, in detail.
Organizations
SSDC - associate member
The Shakespeare Institute (MA Candidate - "Shakespeare & Theatre)
Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas
The Shakespeare Association of America
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You are here: Experts > Arts/Humanities > Books by Genre > Shakespeare > Shakepeares Life experiences and plays.
Expert: Arlene Schulman
Date: 9/23/2008
Subject: Shakepeares Life experiences and plays.
Question
How were shakepeares life experiences showed in his work?
Answer
Hi Jeff,
We know very little above the few bare documented facts - baptism, death, parents, marriage, children, his career in London, and some legal issues - about Shakespeare as a person and what his life experiences may have been. In fact, there are those (not me but many) who believe that the man we know as William Shakespeare from Stratford-upon-Avon who is generally acknowledged as author of the plays and poems attributed to him was not actually the person who wrote them.
That being the case, it is difficult say how his life experiences might have affected his plays. It is true that a playwright's life experiences are often reflected in his work, and we can speculate as to his life experiences based on Shakespeare's plays, but we can only guess what those experiences might have been based on what we know of the times he lived in and the few facts we have about him (assuming that William Shakespeare of Stratford was indeed the playwright).
We know that Shakespeare's father was the mayor of his hometown and was also a glover by trade. We know that Shakespeare was born, raised, grew up and was married and had his children in the small market town of Stratford-upon-Avon. Images of that early period of his life is present throughout his plays in images of the flora and fauna and of place names familiar to that area. There is clear knowledge of the skills his father would have used as a glover (and that young Will would have learned from him). References to people and names from the area appear in his plays as well.
While Shakespeare didn't go to university, he certainly attended what was known as grammar school from about the age of 7. This school was not like our grammar schools. Lessons were taught in Latin and the "textbooks" were the great works of the Latin authors like Seneca, Cicero, Ovid, Virgil and Horace, accounting for his easy familiarity with Latin stories, plays and history. And a delightful scene in The Merry Wives of Windsor depicts a schoolmaster berating a young boy - curiously named Will! - which surely must have been based on a memory of his own schooling.
Shakespeare lived and worked in London much of his adult life. He and his acting company often performed for the Court of Elizabeth I and James I (more so than any other company) so he was familiar with the trappings and behavior of the court. Living in London he would have been exposed to the great port there, ships and people from all over Europe and the known world. It is clear that he frequented the many bookshops and publishers in London and was a voracious reader.
There is speculation that Shakespeare might have spent some time before he moved to London as a law clerk, which would account for his familiarity with legal issues and language.
There are several mentions in his plays about issues relating to coats of arms, which likely came out of his father's long search for a coat of arms for the Shakespeare family, which, ultimately, William achieved for him.
Likely there is much else that could be found in his work to reflect his life if we knew more about it.
Best,
Arlene (MsDirector)
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