Even as we look ahead to the good things that the New Year holds, we at Shakespeare For Our Children want to look back at one of our favorite Shakespeare materials of the past: Anne Terry White’s book Will Shakespeare and the Globe Theater. Published in 1955, this treasure provides a highly engaging – and historically rich – account of Shakespeare’s life and times.
We are always keen to introduce our young actors to the genre of children’s literature devoted to Shakespeare. Highlights include Bruce Coville’s beautiful retellings of Shakespeare’s plays, and Stanley and Vennema’s Bard of Avon – a very fine biographical overview for younger readers. White’s Will Shakespeare and the Globe Theater is a particularly compelling contribution to this literary tradition. With buoyant prose that integrates apt quotations from Shakespeare’s plays, the book offers insights into the personal experiences that inspired his greatest works. At the same time, White positions Shakespeare in the complex tapestry of London’s theatrical circles, courtly politics, and physical landscape.
White herself describes her book as “a reconstruction based on the facts” of Shakespeare’s life. Importantly, she points out, “None of the characters has been invented; all lived and must have been a part of the poet’s life.” In this way, Shakespeare emerges as a dynamic figure in an equally vibrant community of actors, writers, and royal patrons – rather than a remote icon of a long-ago era.
This is a lovely book to read aloud to a class on non-rehearsal days, as well as a work to recommend for intermediate readers. Indeed, it is a great gateway to more in-depth classics like Marchette Chute’s Shakespeare of London. With the knowledge that all the world’s a stage (listen above!), White reveals the fullness of Shakespeare’s world.