Will: What Is He Good For?

Always Listen to Your Wife

It’s one of the most tried and true storylines, the husband makes bad decisions that his wife warns him not to, the husband does it anyway and shenanigans ensue. Today, it’s more of a setup for comedies than dramas but Shakespeare used this theme throughout the canon. In this episode, we take a look at a couple of couples from one of Shakespeare’s cornerstone plays to see what their relationships can tell us about Shakespeare's views on marriage and partnership.

The Will of Will

On this season of Will: What is He Good For?, we will explore Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway and explore his general attitude towards marriage through his personal history and textual clues. There is an academic discussion that because he was pushed into marriage after Anne Hathaway became pregnant and that he gave her the "second best bed" in his will that he had a negative view of marriage. And that this negative view is why he often portrays domineering and destructive marriages. But we say, baloney.
While we don’t know what went on behind Mr. and Mrs. Shakespeare's bedroom doors, we believe there is a common theme in Shakespeare's plays when it comes to marriage and the story is more positive, loving, and modern than one might think. 
In Episode 1 - we explore William Shakespeare's final will and testament and discuss what clues the man from Stratford left behind that might give us insight into his perspective on marriage and what his final gift to his wife truly meant.
 
Additional Links and Helpful Resources
Shakespeare Documented - Shakespeare's Last Will and Testament
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - The Second Best Bed
No Sweat Shakespeare - An Analysis of William Shakespeare's Will & Testament
Learn more about Will, Victoria, Sharon and their theater company Classics on the Rocks here. 

Season 2 Coming Soon!

Season 2 of Will: What is He Good For? is coming soon! Join us for another fun-filled series of Shakespeare history and an exploration of his plays.
This season, we're talking Shakespeare and marriage. What did Shakespeare really think about love and marriage? And was giving his wife, Ann Hathaway, the "second best bed" a dying man's final bitter burn or the gift of a loving and caring husband?
Find out in Season 2.... stay tuned.

Bonus Episode!

As we get ready to open our summer production of Henry the Fifth, our Artistic Director, William Downes, and Company Manager, Sharon Stevens sit down and quickly chat about the play, the process and 10 years of Classics on the Rocks.

Episode 5: The End of an Era

March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth I dies, and without an heir or a clear line of succession she is succeeded by James I, her second cousin.  With a new monarch and family line in place, it’s time for Shakespeare to cozy up to James (just like he did with Elizabeth). In our 5th and final episode of the season, we talk about how “the Scottish play", and Shakespeare's later plays bring his epic life to a close.  
 

Episode 4: Nirvana, or Something Like It

After an 18-month plague-induced lockdown London’s theatres begin to open up again and the acting companies make their way back on stage. This is the time Shakespeare begins his career in earnest as the pre-eminent playwright of the Elizabethan stage. In episode 4, we explore how the globe theatre and the key actors of the time helped to inspire Shakespeare's work and define the man he would become. 
 

Episode 3: Welcome Back, Will!

After a 7-year absence from public record, Shakespeare reappears in London, where he is referenced by a rival dramatist, Robert Greene in his bitter deathbed pamphlet, "A Groats-worth of Witte" gaining the moniker “upstart crow." Shakespeare's early years in London are a fascinating time filled with plays, plagues, and poetry. In episode 3, we explore how this period of time helped that man from Stratford to become the playwright we know and love.

Episode 2: What’s Really Shaking?

Between the years of 1585- 1592, Shakespeare disappears from public record. With the exception of his twin's baptism in 1585, and a land dispute court document in 1589 there is very little to the man from Stratford's life. These "lost years" are where many of the theories behind the "authorship question" begin. In episode 2, we explore some of those theories, what may have happened in those missing years, and how that period of his life helped shape him into the playwright he would become.