PLAGUE AND THE PLAYHOUSE

-Shakespeare survived the plagues
-great influence on his life but not on his production

JAMES STUART KING
~Royal proclamations
~Lists of commands
~Bills of mortality and maps

• Royal proclamations
• Lists of commands
• Bills of mortality

^Rich people ran away from London.
^The groundlings were stuck in the city.
^New regulations about population movements.

1592

• The theatres are closed
• Shakespeare finds a patron
• Shakespeare starts writing poetry
• Poem "Venus and Adonis" ---> reference to the plague
• Shakespeare returns to London as a famous playwright

1603
- New outbreak of the epidemic
- The government takes new security measures
(quarantine, symbols to identify the victims' houses)

• New outbreak of the epidemic
• The government takes strict security measures
• Quarantine
• Symbols to identify the victims' houses

SUMMER 1603, STATE OF EMERGENCY

• The government gives the population useful information in case of an outbreak
• Lists of remedies and recipes to cure the plague
• All theatre companies move to safer towns to perform
• Shakespeare moves to Stratford

~Shakespeare made his name in spite of the plague
~ Theatres re-open

• Shakespeare made his name in spite of the plague