T he most influential writer in all of English literature, William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to a successful middle-class glove-maker in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Shakespeare attended grammar school, but his formal education proceeded no further. In 1582 he married an older woman, Anne Hathaway, and had three children with her. Around 1590 he left his family behind and traveled to London to work as an actor and playwright. Public and critical acclaim quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most popular playwright in England and part-owner of the Globe Theater. His career bridged the reigns of Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–1603) and James I (ruled 1603–1625), and he was a favorite of both monarchs. Indeed, James granted Shakespeare’s company the greatest possible compliment by bestowing upon its members the title of King’s Men. Wealthy and renowned, Shakespeare retired to Stratford and died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two. At the time of Shakespeare’s death, literary luminaries such as Ben Jonson hailed his works as timeless. Shakespeare’s works were collected and printed in various editions in the century following his death, and by the early eighteenth century his reputation as the greatest poet ever to write in English was well established. The unprecedented admiration garnered by his works led to a fierce curiosity about Shakespeare’s life, but the dearth of biographical information has left many details of Shakespeare’s personal history shrouded in mystery. Some people have concluded from this fact and from Shakespeare’s modest education that Shakespeare’s plays were actually written by someone else—Francis Bacon and the Earl of Oxford are the two most popular candidates—but the support for this claim is overwhelmingly circumstantial, and the theory is not taken seriously by many scholars. In the absence of credible evidence to the contrary, Shakespeare must be viewed as the author of the thirty-seven plays and 154 sonnets that bear his name. The legacy of this body of work is immense. A number of Shakespeare’s plays seem to have transcended even the category of brilliance, becoming so influential as to affect profoundly the course of Western literature and culture ever after. ----------------- "Hamlet", Alexandru Tocilescu 3. Spectacolul a avut premiera in 1985, la Teatrul Bulandra, dupa ’90 plecand in turnee la Teatrul National din Londra, apoi la Festivalul International de la Dublin, la Bienala de la Sao Paulo. In 1990, britanicii au avut revelatia unui "Hamlet necunoscut", a unui mare rol, interpretarea lui Caramitru fiind pusa de The Times intr-un top 5 al celor mai buni interpreti ai printului Danemarcei din toate timpurile. "Titus Andronicus", Silviu Purcarete 4. Cariera internationala a acestei piese montate la Nationalul craiovean se intinde pe aproape un deceniu, din 1992 (cand a fost prezentata in Japonia) pana in 1998 (cand a ajuns in Norvegia). In 1993 a fost premiata la Festivalul Americilor din Canada, in 1994 – la Festivalul de la Sao Paolo, iar in 1997 – la Festivalul Conventiei Teatrale Europene de la Stockholm. A mai fost prezentata la Festivalul de la Avignon si la Theater del Welt (München). "Ubu Rex cu scene din Macbeth", Silviu Purcarete 5. Spectacolul, care scoate la lumina viziunea felliniana a regizorului, aplecarea spre grotesc si umorul rabelaisian, poate fi considerat debutul occidental al lui Purcarete, fiind premiat in 1991 la Festivalul International de la Edinburgh. A mai fost prezentat in 1995 la Theatre Municipal, in cadrul celuilalt mare festivalul european de teatru, cel de la Avignon (Franta). "Visul unei nopti de vara", Alexandru Darie 6. Spectacolul a fost invitat in 1991 de London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) si a sustinut un turneu de patru saptamani in Marea Britanie. The Guardian considera ca "este cea mai buna productie prezentata in Marea Britanie dupa «Visul unei nopti de vara», a lui Peter Brook". Spectacolul a fost nominalizat in topul primelor 20 de montari ale piesei shakespeariene.