Shakespeare's Home and Gardens

Last June to research my novel “as u like it,” I visited Shakespeare’s home in Stratford-upon-Avon. I wasn’t the first writer to do so.  Many authors have scrawled their signatures like graffiti on the walls, as if they could tattoo their mild celebrity on his literary skin. 

Shakespeare’s name is immortal, marked on our creative conscience.  The visit to his home reminded me that he was a real person, the son of a possibly illiterate tanner/glover.  His house was still impressively large, especially for his time.

The gardens were small but lovely, featuring blooms he'd mentioned in his writing.  In the courtyard period-dressed actors performed scenes from his plays.  Mid June is a good time to visit, before the big summer crowds.  Only the Shakespeare museum and gift-shop were tacky-touristy. 

The portrait gallery was worth the trip in itself.  Hanging on the wall, was the most recently discovered (March 2009) painting of Shakespeare, perhaps the only to have been done during his lifetime.  His hair is rich auburn and his expression bemused. The portrait is by an unknown artist and shows mixed mastery from the well-rendered beard to the clumsy ear.  There was still an emotional liveliness to it, unusual for the period.  Shakespeare was in his 40's, close to me in age.  I stared into his eyes for close to an hour and felt a connection.  A reproduction is pinned above my desk (blog image from the guardian.co.uk.)

We found the perfect place for lunch: the As You Like It Café.  A good sign?  It didn’t even rain on us in the courtyard.  The café is conveniently on 20 Henley Street.

After lunch we walked across Henley Street to the Shakespeare Bookshop.  Heaven.  I could have spent hours browsing through all the books that ranged from academic volumes to manga Shakespeare.  There would be room on the bookshelf for my “as u like it” in the children’s/young adult section.  I didn’t see anything else like it there. 

I bought The Arden Dictionary of Shakespeare Quotations and Bill Bryson’s short and entertaining biography, aimed at a general audience. Bryson explains in his usual droll tone:

 

“To answer the obvious question, this book was written not so much because the world needs another book on Shakespeare, as because this series [of biographies] does.  The idea is a simple one: to see how much of Shakespeare we can know, really know, from the record.  Which is one reason, of course, it’s so slender.”

With many amusing anecdotes, Bryson places Shakespeare in his historical context and dismisses the naysayers who claimed the parochially schooled actor couldn’t have written those most literary plays and sonnets.  It’s a fun and easy read.  I absolutely loved it.

For those looking for a more scholarly biography of Shakespeare, I'd strongly recommend Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt at Harvard University.  I didn't include biographical material in my young adult novel, but both books added to my understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare's work.  Call it character research as the Bard is a presence in my contemporary novel. 

Shakespeare is so much more than his words on a page.  No visit to Stratford-upon-Avon is complete without watching a Royal Shakespeare Company performance.  Book ahead.  In June they were performing As You Like it.  A second good sign! 

Over the three years that I’ve lived in England, I’ve seen many RSC performances in London.  This is Shakespeare at its best with perfect elocution, emotional depth and attention to period detail.  Every single actor is strong, working together as an ensemble.  RSC alumni include Kenneth Branagh (I love his Shakespeare films,) Ralph Fiennes and Patrick Stewart.

As You Like It came to life on the stage with a strong Rosalind (Katy Stephens) and an amusingly melancholy Jaques.  They had been banished from court to the northern woods.   At the interval (intermission) an actor actually skinned a rabbit on stage.  Shakespeare’s Arden Forest is a fallen Eden:

“Here feel we not the penalty of Adam,

The seasons’ difference, as the icy fang

And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind,

Which when it bites and blows on my body….”

And yet in this harsh, adverse setting, the true meaning of life is found:

“Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in everything.”

My pilgrimage to Shakespeare’s birthplace was well worth the journey.

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